In the swim

The sound of children's laughter echoed around Oxford's Ferry Pool as youngsters gathered around swimming instructor Sue Kemp.

In these days of literacy hours and tightly controlled curriculums, it would seem at least one favourite school activity remains buoyant and fun.

Many of the children lining up on the pool side listening intently to Sue's instructions will be back at the weekend with mums and dads.

But Sue knows well enough that school offers some youngsters their only chance to learn what could prove the most important skill of all - the ability to survive in water.

"From the school's point of view it's vital that primary schools carry on swimming," said Sue, a swimming instructor with Oxford City Council. "A lot of children never go unless they go with the school." But she is not alone in fearing that more and more primary schools are abandoning swimming because of the pressure on schools to hit new academic targets.

A report from Oxfordshire education authority also blames a squeeze on funding for a worrying drop in lessons.

Only weeks ago, an inquest into the tragic drowning of Glen McCulloch, 16, who died after getting into difficulties in the River Thames, near Iffley, served as a cruel reminder that the risks are real enough in a city surrounded by water.

Richard Howard, principal education adviser with Oxfordshire County Council, said: "The percentage of children able to swim 25 metres - a standard considered to be a minimum level of safety - used to be well into the nineties. Now it's dropped into the eighties. It's down to time and money.

"Some schools don't have the money for transport because the budget is so tight. Primary schools are also very focused on academic targets. Our wish is that all children leave primary school with the ability to enjoy swimming and to be safe in the water."

But that is looking increasingly unlikely with many schools phasing swimming out of their curriculum and some abandoning it altogether. Sue Baker, head of St Andrew's CE First School, said: "We think it's very important for children to learn to swim and our Year Three children go every week. We usually have about half the children at the start of the year who cannot swim, but by the end they almost all can."

Although Oxford city council provides help with transport, there are pressures on time.

It's not just time spent in the pool, but time spent getting there and back.

Jill Clapperton, a swimming teacher for the education department at Temple Cowley Pool, said: "At one time the school was booked to capacity. Now it's down to half what it used to be.

"Mostly it's to do with funding, although schools are provided with ten buses a term to help them transport children to and from pools.

"It's also the numeracy and literacy hours that have been introduced into primary schools. Because swimming can take up such a large chunk of a morning, they cannot fit it in."

One school which values the teaching of swimming very highly is Isis Middle School, Meadow Lane, Oxford. Debs McGrail, the Year Five co-ordinator, said: "This year the amount of swimming in the curriculum has dwindled, but we are making sure that non-swimmers go all year round. Those that can already swim will only go for one term.

"We always have about 15-20 children who never learn to swim, but it is a vital part of the curriculum and we are continuing with it."

She added: "We do have problems with supervision of the children, both those in the pool and those who do not go. We have to have parents help with it.

"If children do not learn to swim, it hinders them later on. They are not allowed to go on residential field trips, for instance."

Although it is down to individual swimming pools to provide services for schools, Oxford City Council does have an overall strategy for promoting swimming.

Mark Bowler, the city council's leisure manager, said: "We are quite fortunate in the number of pools we have in the city. With the amount of water around, children can always get into danger so it is important for us to provide facilities for the local community and to promote them so that children can avoid getting into problems."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.