The Telstra Beach To Bush program, a joint community initiative between Surf Life Saving Australia and Telstra, is the largest and most innovative surf safety education program in the country.

The program involves experienced and highly qualified surf lifesavers volunteering to travel to regional areas in all states and territories to teach primary school children important surf safety messages.

SLSA statistics reveal beachgoers who live more than 50 kilometres from beaches are over-represented in drowning statistics.

Since 2003, the Telstra Beach To Bush Program has travelled more than 100,000 kilometres and addressed about 135,000 students in over 1,000 schools.

The Telstra Beach To Bush program involves trained surf lifesavers, armed with beach signs, safety flags and rescue boards, delivering an interactive 45 to 60 minute education session featuring;

• A demonstration of warning signs
• A demonstration of basic surf rescue equipment
• Video and interactive sessions

While the Telstra Beach to Bush program focuses primarily on beach safety, it also touches upon general aquatic safety skills to ensure children are safe in their own backyards.

The 2009 Telstra Beach To Bush program will reach more than 43,000 primary school children from more than 450 regional primary schools.

This year the program will also include Zane Holmes, dual world Ironman champion, as the Ambassador for the Telstra Beach to Bush program.

The 2009 program will also include an updated educational kit and interactive DVD to ensure the surf safety messages resonate with the school children.

SLSA and Telstra are committed to increasing and improving the level of surf safety education in schools around the nation. Telstra is a proud partner of SLSA and also assists surf life saving clubs across Australia through direct equipment grants through the Telstra Assistance Fund.

For more information on the Telstra Beach to Bush program please contact SLSA on info@slsa.asn.au or 02 9300 4000