Background

Swimming is not only a healthy activity, but acts as an essential life-skill. Unless completed at Key Stage 1, swimming and water safety are statutory activities at Key Stage 2, designed to ensure children are able to swim unaided over a distance of at least 25 metres. Swimming is also one of nine work strands within the national PE, School Sport and Club Links (PESSCL) strategy. In 2004, the Prime Minister announced funding for a national programme of top up swimming lessons to support the weakest swimmers in primary schools. This followed two successful pilot schemes which looked at how best to support those children who reach the end of Key Stage 2 (KS2) and are not able to swim the 25-metre standard. The overall effect was to increase the number of pupils in Year 6 who could achieve the KS2 requirements.

What is top up swimming?

Top up swimming is an intervention designed to enable every child to achieve the KS2 standard in swimming at primary school. Pupils will also be expected to develop the other range of skills related to the KS2 requirements, which are about general water confidence and water safety. The extra lessons that top up swimming involves are designed to build on the existing swimming arrangements that a school should be running. It exists to support pupils during term time.

Top up swimming can take different forms. In the case of the pilots, the lessons took the form of ten half hour lessons, everyday, over 2 school weeks. School Sport Partnerships will have the flexibility to determine how the programme will operate for them.

Funding

A grant, based on the number of primary schools in a School Sport Partnership, is available to Partnership Development Managers. The grant is for increasing the number of pupils achieving the KS2 standards and should generally cover:

• hire of a swimming pool;
• hire of a swimming teacher;
• transport costs; and
• buying specialist link teacher/s or supply cover time.

Depending on what would be more effective for the partnership, the money can either be targeted to all poor swimmers in the partnership, or at a certain number of schools who have the lowest achievement in swimming.

CLICK HERE for the Top Up Summary (pdf)

CLICK HERE for the Top Up Swimming Scheme Toolkit (pdf)

For further information please contact:

Frank Stoney
ASA Top Up Swimming Co-ordinator
West Midlands & South West
c/o Greater Warwickshire Sport
The University of Warwick
Westwood Campus
Coventry
CV4 7AL

Mobile: 07810 014498
Email: Frank.stoney@swimming.org