Pool & Spa Scene: SCHOOL POOLS
Treading Water
Despite the excitement generated by the Olympics, an increasing number of children are leaving primary school unable to swim a stroke. So where are we going wrong? Jan Hurst looks for some answers...
ABOVE: It is a statutory requirement that all children should be able to swim 25 metres unaided by the time they leave primary school although government funding for top-up lessons for children who have not reached the standard has been withdrawn.
During the 2012 London Olympics, British Swimming, the national governing body for amateur swimming in the UK, reported a 90 per cent increase in its website traffi c, much of which came from people ‘inspired to get back in the pool’, but as to whether that interest translates into an increase in children learning to swim remains to be seen.
At present it is a statutory requirement that all children should be able to swim 25 metres unaided by the time they leave primary school. This places the responsibility fi rmly on schools, although government funding for top-up lessons for children who have not reached the 25 metre goal has been withdrawn. Dave Walker, Leisure Safety Manager for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) says: “A troubling trend, which RoSPA is concerned about, is that one in three children at the age of 11 cannot meet the national swimming and water safety standard… swimming and water safety is critically important and swimming pools are by far the safest place to swim.
44 Pool & Spa Scene: SCHOOL POOLS
“Children should have access to a high-quality swimming pool and lessons,” emphasises Dave.
A place to learn to swim and structured lessons would seem to be the obvious solution to children being unable to swim, as Dave Walker points out, and the importance of this being incorporated into the school curriculum is highlighted also by the 2012 Swimming Census, conducted by the ASA (Amateur Swimming Association) in conjunction with Kellogg’s.
FAMILY VALUES
The census gives three reasons why children aren’t learning to swim. One of these, unsurprisingly, is that families are being forced to cut back on things they regard as non-essential or a treat, due to the economic downturn. One in fi ve of the parents surveyed stated they could no longer afford to take their children swimming and 24 per cent said they could not afford pool admission prices nor private lessons for their children. Transport was also cited as an obstacle, with the average
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