Ahead of this year's Drowning Prevention Week, swimming instructors are set to visit primary schools in the Vale of White Horse to give children tips on how to stay safe in water.

The talks will run throughout May and June, with Drowning Prevention Week taking place from June 17-24, and cover many aspects of water safety in pools, lakes, rivers and oceans.

Swim school lead for the Vale of White Horse, Brienne Evans, shared some of the advice the children will be given.

She said: "Children are advised, for example, to always have an adult with them when they swim and to avoid going in the sea between red flags.

"And lots of people don’t realise that natural expanses of water can be much colder than you think, even in summer. You can still go into shock."

Swim school lead for Swindon, Cheryl Pottinger, explained how the sessions are designed to entertain the children.

She said: "We sometimes perform a panto routine or use a toy dog to show what to do if your pet falls in the water.

"We follow this up with games, quizzes or colouring sheets.

"We never use the word ‘drown’ and we phrase things in a positive way – we tell them what they ‘should’ do in a tricky situation rather than what they ‘shouldn’t’ do."