Swimming at Cossington

Since 1994, swimming and water safety has been a statutory element of the national curriculum for physical education in England. This means that every 11-year old child should leave primary school with the skills to keep themselves safe while enjoying swimming with friends and family.

The importance of learning to swim at school: Drowning is the third most common cause of accidental death in children. In agreement with Swim England, we believe all children should have the opportunity to learn how to swim and be taught how to stay safe in and around water.

At Cossington, we follow Swim England's School Swimming Charter in order to provide children in Key Stage 2 the opportunity to access high-quality swimming lessons on an 8-12 week block.

Children in Lower Key Stage 2 have swimming curriculum lessons in the Autumn and Spring term every year. Children in Upper Key Stage 2, who require additional swimming top-up lessons, have the opportunity to complete a 6-12 week block of lessons during the Summer term.

The children complete their swimming lessons at Highcliffe School in Birstall . They have the opportunity to develop their swimming skills with highly-qualified instructors from the Swim with Jo swimming company (https://swimwithjo.co.uk/).

Many children learn to swim outside of school. But for some, this will be the only opportunity they have to learn these vital lifesaving skills. At Cossington, we would like to encourage all parents and guardians to encourage their children to swim outside of school.

At Cossington we believe it is so important to ensure we provide the best possible swimming and water safety provision for all of our pupils. We have an opportunity to ensure everyone is taught basic water safety skills but we have to work together to make it happen.

Swimming isn’t just about being able to have fun in the water with family and friends (although it is, and you should!). It is also about knowing what to do if someone gets into trouble. We are very lucky to live in a part of the country where we have lots of canal networks, so it is vital children learn how to keep safe around the water edge. Swimming is also incredibly good for your physical and mental health and wellbeing – it’s the only activity you can do at any age and at any ability.

The three national curriculum outcomes

Swimming is the only sport to be included within the national curriculum physical education programme of study. All primary schools must provide swimming and water safety lessons in either Key Stage 1 or 2.

Each pupil is required to be able to do the following:

• Perform safe self-rescue in different water based situations

• Swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres

• Use a range of strokes effectively, for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke.