Swimming lessons for local primary and secondary schools

Emanuel School is welcoming six local schools to have much needed lessons in our pool. These include pupils from Langford Primary, Falconbrook Primary, John Burns Primary, Christ Church CE Primary, St John Bosco College and Park House School.  We provide the coaches and the lifeguards. 

Aims

Swimming is a life skill. Given tight budgets, access to instructors and pool time is limited. Providing children with enough time in the water to learn to swim 25 metres and to float is hugely challenging. 

By providing access, we are able to help these children  learn to swim. 

Background

Langford, John Burns, Christ Church, Falconbrook,  St John Bosco College and Park House are partner schools. We are collaborating on a number of different initiatives including swimming. 

The opportunity was identified through ongoing dialogue in which we explore areas where we can work together to make a positive impact. 

Resources

Emanuel school provides our pool, instructors and life guards free of charge. We also provide swimming caps and goggles as necessary. 

Each swimming session is 45 to 60 minutes. We are providing 10 sessions for each school over the year. 

Impact

The pupils are assessed on their swimming ability during their first session. Pupils are divided into ability groups where they work with a coach to develop their skills. 

Assessments are carried out after 10 weeks. 

Many of the children are unable to swim at all, in fact, are afraid to enter the water. As the weeks pass, they gaining confidence. By the end of the sessions, we expect the children to be able to swim 25 metres confidently and to be able to float. 

Pupil Involvement

Emanuel pupils are not involved in this activity. 

The pupils from our partner schools range from Year 2 to Year 7 and are a mixture of boys and girls.

Frequency

It is an ongoing event. 

It takes place weekly and continues over this academic year. We expect to continue providing free swimming lessons going forward.