School Swimming: Introduction and Resources
More than half of children aged 7 to 11 are unable to swim 25 metres unaided, which means 1.1 million primary school children are not safe in and around water.
These are the worrying findings of ASA and Kellogg's research into the state of school swimming in England during 2013.
More than half of parents would prefer their school's cut of the Government's £150m PE funding to go to school swimming.The 2013 School Swimming Census ‘Learning the Lesson: The Future of School Swimming’ is the largest ever investigation into school swimming. More than 3,500 schools were asked how many of their Key Stage 2 children have reached national curriculum swimming requirements.
If you’re a teacher or a parent/guardian then these are worrying statistics you need to be aware of. Learning to swim is something all children need to be excited and interested in. After all, it could save their life, and parents and teachers have a huge role to play in helping children to learn to swim and be safe around water.
Parents
Learning to swim at an early age can go on to save your child’s life - drowning is amongst the leading causes of accidental death of children and young people in England.
Primary schools will receive extra Government school sport funding in September 2013 and the ASA is urging them to use it carefully, to ensure that every child has the opportunity to learn to swim.
Don’t forget you have a huge role to play too – encourage your children to love their time swimming, take them at the weekends with the family and most importantly, send them to lessons. This is particularly important if your primary school does not provide school swimming.
The ASA teaches millions of children to swim through our Learn to Swim programmes. Download our guide for parents on the left to learn more. You can also:
- Go to our dedicated Parents zone to find out what you can do to get your child swimming.
- Ask your children's school about swimming and how they are helping your child to swim.
- Check out Aquasplash, a fun festival for primary school age children designed to improve water skills. Then tell your child's school about it and encourage them to get involved.
Teachers
Many schools are delivering school swimming successfully with great results. But the 2013 Census shows that the statutory KS2 requirement to be able to swim 25m unaided isn't being achieved by all pupils. Too many children are leaving primary school unable to swim, endangering lives unnecessarily.
Documents
The ASA also makes overall recommendations that schools should increase the frequency of lessons, reduce the class ratios and improve the quality of the teaching.
Designed to support school teachers and swimming teachers, our school swimming guides and helpful auditing information will help in your delivery of swimming lessons for primary school children. Download by clicking the links on the left. You can also:
- Check out Aquasplash, a fun festival for primary school age children designed to improve water skills
- Download and read the 2013 School Swimming Census and help us get children swimming
For more in-depth information on school swimming go to the ASA zone's school swimming section:
- Learn how the ASA is supporting school swimming in England
- Learn about a scheme to improve swimming teaching in schools
