Swimming
Swimming
At St Mary’s, we are fortunate to have our own 12.5 metre heated swimming pool that is situated at the heart of our school. Back in 1970, our school community helped to fundraise and build the pool. At the time, the pool was open air. Since then, again with the help of our parents and funding, the pool has had many upgrades which includes a roof that opened in the summer months, then a fixed roof, new changing rooms, re-tiling the pool and more recently the poolside.
Our aim is that every child has a positive, safe, calm, and enjoyable experience in swimming. Children have a weekly swimming lesson from Reception to Year 6.
Typically, in Reception children will gain water confidence: learn to float; put their face in the water and begin to swim with and without aids. By Year 6, we have built on their skills and techniques and moved onto water and beach safety, synchro swimming and water polo.
There are three swimming outcomes that children should achieve by the time they leave in year 6 .
They must be able to swim competently, confidently, and proficiently over at least 25 meters.
They must be able to use a range of strokes effectively (front crawl, backstroke, breaststroke).
They must be able to perform a safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.
We are proud to share with you our results from 2020-2023
96% children could swim proficiently over at least 25 meters
96% Children could use a range of strokes effectively
98% Children could perform a self-rescue.
We follow our own scheme of work that is adapted to our pool size.
Booster lessons are taught at St. Mary’s for pupils who need a little extra support with their swimming or certain skills and techniques. The number of children in each booster lesson is smaller than a normal class. The booster lessons are aimed at ensuring that children are getting the best chance to achieve the above three outcomes. Alongside this, we also teach smaller groups for children with SEND or other additional needs. These are sensory and learning groups.
“ Success doesn’t come from what you do occasionally; it comes from what you do consistently”
