Swimming

The new swimming pool has arrived, and we couldn’t be more excited! The pool has been upgraded with excellent changing facilities and showers. The pool itself boasts a large size and is 1.2 meters deep to allow our pupils more freedom when learning to swim. The pool comes with colour changeable lights and bubble jet steam to give our pupils an opportunity to explore different senses whilst in the pool.

The Delamere swim scheme is designed to give confidence to children in the water and give them the ability to become better swimmers.

Our Aims:

• To promote healthy and active lifestyle through swimming.
• To provide a safe and challenging where children can manage and take risks.
• To build confidence and self-esteem.
• To give children the skills they need to swim.
• To promote fun and enjoyment through swimming.
• To develop skills of communication, co-operation and collaborative learning.

How will we achieve this?

• Each class is given the opportunity to swim on a weekly basis.
• Personal and professional growth of the staff leading the swimming sessions.
• To continue to develop our practise and make improvements the more we use the pool.
• To update and refresh the resources that are used in the pool.
• Use of swimming interventions for some children.
• Use Delamere Splash Assessment programme alongside certificates for children when they move up a level.

Delamere’s first Swimming Gala

This year we held our first ever whole school swimming gala. A selection of children were chosen to represent their class in the gala, which saw 2 classes go head to head in a series of fun races, games and swimming skills showcases. It was a great opportunity for the children to display their swimming skills in front of an audience and also to be exposed to the competitive side of swimming as a sport. The children all did amazing and coped brilliantly with using the pool in a different way and with different people.

Welcome to our new swimming instructor – Annie

Annie from Aqua links has been working with some of our children once a week in developing their water confidence and swimming skills. This year so far she has been working with Deer Class and Rabbit Class. The children have made some fantastic progress and have really enjoyed their sessions with Annie.

Swimming Interventions

Every class at Delamere has an allocated pool slot to enable all classes to access the pool and splash sessions. In addition this year we have an external swimming teacher who has been working with some classes to offer swimming interventions. We also offer targeted swimming interventions for some pupils which follow the Delamere splash scheme, work on building positive relationships with adults and also on boosting self esteem and confidence.

Have a look through our gallery at some of our Splash sessions:

Children are really enjoying their splash sessions. Their confidence in the water and their independence is continuing to develop and they are showing more signs of independence in achieving their personal swimming targets.

The children in EYFS have responded very positively to splash sessions in our swimming pool. 

They have tolerated being guided around their water on their front and back and been able to purposefully splash their hands and kick their legs. Some of the children have started to use PODD mats to make simple requests in the water too.  The pool is an amazing resource to help develop communication and interaction skills

Some of our parents came to school to watch some of our splash sessions. The children enjoyed swimming on their backs and fronts and moving through the water. They also made good eye contact when the adult was singing nursery rhymes to us. The children are growing in confidence each week in the water and each week we can see progression. The pupils love their swimming session!