Cabinet Secretary Hails the Importance of Learning to Swim
Primary school-aged children in Edinburgh’s Royal Commonwealth Pool experienced a vital water safety lesson when visited by Cabinet Secretary Neil Gray MSP.
Together with preschool lessons, the water safety session was a firm reminder of the importance of children learning to swim and having basic water safety skills to keep them safer in and around water.
Cabinet Secretary Neil Gray MSP commented, “I was pleased to hear about the children’s positive experiences on their journey to become safe and competent swimmers thanks to water safety lessons at the Royal Commonwealth Pool. “We will continue to work closely with sportscotland, Scottish Swimming and other partners to help ensure that every child is given the opportunity to learn to swim.”
John Lunn CEO of Scottish Swimming commented,“Learning to swim is a critical life skill and the core skills of floating and treading water that we have seen today are crucial to give children the water safety skills they need to be safer in, on and around water. Our unique geography in Scotland with thousands of lochs and miles of coastline means danger is never far away so it is critical that children learn vital water safety and swimming skills through school swimming and learn to swim programmes.”
The Scottish Swimming National Learn to Swim Framework, supported by Scottish Water and delivered by 37 providers across Scotland, including Edinburgh Leisure, teaches over 80,000 children every week to be confident, safer and competent swimmers.
Angela McCowan, Sports Development Manager at Edinburgh Leisure commented: “We take pride in being the largest provider of swimming lessons in Edinburgh, with a strong emphasis on water safety in all our teachings. Ensuring that this vital life skill is accessible to everyone is paramount to Edinburgh Leisure and is demonstrated by the 7694 children who learn to swim with us weekly. For School Swimming, Edinburgh Council deliver sessions across the city reaching around 5000 children.”
As well as Learn to Swim, the Scottish Swimming National Primary School Swimming Framework, piloted in 10 Local Authorities, offers flexible school swimming delivery models while maintaining a consistent approach to ensuring all children learn the basics of water safety and swimming skills to be safer in, on and around water.
As an island nation with 11800 km of coastline and 30000 inland waters, water safety is a life-saving skill which all children need access to. School swimming is the only way to ensure fair and equal access to basic swimming and water safety skills for all children.