Swimming

The support we offer:

We offer your child and family a guarantee to learn an essential life skill and knowledge that could save their life!

At Oasis Academy Short Heath we are putting extra money aside for swimming in the Academic Year 2021/22. This will allow all of our children in KS2 to have access to 10 hours of swimming lessons, delivered by fully qualified swimming teachers. We are also ensuring that the whole of Year 2 has at least 5 hours of swimming lessons each, delivered by a fully qualified swimming teacher.

We want to encourage swimming to be a family activity. So, for the academic year of 2021/22, we are trialling the adult and child experience. Learning together and developing a life long love of swimming and respect for the water. This will allow parents to join their child in the swimming pool, on their child's swimming days.

In Year 1, during the summer term, we will be giving a similar opportunity to the children and their adult to gain water confidence. So that over the Summer Holidays they can have the confidence to visit the pool as a family and be ready to fully engage on their journey to learn to swim in Year 2.

By extending swimming down to Year 1 we will not only develop an ‘Academy love for swimming’ but also enable families to have opportunities that they may not have experienced so that as a family they can enjoy and achieve at swimming.

Evidence of impact - Academic Year 2020/21:

We trialled extra swimming sessions from April 2021. We did this because so much swimming was lost due to Covid.

WE WILL NEVER LOOK BACK!

We have achieved our greatest number of children swimming 25m+ in the history of the academy:

• 86% of Year 6 (51 children) are fully competent and confident and able to swim at least 25m on their front and back.
• The remaining 8 children can ALL swim ranging from 5m -20m.
• Before extra sessions, only 63% of Year 6 children could swim 25m+ with 8 children unable to swim and afraid of the water.
• Post Booster Sessions, with extra hours of swimming - 86% of children able to swim 25m+ and 14% of children able to swim between 5m and 20m.

How has there been such an impact?

• We have allocated extra money from the academy budget.
• We value swimming as an essential life skill
• By ensuring that we have at least 2 fully qualified swimming teachers on pool side.
• By having fully qualified staff members to teach swimming in addition to the pool teachers.
• With our parents support in the quick turnaround of their child's fresh swimming kit (e.g. Wednesday and Thursday swimming lessons)
• By attending swimming twice weekly for a total of 2 hours of quality swimming instruction.
• Pupils feel safe and able to achieve in the leisure centre environment.

A big thank you to Erdington Leisure Centre for helping to make this happen!