Cornish schools cut swimming lessons for pupils

Whitemoor Academy pupils find learning to swim easy with a noodle

A number of schools in Cornwall are reducing the amount of swimming lessons provided to pupils.

The Department for Education said swimming and water safety was a mandatory part of the curriculum for PE at primary school.

Philip Brownlie, head of public affairs at sport governing body Swim England, said the news was "really concerning" and it was now "a real trend".

One school head said its swimming programme had been affected because the "cost of everything has risen".

'Vital skill'

Six schools in the county have pulled out of providing swimming lessons at Better leisure centres.

Three schools in St Austell, two in Newquay and one in Bodmin have cancelled lessons, while others are reducing the amount of time spent teaching children to swim.

Mr Brownlie said: “Swimming is a vital lifesaving skill and school might be the only place where young people get a change to learn to do it.

“We do understand and appreciate that head teachers have 101 demands on their coffers, but we believe swimming should be higher on the priority list.

“After all, it is quite literally a skill that could be the difference between life and death.”

James Curry said the issue was only going to get worse

GLL, the charity which runs nine leisure centres in the county, said only 76% of children in Cornwall were achieving being able to swim 25m on leaving primary school.

James Curry, head of service for GLL, said: "It's only going to get worse."

"Therefore there's a huge risk to children's water safety across the county and, obviously, we are a county surrounded by sea.

"That can only have a knock-on effect on child safety around our water space."

He added: "We do know that some of the multi-academy trusts have made a decision to reduce their level of swimming that they take their children to, and that can only be a decision that will impact in the future."

He said other pool operators were also seeing an impact.

"In my 25 years in the industry, I haven't [before] seen schools starting to reduce their swimming, which is a key curriculum requirement," he said.

GLL runs incentives to get children swimming, such as "Kids for a Quid" between 09:00 and 10:00 on Saturdays and in the holidays.

The charity has also launched a 20% discount to adults and children on certain benefits.

A noodle window helps children get their chin touching water when they float

Last year, the government announced a total of more than £600m across the academic years 2023/24 and 2024/25 for PE and sport premium funding.

It said this could be used by primary schools to support swimming and water safety lessons, including funding teacher training and additional swimming lessons for children not able to meet national curriculum expectations after their PE lessons.

It said it was producing new guidance to primary schools to overcome the barriers on delivering curriculum swimming and water safety to pupils.

Head teacher David Jones said his school has had to ask parents to help

The head teacher of Cardinham Primary School, David Jones, said they used to give all pupils, including reception years, swimming lessons during the summer term, but had to reduce this to a block of swimming for Years 5 and 6 only for 10 weeks.

He said: "The cost of everything has risen, particularly transportation.

"It's around £120 per week. That amount has gone up, but there's no additional support in terms of budgets for transport.

"We have made sure that our sessions are at the very start of the day, so, instead of parents dropping at the school, we ask them to drop at the local leisure centre, which alleviates one leg of the journey."

The UK Coach Operators Association (UKCOA) said increasing pay in line with other driving jobs and the cost of fuel had led to the increasing charges to customers.