Swimming

Swimming at Wales Primary School

We are very fortunate to have our own swimming pool on our school site. Because of this, all children at Wales Primary school have swimming lessons from the start of their school journey in FS2. The children have a full term of swimming in FS2, Y1, Y2 and Y3 as part of weekly lessons with a swimming teacher. In Y4 and Y5, children have a half term's worth of swimming lessons with catch up sessions available for any less confident swimmers who haven't yet met the swimming curriculum requirements. Near the end of Y6 before transitioning to secondary school, children receive extra sessions on water safety which is a vital part of the curriculum to give children the skills to keep themselves safe when they are in water.

As a result of the extra sessions through school, our children leave us as confident and competent swimmers. In July 2023, we had a 100% success rate in achieving the curriculum requirements of 'swimming competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres.'

Sessions are tailored to meet the needs of all pupils whatever their level of confidence and need. Having our own pool allows children with SEND and who would benefit from it to swim in small groups or even as a 1:1 session if it is felt that this would be of the most benefit to that child in supporting them to develop their swimming skills and learning to enjoy time in the water.

Benefits to swimming and especially at a young age.

Learning to swim from a young age is undoubtedly one of the most crucial life skills children can learn. Studies show that not only can early swimming lessons reduce the risk of drowning by up to 88%, but they can also develop social skills and have psychological benefits. Young children’s brains are developing all the time and absorb information quickly. This means they will have an easier time adapting to water, resulting in higher confidence levels and therefore reduce the chance that they will fear it when they’re older.

During swimming lessons, children are often interacting with others, they learn to follow directions from their swimming teacher and they get a chance to play and share with other children. This all boosts their socialisation skills and self-esteem while giving children the opportunity to learn from peers by observing and mimicking their actions. Research highlights that young swimmers are less shy, more independent and more comfortable in social situations than non-swimmers.