Lets All Learn To Swim
Jon Keating works for the ASA (the national governing body involved in every element of swimming) as their Schools Swimming Advisor covering the North West and North East helping primary schools in the area manage and improve swimming lessons for children. Tiffany Henry talked to Jon about his role with the ASA and the development of children's swimming in the region.
"The post of School Swimming Advisor is government funded as part of a scheme to support primary schools with their swimming programmes. Swimming is part of the National Curriculum and all children should, by the end of Key Stage 2 be able to swim a minimum of 25 metres and demonstrate a wide range of water skills and water safety knowledge. Recent studies have found that around 30% of children leaving primary school were unable to achieve these minimum standards. Water safety is a critical part of education in young children, RoSPA still report that the 3rd largest cause of accidental death in children (under 14) is drowning, and therefore getting the important message of water safety across to young is children is essential".
"During 2006 -2008, the Government invested £5.5m in the Top Up Swimming Scheme for England and our target was to ensure that 100,000 children accessed this programme, we exceeded this with over 130,000 participants, over 81,000 of which achieved Key Stage 2 for Swimming & Water Safety. From 2008 - 2011 Government funding will be £8.25M, in what is now known as the School Swimming Improvement Programme".
"It's difficult to describe a typical day as each day can be different. I cover a large area so there is a lot of travelling and depending on where I need to be that day determines how early I start. I spend a large part of my day meeting people as I work closely with Local Authorities, Local Education Authorities and the School Sports Partnerships (families of linked schools within a borough). Together we evaluate current swimming programmes and then recommend future strategies that most effectively spend the available funding to improve standards. Some examples of this could be using the funding to pay for more swimming teachers; to pay for those children who are weaker swimmers to have more sessions; or to help with transport costs. Another project I get involved with is "Pools 4 Schools". This is where a temporary 12 x 6m swimming pool is placed into a school, it can go in the sports hall or main hall (somewhere where there's enough space) and stays for about 6 weeks. This means that the children at the chosen school can take advantage of it most days. It not only benefits the school itself but can also be used by other schools in the area, the community can also benefit outside of school hours, for example mother and baby sessions".
Swimming has never been in the public eye so much especially after the recent successes of the British team, and with the government offering ‘free swimming' to those over 60 and under 16, and London 2012 just around the corner, it is even more important that all our children learn to swim".
"This is a really rewarding job, I love to hear stories of children learning to swim 10m in a week or weaker swimmers improving because of the scheme and thoroughly enjoying their swimming, it a great job in that you can see the results year on year and by working together and achieving our targets it really does make a difference. Learning to swim is an important life skill and life saver...so the earlier we teach our children to swim the better, and swimming as a family unit is a great way to have fun and keep fit and healthy as part of an active lifestyle."