Newcastle trainee lifeguard program puts teens on paid summer patrols

9 January 2026

newy.com.au – Four Newcastle teenagers are spending the school summer holidays on paid patrols as part of City of Newcastle’s trainee lifeguard program at local beaches and ocean baths.

The six week traineeship, delivered with Hunter Surf Life Saving, gives high school students a pathway from surf club volunteering into professional lifeguard work while helping staff the city’s busy coastline.

City of Newcastle said the program has doubled in size since it began in 2021 and was designed for school aged students who are already members of one of the city’s 12 Surf Life Saving clubs.

Acting executive director creative and community services Lynn Duffy said the trainees work weekday shifts alongside professional lifeguards during the peak summer period, with participants rostered for up to 24 hours a week.

“Each year more than one million people visit Newcastle’s beaches, so it’s important that we continue to develop and grow our professional lifeguard team to help keep our community safe,” Duffy said.

She said trainees went through a formal recruitment process and induction, including interview preparation, before taking on patrol duties and gaining the experience needed to pursue lifeguarding as a job. “Through real world experience and guidance from professional lifeguards, our school aged trainees get a structured introduction to lifeguarding,” Duffy said.

City of Newcastle said the initiative has helped launch the careers of around 20 casual lifeguards since it started, with many continuing to patrol the city’s six beaches and two ocean baths from Stockton to Merewether.

Former trainee and now City of Newcastle lifeguard Jack Johns said the program turned his love of the ocean into a career. “The trainee program gave me the confidence, skills and real life experience I needed,” Johns said.

“Starting out as a trainee and now working as a lifeguard on the beaches I grew up on has been incredible,” he said, adding he would recommend it to anyone wanting “a meaningful summer job with real career options”.

Newcastle councillor Jenny Barrie said recent drownings elsewhere on the NSW coast this summer reinforced the need for well trained lifeguards, while urging beachgoers to follow safety rules.

“It’s been devastating to see drownings occur in other parts of the state this summer, and while none have occurred at patrolled beaches or here in Newcastle, it’s a stark reminder of why investing in the training of lifeguards is so very important,” Barrie said.

She also reminded swimmers to “never swim alone and always swim between the red and yellow flags”, and to ask a lifeguard for advice if unsure about conditions.