With drowning remaining a leading cause for accidental death for children and young people in England, the importance of school swimming and water safety within the national curriculum is invaluable to children and young people (World Health Organisation, 2024). School swimming not only teaches pupils how to perform a variety of swimming strokes, but also provides education on the key water safety messages, including how to perform a safe self-rescue in different water based situations.

In the latest research from the Active Lives survey, only 70% of Year 7 pupils (aged 11-12) can swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres. It is critical that all pupils learn this crucial life skill to promote their safety in and around water.

Inclusion 2024, a programme made accessible through investment from the Department of Education, aims to increase the quality of schools’ physical education and school sport provision for pupils with SEND. Swim England, a consortium partner of Inclusion 2024, have collaborated with the Youth Sport Trust to upskill educational practitioners and swimming teachers across the country in the importance of school swimming and how to create an inclusive environment for pupils with SEND.

Since the start of the academic year, Swim England have delivered 12 in-person continual professional development (CPD) courses reaching 220 educators nationwide with a focus on how to create an inclusive school swimming environment for pupils with SEND. The course has had a positive impact on the confidence and competence of practitioners in attendance, with James Fallows, a teacher at Redwood School and host of the CPD stating that:

“As always the course was an excellent addition to our annual CPD offering both within our school and externally across Greater Manchester. Interest in the course is always extremely high and the 16 places get taken up quickly.”

When speaking to educational practitioners attending, the feedback was positive:

“A really informative course with lots of helpful examples to support the delivery of SEN swimming. The course tutor was very engaging and knowledgeable drawing upon real life scenarios and examples to support her delivery. Her style was very professional and she kept the group on task, involved and having fun for the whole day. A great CPD session.”

“Excellent course with relevant content delivered in an engaging manner. Thank you!”

“Gained lots of new strategies to use with our students, both for swimming lessons and swimming safety assemblies. Also, some excellent ideas that can be used to aid communication both in the pool and the classroom.”

Since attending the course, the educators have been able to embed key learnings from the course into their practice including:

·       Land-based activities prior to attending the poolside to prepare the pupils physically and mentally for their swimming lessons.

·       Book in a visit with the pupils to the pool prior to swimming lessons to reduce the anxiety of the pupils and prepare them for the lesson routine.

·       Liaise with the centre provider to ensure they’re aware of the pupils attending including the number of pupils with SEND.

·       Build water safety into lessons at school as reminders away from the poolside.

·       Liaise with parents of pupils ahead of swimming lessons to ascertain previous experience and confidence levels.

Through the upskilling of educational practitioners and School Swimming Teachers on how to create an inclusive swimming environment, we can maximise the lesson time in the water and optimise pupils’ enjoyment and engagement. You can find out more about the Inclusion 2024 School Swimming and Water Safety programme and access the suite of resources to support educational practitioners in creating inclusive swimming lessons here or book onto further training and CPD here.

Lorna Goldie School Swimming and Water Safety Development Officer for Swim England said:

“Through this project, we’ve strengthened swimming and water safety education for children and young people with SEND nationwide, supported schools in enhancing their swimming programmes, and equipped educators with the knowledge and confidence to make every school swimming lesson inclusive and impactful. Educators now focus not only on the swimming programme itself but also on pre-swimming preparation and ongoing learning opportunities, ensuring that water safety and swimming skills are reinforced beyond the pool."