MORE than 30% of Australian parents are not taking children under five to swimming lessons.

That's why WIRAC has thrown its support behind a community safety initiative to prevent childhood drownings by offering free swimming lessons for kids under five during national Learn2Swim Week next month.

Warwick parents can access free swimming lessons at WIRAC for their kids by signing up at learn2swimweek.com.

WIRAC co-ordinator Karen Peters said swimming was an essential life skill for all Australian children.

"What we've chosen to do is open it up to kids from four to 12 years old and have it as one free lesson during a week of intensive lessons in the school holidays,” Mrs Peters said.

"It's important younger kids do get that early experience with swimming.

"We have afternoon sessions even during the winter where our pools are heated and a lot of parents do have their kids enrolled, but we would like to see more.

"We hope by making one lesson free during the week of September 25 to 29 that will encourage more parents to sign their kids up.”

Mrs Peters said without learning to swim at a young age, Australian kids are at a greater risk of drowning.

"We see a lot of kids, if they haven't had that early experience, they'll come to school swimming not knowing how to swim at all,” she said.

"There's a week or two of swimming in school but that's not good enough.

"Even around Warwick, there are dams on farms or the river.

"We hope parents see the value in teaching their kids to swim.”

Richard Beatiie from Poolwerx, the company behind the Learn2Swim initiative, said the program was a great way to have children learning vital water safety skills.

"Drowning is still the leading cause of preventable deaths in children under five in Australia,” Mr Beatiie said.

Now in its fourth year, Learn2Swim Week runs from September 23 to October 2.