Thread 4 Burnham: Be alert, the world needs more lerts

[DuncinToffee]

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Yep, both of my kids had a term of swimming lessons.
It supplemented private lessons. We just had to pay for the coach to the pool but obviously that was an extra expense for a lot of parents.

And as you say it doesn't cover the differences & dangers of open water.

The trouble is there is a difference between mandatory and really mandatory. Don't know if things have improved since 2020.

According to the Swim England, since 2012, the UK government has required primary schools to provide swimming and water safety lessons to all pupils in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. The national curriculum states that by the end of Key Stage 2, all children should be able to swim a minimum distance of 25 metres unaided and use a range of strokes effectively. However, a recent report by Swim England revealed that only 50.6% of primary school children in England achieved this standard in 2019-2020, which is a decline from 51.2% in 2018-2019. The report also found that 20.7% of primary schools did not provide swimming lessons to their pupils, and 36.7% of primary schools did not offer water safety education.

The Blitz Hill living museum with the Victorian Town is NT now so free if you're a member. You have to book though. Excellent day out.

If next year is - as 'forecast' likely to be hotter than this year - then we need to be investing in more signage and introducing specific open water swimming advice although heaven knows how schools can expected to add any more to the curriculum, it already seems very busy.

The above is an issue but that doesn't remove the fact that the lessons are mandatory.

There must be some reason why that 20% aren't doing it. Access, I imagine?

I'd bet thta most of the young people who drowned could swim, in all honesty. At least those who drowned in the lakes and rivers. People who can't swim at all don't tend to enter water.

The biggest issue with the non sea drownings is the hard wired risk taking and , like the road deaths, I really don't know how we undo it.

Agreed. My youngest was still at primary in 2012 and had no school swimming. As you say - access issues.

Growing up in Northern Ireland and close to Lough Neagh (which is no longer suitable for swimming due to pollution), we were always aware of danger and especially rip tides.

Swimming lessons were compulsory then. We were bused to the swimming pool. I loved it because it was an afternoon off.

Both parents were teachers and knew the risks. My mum was excellent at safeguarding but couldn't swim herself. She nevertheless enjoyed a beach holiday.

I haven’t attended any school swimming lessons for a couple of years (thank goodness - noisy, hot and a chaotic amount of disappearing socks) but when I was on the rota they were not taught Float To Live. It was get them in ability groups, get them to 25m by the end of that half term, with one lesson on Rescue from the side. At one point the sole Instructor took the top ability group (who without exception had been taken to private swimming lessons from toddler age by parents) and the accompanying school staff stood on the side with a laminated card with instructions to shout out to the lower ability groups. I raised concerns about that several times and it has now, apparently, changed.
Teaching Float To Live as a priority seems an obvious choice to me, but hey ho.
Every loss of life in the water this summer is a tragedy.
I’ve just come back from a coastal area and avoided 3 sea swims. One in a place that had new signs up. Two where the waves looked a bit too fierce for my swimming ability - I do prefer lakes and river pools. But if you see lots of people swimming and aren’t aware of the specific risks/overestimate your own ability then it’s understandable how people get into difficulty.
The jumping in my local river madness seems to have calmed down, thank goodness. The green muddy sludge and crap at the edges must have got the message through 🤢

We have a lake nearby that is great for swimming but it always closes because of blue-green algae

We also have a quarry turned nature reserve and despite being fenced off and multiple warning signs, people still go swimming in the lake. Volunteers are keeping an eye out so luckily nothing tragic has happened yet.

Access is generally the barrier. Swim England have really been pushing this and many places have had pop up pools to provide lessons to the community.

Im really hoping AP race get involved. I think they could have a real impact on getting the message across.

Also information for refugees/asylum seekers who’s children may have missed these lessons or who may
not understand English enough and need it in their own language.

We are an island nation and compared to Australia which is a bigger island nation we have a very poor education around Open water. Although unimportant through want of trying from bodies which as SE.

I'm a primary school Governor and this was a topic at a meeting recently. Its a combination of not only access to a pool, but also getting the children to the pool (no funds for transport) , sufficient staff ( there aren't sufficient) or volunteers ( not enough) to get them there and support the lessons, dressed etc. and time missed from curriculum.

Like everything in schools it comes down to budget or which there is very little.

Life Saving swimming should not be reliant on volunteers, lack of transport and taking away from the curriculum. It's a necessity. In life.

Indeed. As @Piggywaspushed pointed out above - swimming is a mandatory part of the curriculum.
Sadly financial reality often intrudes.

it shouldn't be - but the reality is different, if the nearest pool is 20 -30 mins drive away and needs 5 adults to accompany - how do they physically get them there for the lesson. The Govt say its mandatory but leave it to the school to pay for out of a non existent budget.

The budget is reliant on the council. Not the government.

Potholes don't drown people.

We have had so many leisure centres with pools close up here, in recent years, and many that are still open have ongoing maintenance issues. The ones remaining are pretty much solidly booked by schools in term time, now.

Apologies if I'm being aggressive and unhelpful.

The organisers of "Farage Fest" - a victory party and rally for the Reform UK leader after the Clacton by-election - are being investigated for failing to get permission to hold it.
Tendring District Council said it had "refused" to grant a Late Temporary Event Notice (LTEN) because the application had not been made in time.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crm9w702k1lo

And according to the Observer, Cottrell has closed his Montenegro business.

My town has an outdoor pool, £5.50 for adults, £3.30 for children, you have to prebook for 2 hour slots.

We also have a river.

Guess where the poor people that can't afford swimming lessons go to play.

Despite my insistence on safe depths in the sea and only using lifeguarded beaches to swim (ankle deep fine without lifeguards), ds2 got caught by a rip tide in Perranporth when he was a teen. Fortunately I spotted him immediately, grabbed him and followed advice to swim with the waves slightly sideways to bring us both in. I was very happy to see the lifeguard heading in our direction, even though we were back in a safe depth when he got to us, albeit in with the surfers.

It is so easy to get caught out when you don't know the beach or the tides, or inland with rivers and lakes.

^This is true, being a good swimmer is not enough. Experienced swimmers can drown if they get swept away by a strong current. I nearly did once and I’m a fairly strong swimmer.

But during this very hot summer it’s easy to understand why so many young people have been enticed into the water, and it’s really tragic that there have been so many drownings this year. 😢

That's why telling teenagers etc what to do if they are faced with a strong rip tide, if they are too tired to climb back onto the rocks etc is important.
There was an awful tragedy a few years ago near us where a teenage boy who was a strong swimmer intervened to save his family including much younger siblings. Successfully got all of them back onto the rocks but was then too exhausted to climb back himself and was swept away. The really sad thing is the currents in the area don't take you out to sea. They take you out into the much larger harbour and if you know to concentrate on floating rather than fighting the current you would have a much stronger chance of survival. But what you can't do is "teach" 17 year old boys not to go into the water to save their little sister for example. I think there has to be a combination of teaching swimming, teaching water safety skills (don't swim in places with riptides etc) AND teaching what to do if you do get into trouble.

You're not wrong. Austerity has been unhelpful and human behaviour can also be unhelpful.

A post was deleted and this was the reason for it. On a thread that was an open book for rascim.

'I think there has to be a combination of teaching swimming, teaching water safety skills (don't swim in places with riptides etc) AND teaching what to do if you do get into trouble.'

agree with this. The risks seem to stem from swimming in unfamiliar settings which present different risks.