MORE than 1,000 schoolchildren across Ceredigion will be safer on the county’s beaches in the future thanks to RNLI lifeguard-led education sessions.

Almost 9,000 children from across south and west Wales schools, including 1,006 pupils in Ceredigion, took part in the charity’s popular ‘Hit the Surf’ and ‘Meet the Lifeguards’ schemes in 2016, learning beach safety information and open water survival training from the experts.

The Hit the Surf programme, where primary school children wore wetsuits and spent half a day on the beach with RNLI lifeguards learning about beach safety and picking up basic surf skills, saw 2,740 children take part at Welsh beaches, including 43 pupils from three Ceredigion schools.

More than 160 14 and 15-year-olds gained a Junior Surf Life Saving award by taking part in the Youth Education Programme run jointly between the RNLI and the Surf Life Saving Association.

Another 5,328 children, including 963 from Ceredigion, took part in Meet the Lifeguards sessions, where fully trained RNLI lifeguards visit schools to talk about the best ways to have fun safely on Welsh beaches.

And even more kids got to put their water safety learning into practice this year when Swim Safe hit Wales for the first time.

See this week’s south editions for the full story, in shops and online now