We feel strongly that school swimming isn’t enough and this was proven by a research from Swim England which shows that one in four youngsters currently leave primary school unable to swim 25m or self-rescue – despite swimming and water safety being part of the National Curriculum. It is feared this could rise to three in five children by the 2025-26 academic year.
Another report by the Curriculum Swimming & Water Safety Review Group concluded that just over a third (36%) of primary schools provide lessons, with all children achieving the national curriculum targets. It suggested that there were many barriers to schools offering proper swimming and water safety instruction, including teachers not feeling confident in teaching the subject because of lack of formal training, hiring pools and swimming instructors and concerns that time away from the classroom disrupts the school day.
We believe that learning to swim is essential
Swimming is an essential life skill and parents have a duty to ensure that their children can swim. Whilst a range of extra-curricular skills are important for children to develop as rounded individuals, none are quite as vital and fundamental as learning to swim.
In order to be a competent swimmer, children should be able to:
- Swim at least 100 metres without stopping
- Tread water for at least 30 seconds
- Experience swimming in clothing
- ‘Float to live’ (performing a star float on their back for at least 30 seconds)
Swim England is recommending that parents and guardians only consider stopping lessons for their children when they are ‘competent’ swimmers, rather than just displaying confidence in the water.
In summary…
Teaching young children basic survival swimming skills can have a life-long immunisation effect against drowning. This gives parents immeasurable peace of mind, whether their children are playing in and around the pool on holiday as young children, or go swimming on their own with friends as older children. Our lessons focus on technique in a small group environment whereas school swimming tends to be in much larger groups.
Sports Generation are therefore committed to children learning to swim from as young as two years old – we believe you can’t start teaching swimming too early!
For more information about swimming lessons with us, call 0208 940 9431 or email contact@sportsgeneration.co.uk