British Gas Pools 4 Schools
Loads of kids haven’t got a pool near to them but across the country pools have been springing up in gyms, school halls and even car parks!
The British Gas Pools 4 Schools programme does something a bit different. For six to eight weeks it takes a mobile swimming pool to local school children and puts it in a place near to them.
It offers swimming lessons in school time and is open to the local community for the rest of the time. A typical pool is 12 metres by 6 metres and 1 metre deep.
Pools 4 Schools is the brainchild of Steve Parry, a retired Olympic medallist, who was shocked to discover how many children could not swim. He set up the programme, with support from the Department of Education, the ASA and of course British Gas, to get over the problem.
Did you know one-in-five children can’t swim 25 metres by the time they leave Primary School? And if you don’t have a pool nearby it can be as high as four out of five!
Steve Parry said: “I think swimming is so much more important than all the other sports, fundamentally because it’s a life skill.
“What we want to do is take pools to schools that do not have access to swimming.”
In the temporary pools, teachers provide a range of activities, from mini-polo to aqua-aerobics, and help children learn a vital life skill, improve their fitness and overcome their fear of water.
The scheme has been a resounding success - far surpassing their target of teaching 10,000 children from diverse backgrounds to swim - and was recognised with a prize at the 2010 European Sponsorship Awards.
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