Portable swimming pools and lessons are coming to Sussex primary playgrounds

Swim:ED is a new programme for the area run by ActiveMe 360, which provides a portable swimming pool, swim teachers and lessons direct to the school. The innovative and groundbreaking programme has been running successfully in Hampshire since September 2023 and is specifically designed to tackle the significant gaps in primary school swimming and water safety education, by removing the long list of barriers schools face in accessing swim education to meet the statutory requirement.

According to Swim England, one in four children leave school unable to swim the statutory 25 metres, with fears this could rise to three in five by 2025-26. With 55 per cent of parents relying on schools to teach their children to swim, schools are facing more and more pressure to deliver, while also facing ongoing issues like the high cost and logistical headaches of transportation, availability and accessibility of suitable swimming facilities, and the ever-present time constraints.

With Swim:ED, progress in each lesson is monitored and recorded to ensure each school meets their core curriculum targets and that pupils are safe, competent and confident in the water. Autumn term alone saw a 60 per cent increase in children being able to perform safe self-rescue and a 33% increase in children being able to swim 25m (Based on 230 pupils participating in the Swim:ED programme in Autumn Term 2023, with each pupil averaging 9 hours of swim education).

Will Atterbury, Founder and Managing Director at ActiveMe 360, said: “Swim:ED has been our most exciting venture yet in our mission to change lives and improve health and wellbeing for children in Hampshire.

"I am so proud to see children receive high quality, life-saving swim education from our team and it’s fantastic that we’re already in a position to offer this provision to schools in Sussex. Swimming is a crucial life skill and can have such a positive impact on children’s wellbeing, but unfortunately too many children either don’t have access, or face ever increasing barriers to access. We have already seen so much progress in the children across Hampshire this past academic year and we can’t wait to see where our journey in Sussex takes us.”

The pop-up pool is already confirmed to be used at a primary school based in Bognor Regis over the summer holidays, to provide further opportunities and access for children to increase their confidence levels in the water.

An average of 312 UK and Irish citizens lose their life to accidental drowning each year and only 45 per cent of children from the most deprived areas of the country can swim 25 metres, compared to 76 per cent in the least deprived areas. Programmes like Swim:ED are paramount to schools looking to reduce out of classroom time, reduce travel costs and improve safety and confidence for all children.

For more information and for recent impact data, please visit the ActiveMe 360 website:https://www.activeme360.com/swimming/