Esol Education’s American School of Bahrain (ASB) has become renowned for its expansive, state-of-the-art campus, with growing recognition as a hub for one of the most advanced K-12 learning environments in Bahrain. In line with ASB’s vision of excellence, the school has proudly announced a conscious collaboration with Royal Life Saving Bahrain (RLSB). RLSB believes that every child should have the opportunity to learn to swim. Through this partnership, they are jointly able to facilitate a robust swimming and water safety program for all ASB students, in line with international standards, while also utilizing the outstanding facilities at ASB to serve as a community hub for swimming and water safety education.
The school has stressed its commitment towards holistic education for its students and upholding a beacon of strong community values. This encouraged them to establish this unique partnership with Royal Life Saving Bahrain (RLSB), which is a charitable organization, launched in October 2016. RLSB’s mission is to promote a safe enjoyment of recreation in water, build cohesive communities, enable economic development and save lives. The organization is a full member of the International Life Saving Federation (ILS), the world authority for drowning prevention, lifesaving and lifesaving sport.
“We are incredibly excited to be collaborating with the American School of Bahrain on this important initiative. Based on our research, 95% of children in Bahrain do not learn to swim as part of their primary school curriculum. We believe through this partnership we are able to train many more children and equip them with the necessary skills needed to be competent swimmers. Swimming is an essential life skill and it is the only sport that can save a person’s life,” shared H.H Shaikha Nayla bint Hamad bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, the Deputy Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Al-Mabarrah Al-Khalifa Foundation (MKF) and Chairperson of the Royal Life Saving Bahrain (RLSB).
The ASB campus has two swimming pools and has commenced crafting a water safety curriculum that includes providing swim lessons and lifeguard services to support its Physical Education and athletics programs. This is made possible by RLSB through the employment of certified swimming coaches and certified lifeguards to support the curriculum requirements. RLSB has identified strategies that are based on a combination of international best practice and local context. The strategies include teaching swimming, providing a safe environment, teaching first aid, developing people with the ability to save lives and prevent drowning. ASB is further studying future plans that would allow RLSB to use ASB facilities to train other schools that don’t have access to swimming pools through a community-centric responsibility initiative. This emphasizes the school’s pillar of Community Leadership.
“We are excited to enter into a partnership with RLSB. Our missions are aligned and both organizations place a great value on water safety and the lifelong activity of swimming. Staff and students at ASB are blessed to teach and learn in a world class facility, and with this privilege comes responsibility. We are very much looking forward to working side by side with RLSB to give schools without access to a swimming pool, an opportunity to learn to swim and save lives in the process,” shared Dave McMaster, Founding Director of American School of Bahrain.
ASB is a joint venture between Esol Education and Elm Education Fund (Elm), a Bahrain-based education platform, established by Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (Mumtalakat), the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Elm establishes and co-invests in world-class educational institutions in partnership with leading global operators. Located in Wadi Al Buhair, near the Bahrain National Stadium, the premium K-12 American preparatory school opened its doors in September 2020 with a challenging standards-based US curriculum, leading to the option of an International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma in Grades 11 and 12, designed to meet the highest standards of international education.
Parents can learn more and apply by visiting www.asb.bh.