School Eco-Champions can Win Safety Lesson with Olympic Legend in new Water Challenge

“Water safety is a crucial part of being a responsible water citizen, to be aware of the dangers and know vital safety skills. We hope this challenge will invite young people to participate and provide a fun and exciting experience for them. ”

Peter Farrer
Chief Operating Officer, Scottish Water

Scotland’s most decorated Olympic athlete and recently awarded OBE holder will give one lucky school class in Central Scotland a water safety lesson in Scottish Water’s inaugural environmental challenge aimed at young “eco-champions”. 

Swimming legend Duncan Scott – an ambassador for the Learn to Swim programme between Scottish Swimming and Scottish Water – will lead youngsters who come first in the Generation H2O ’Making Waves Challenge’. 

In between his busy training schedule, as he prepares for the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore in July, Duncan will take part in a safety-focused Scottish Swimming lesson for the winners of the challenge for S1-3 secondary students. 

Duncan has eight Olympic medals after starring in the Tokyo, Rio and most recently Paris games. 

In the first year of the challenge, Secondary school pupils across the Central belt of Scotland will be able to compete for a chance to meet Duncan and get a water safety lesson from Scottish Swimming by completing the ‘Global Water Project’ resource and creating a social media post or campaign to protect Scotland’s water.  

Schoolchildren throughout Scotland are participating in Generation H2O – an education programme to encourage young people to protect the future of Scotland’s water. 

Generation H2O is Scottish Water’s free national schools programme designed to inspire responsible water citizens, encouraging young people to celebrate and protect the nation’s water - one of our most valuable and precious resources for years to come.  

More than 750 teachers across the length and breadth of Scotland have so far registered with the Generation H2O programme and lessons have reached over 42,000 young people, as the publicly owned water company seeks to ensure young people are responsible in and around water such as rivers, lochs, reservoirs and the sea. 

Younger students across Scotland can also take part in a second initiative - the ‘Make a Splash Challenge’ for P5-7 pupils, where the winning class will receive a trip to a national or regional swimming facility to participate in a fun ‘in-pool’ session, water safety workshop and a ‘behind-the-scenes' venue tour to learn about sustainability, as well as a short video from Duncan. 

Peter Farrer, Chief Operating Officer for Scottish Water, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Scottish Swimming to offer this reward to young people who have demonstrated a commitment to protecting Scotland’s water. 

“Water safety is a crucial part of being a responsible water citizen, to be aware of the dangers and know vital safety skills. We hope this challenge will invite young people to participate and provide a fun and exciting experience for them. 

“Scottish Water is proud to support both the Learn to Swim National Framework and the new National Primary School Swimming Framework. And we are thrilled to have our Learn to Swim Ambassador, Duncan Scott, support the initiative.”  

CEO Scottish Swimming, John Lunn said “We’re proud to support Scottish Water to help inspire responsible water citizens in and around water.  

“This is a welcome addition to our Learn to Swim National Framework – a partnership between Scottish Water and Scottish Swimming with a shared vision to create ‘Generation Swim’ - a generation of confident, safer and competent swimmers, who will also get to experience the wider health and social benefits that swimming can offer, as well as vital life skills.”  

Visit https://nationalschoolspartnership.com/generation-h2o-challenge-tcs-pri-2025/ to read full terms and conditions and details on how to enter the primary challenge. 

Visit https://nationalschoolspartnership.com/generation-h2o-challenge-tcs-sec-2025/ to read full terms and conditions and details on how to enter the secondary challenge.