Too many children out of their depth, warn swimming teachers (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Too many children out of their depth, warn swimming teachers

4:00pm Monday 11th June 2012 in Romsey

A THOUSAND children are currently learning to swim at a Romsey leisure centre, double the numbers of five years ago.

However, the Rapids leisure centre has said that there is still a lot more to be done and that many children are still not learning the skill which could save their life.

Recently, the Amateur Swimming Association, announced research showing that one in three children leaves primary school unable to swim.

Despite compulsory school swimming lessons for 11-year-olds, more than 200,000 go on to senior school each year without having mastered the lifesaving techniques.

“We have a lot of children in our swim school, but there’s still many, many more out there that we don’t see – and that’s a great shame,” said Rapids swimming lesson co-ordinator, Sue Perkins.

“We work with lots of schools and school lessons are good for a taster, but they’re not normally enough to get people to be confident swimmers “Quite a bit of the school lessons are taken up by just getting the children confident being in the water. They often need extra lessons to feel safe and secure.

“We encourage parents to bring their children swimming when they’re just months old, from as soon as they’ve had their second immunisation. Starting early helps with water confidence.”

The centre is offering some discounted sessions to help encourage children: there’s a child special on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and a family swim on Friday evenings. For more information about swimming lessons, call Sue Perkins, on 01794 830333.