Skills Maintenance Weekend
The 2025/26 season is almost here, hooray! It’s now time to ensure your membership and awards are up to date. All members who want to patrol, do water safety (eg Nippers, camps) or compete in competitions (at a State or National level), must undertake annual skills maintenance activities to maintain proficiency.
Practical Skills Maintenance is being held on Saturday 29 & Sunday 30 November 2025 at the WBSLSC clubhouse.
Details on how to renew your membership and enrol in practical skills maintenance are set out below and are also the club’s Members of Woolamai Beach Facebook group.
What is Skills Maintenance?
Skills maintenance is intended to ensure all patrolling lifesavers remain proficient in their skills and display the appropriate knowledge and understanding of the patrol award criteria. All active Lifesavers are required to complete a skills maintenance assessment to show currency in the life saving award/s they hold and wish to retain.
Skills maintenance assessments are necessary to:
• Ensure ongoing proficiency of members in their area
• Maintain the standards of knowledge and expertise of lifesavers
• Satisfy legal and statutory requirements
• Reinforce and maintain our service commitment to the beach-going community
What does Skills Maintenance cover?
Skills maintenance includes practical assessment activities and (for some awards) an online learning/theory component. Skills Maintenance is in place for the awards listed below and should be completed on an annual basis, unless stated otherwise.
**If you would like to know what will be assessed for each award, please visit https://www.woolamaibeach.org.au/skills-maintenance-guide
NEW LIFESAVING CPR 2025
This season the focus on skills maintenance across the state will be on the introduction of Lifesaving CPR into Bronze and Surf Rescue Certificate (SRC) as well as Advanced Resuscitation Techniques (ART).
What does this mean for you?
This includes 2 online modules covering the theory components of Lifesaving CPR, approx. 20 minutes to complete, and a 90-minute practical component seeing members demonstrate 1-person to 4-person Lifesaving CPR.
The eLearning will be found in the Member Training Portal under Bronze and SRC, while the practical component is a checklist item that must be completed for Bronze, SRC and ART at requal day (note, ART has its own eLearning for LCPR).
Lifesaving CPR is an evidence based, standardised and simplified approach designed to improve survival rates from cardiac arrest both on and off the beach.
This will be the main part of your requal and it will make the day look very different from previous years.
It is essential that you attend an official requal this season (either at our club or a different one) as your competency going forward will need to include these new skills, and we will not be holding make-up days due to it being a mandates 90 minute session.
Information on Lifesaving CPR from LSV:
Introduction to Lifesaving CPR
Key Components of Lifesaving CPR
What will the rest of requal look like?
As the lifesaving CPR will take at least 90 minutes, there’s changes to how other skills that will be assessed (this has been determined by LSV. If you are an SRC or Bronze, you will also be assessed on:
A run-swim-rescue in under 3:30 minutes.
This will look like:
Run 100m - Swim 100m with a tube OR 200m paddle with a board and secure a patient in the time limit (no second run required).
Signals will be tested as part of the run-swim-rescue.
Radios will tested as part of Lifesaving CPR
No spinal practical test required this season.
ART and IRBC/IRBD assessed skills will remain the same as previous seasons
How to Book into a Skills Maintenance Session
Remember to complete the following before booking into a skills maintenance session!
2) Ensure you have a valid WWCC & ADD THE CLUB AND LSV TO YOUR CARD
4) Book into a practical session (Sessions are now online)
To Book into a Skills Maintenance, please follow the bellow steps:
**If you haven’t done so already, please ensure that you pay your membership before booking into a skills maintenance session. You can do this by going to the Members Portal**
Step 1: Login to the Members Training Portal
Step 2: Click ‘Skills Maintenance’
Step 3: Complete the E-Learning relevant to you (Only complete the awards you are proficient in)
Step 4: Once a green completed box appears, go to ‘Step 2: Book Practical’
Step 5: Find a session for the award you want to requalify and enroll in that session (Use the Course ID to find a session)
**Please Note: All member MUST Book into a practical to be able to participate on the day.
Practical Sessions at Woolamai 2025/26 Season
Woolamai Beach SLSC is running 2 skills maintenance days on 29 and 30 November 2025.
Details of these sessions are below.
Please note some of these courses will be approved by LSV and become available for enrolment in the coming weeks, however at least one course for each day is open on MT currently:
Saturday - 29/11/2025
When booking into the course, the Course ID can be used to locate the specific date. You only need to book into 1 of these courses:
2095672 (Open now)
205676 (open now)
2095674 (will be open soon)
Sunday 30/11/2025
When booking into the course, the Course ID can be used to locate the specific date. You only need to book into 1 of these courses:
2095675 (Open now)
2095673 (will be open soon)
2095677(will be open soon)
CPR courses
We will be running a CPR course from 9am - 10:30am on the Saturday of the Skills Maintenance weekend. If you hold a CPR qualification (which is different to SRC or Bronze), you need to completely redo your CPR course every 12 months. This includes ART award holders. This is an opportunity to redo your CPR course if you haven’t already this year - you get your CPR course done. If you wish to complete this course, please keep an eye on the Member Training Portal and enrol once this course appears (waiting to be approved by LSV):
29/11/2025 - 2098465
**You must enrol in a skills maintenance practical session IN ADDITION to this course**
**If you only want to requal Bronze or SRC, you do not need to attend this course**
**If you have ART you do need to attend this course**
** There are limited places on this course, and you can do it at locations other than Woolamai**
To register for a specific session, try searching by typing the Course ID (as shown in the picture to the right)
UPDATES:
All updates will be posted in this section. These are the current updates as at 1 November 2025
First Aid Awards
Advanced Resuscitation Techniques
Please be aware that the completion of ART skills maintenance, does not lead to the issuance of units of competency. In addition to skills maintenance members should undertake award course activities as required by the Australian Resuscitation Council:
• ART (every 3 years)
• CPR (every 12 months)
To learn more about the Advanced Resuscitation Techniques Award click Here.
First Aid
The First Aid award is a Nationally Recognised Qualification that can be utilised outside of Life Saving. Therefore, there is no requirement to requalify this award at our annual Skills Maintenance, however members should undertake award course activities as required every 3 years, and a CPR update course every 12 months in order to maintain proficiency in that award.
To learn more about the First Aid Award click Here.
Resuscitation (CPR)
The Resuscitation award is a Nationally Recognised Qualification that can be utilised outside of Life Saving and is practiced in our annual Skills Maintenance sessions. In order to renew, update your certificate, members should undertake award course activities as required every 12 months in order to maintain proficiency in that qualification.
To learn more about the Resuscitation Award click Here.
Frequently Asked Questions
+ Where to do Skills Maintenance?
Members should aim to complete their annual skills maintenance by attending scheduled sessions advertised by their club. If you wish to partake in a Skills Maintenance session at another club other than Woolamai, you can enrol online.
+ When do I have to do Skills Maintenance by?
All patrolling members should complete relevant skills maintenance activities on or before 31 December each year. Members are still able to complete a skills maintenance after this date; however, the member cannot utilise that skill after the expiry until they complete skills maintenance. Any Member completing their proficiency after 31 December shall not be permitted to participate in any SLSA Championship competition until the 1 July in that year (Refer SLSA Policy 5.4).
+ If I have my SRC but am doing Bronze this year, am I required to do Skills Maintenance?
No. You are not required to re-qualify your SRC as the Bronze Medallion supersedes the SRC award.
+ Do I have to re-do my IRBD at Woolamai if I complete skills maintenance at another club?
Yes. There is a significant difference between driving an IRB in the bay, rather than at Woolamai. This Assessment can be done on patrol and you will be required to show our Assessors you are competent in performing the duties of an IRBD in the Woolamai surf.
+ Does the Bronze Requal update my CPR?
No. The Resuscitation (CPR) award MUST be updated every 12 months by undertaking an update course ONLY. The SLSA award CPR is covered under the Bronze Skills Maintenance assessment to show assessors you are competent in performing the required skills, and to pass on any updates that may have occurred since the previous season, however this does not update the unit of competency you get when you first do the qualification (HLTAID009).
+ Does the ART Requal update my ART Award?
No. The Advanced Resuscitation Techniques award MUST be updated every 3 years, and CPR every 12 months by undertaking an update course ONLY. ART is covered under the ART Skills Maintenance assessment to show assessors you are competent in performing the required skills, and to pass on any updates that may have occurred since the previous season, however this does not update the unit of competency you get when you first do the qualification (HLTAID015 + HLTAID009).
+ What do I need to bring to my session?
Please make sure to bring the following to your skills maintenance session:
Bathers/Wetsuit, towel
Lifesaving Cap (Red & Yellow) or Woolamai Cap (Green, Black & White)
Lunch, snacks & a drink