School Swimming
School Swimming
Returning to School Swimming During Covid-19
See what we’re doing, and what you need to do, to keep safe at our pools and transport.
Our brand new Safety Briefing video replaces our traditional poolside safety briefing. It contains all the same information as before but can be watched at school any time, thereby removing close contact time on poolside and increasing time spent in the pool on the first lesson. Remember: all pupils must have watched this video before attending swimming lessons for the first time.
About The School Swimming Service
The SOLAR Team coordinate a school Swimming programme and is the City’s main provider of swimming lessons delivering to over 12,000 users per week for children and young people, we reinforce the stated aims of the school in relation to PE; and the personal and social development of children and their health and wellbeing.
The provision consists of a successful and inclusive package for all including Nursery, Primary, Secondary, Special Schools, and adult education. We aim to produce a programme to suit any individual school requirements.
Our friendly and experienced team work closely with schools to ensure that pupils receive high quality teaching, which provides children and young people with a safe, fun and memorable experience whilst learning a valuable life skill. We provide highly trained and qualified instructors/lifeguards, suitable pool hire and reliable transport.
Children and Young People have the opportunity to swim safely and proficiently aiming to cover a distance of at least 25 Metres by the end of Key stage 2 and also gain the required knowledge and understanding around water safety and an associated personal survival experience for the National Curriculum requirements.
Expert advice and guidance is available to ensure the offer to schools is the very best value to achieve the expected standards within budget provisions.
Working in partnership with the national governing body the ASA (Amateur Swimming Association) we support the recent manifesto, which includes supporting delivery by ensuring every child has access to learning to swim, teacher training is supported, Ofstead monitoring is achievable, secondary swimming still exists, and supporting recommendations that school year 3,and four attend, and non swimmer from year 5 and 6 receive continuous learning.
Special Events – 125 Years of Swimming, Bringing History to Life!
FREE award scheme.
Booking and Staff Requirements
Bookings can be accommodated at any of 9 leisure centres within the City between 9am-3pm, Monday-Friday, from September to July. Sessions are allocated in half termly blocks to ensure consistency and can be booked in multiples of 30, 45 or 60 minutes. All lessons are delivered by instructors with a minimum of a Level 2 NGB qualification and each lesson must have a minimum of 2 qualified instructors, plus the support of school staff. More information about Health & Safety can be found in our policy in the Resources section of the website.
Children are assessed at the start and end of each programme of lessons. Attainment data is collated by the Sport, Outdoor Learning and Adventure Team and is reported back to each school at the end of each programme of lessons. From this, every child receives a free badge (if attained) and certificate each half term.
Our Pledge to You
- To Provide a meaningful, active and safe swimming experience for children.
- To reinforce the stated aims of the school in relation to PE; and the personal and social development of children and their health and wellbeing.
- To meet the requirements of the National Curriculum learning outcomes.
- To provide framework based on sound principles for teaching all of the foundation FUNdamentals and core skills, which underpin the sport of swimming, and create pathways for swimmers from the FUNdamentals phase and aquatic disciplines and long term athlete development.
Contact The School Swimming Service
Contact The School Swimming Service @ SOLAR
Phone:0115 947 6202