Over the past two weeks, our Year 4 pupils have been making waves at Forest Hill Swimming Pools, taking part in daily hour-long swimming sessions every afternoon. This intensive two-week swimming programme has proven to be an excellent way for children to make remarkable progress in their swimming ability — and our pupils are living proof!

Swimming is an essential life skill, and we recognise its importance both for safety and wellbeing. The National Curriculum highlights that all pupils should be able to “swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres, use a range of strokes effectively [for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke], and perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.”

On the first day, all children were assessed — six confident swimmers were identified, and the remaining pupils were divided into two ability groups to ensure everyone received the right level of support. Over the two weeks, the progress has been extraordinary. Children who had never swum before began swimming independently across the width of the pool using front crawl. By the final session, every pupil had grown in confidence, proudly jumping into the big pool with huge smiles!

The children’s journey perfectly reflects our school’s curriculum vision statement for PE:

Be Passionate.

Be Respectful.

Be Determined.

At first, there was a little anxiety about getting into the water, but through determination and encouragement, every pupil overcame their fears. Now, the whole class loves swimming — a skill that will open up many exciting opportunities for them in the future.

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Better for delivering such high-quality sessions and helping every child gain confidence and joy in the water. Year 4 should be very proud of their achievements — what a fantastic fortnight of swimming success! 🏊‍♂️🌟