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Cambridge City Council

School swimming

School swimming lessons take place at Abbey, Parkside and King's Hedges Learner Pool. Local primary schools use the pools to deliver their swimming lessons. 

We support these primary schools by ensuring that GLL (our leisure contractors) provide free pool time for lessons. 

Some schools use their own school teachers to deliver the lessons but most schools pay GLL’s swimming teachers. This ensures the quality of the lessons is of a high standard.

The department of education states that all schools must provide swimming instruction in either key stage 1 or 2. In particular, pupils should be taught to: 

  • swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres
  • use a range of strokes effectively
  • perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations

Swim England supports this, suggesting that at least 25 hours per child is devoted to curriculum swimming. This can include time learning about water safety in the classroom. 

Visit the Swim England website to find out more about the schools swimming charter.

We also support Cambridgeshire Home Educating Families (CHEF) by ensuring that GLL provide free pool time for these lessons to take place. Contact CHEF to find out more.

If you are a school or parent, contact us for more general information about school swimming.

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