SCHOOL SWIMMING: Every Year 4 and 5 pupil in Swansea and Carmarthenshire gets 20 hours of lessons from this term

If your child is in Year 4 or 5 at a primary school in Swansea or Carmarthenshire, they are getting at least 20 hours of swimming and water safety lessons this year, and you won’t be paying for them.

The lessons cover water confidence, how to get yourself out of trouble in the water, and basic swimming, the Welsh Government says. Every pupil in those year groups gets them, whether or not their family could afford lessons before.

First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth launched the scheme, Nofio Ysgol, at Penlan Leisure Centre on Wednesday, crouching at the poolside to talk to children from local schools in the middle of their lesson.

“Learning to be safe and confident around water is a key life skill and one which you can use from childhood through the rest of your life,” he said. “It’s been great to speak to pupils here in Penlan today and to see the school children enjoy their lesson and build their confidence in the pool.”

Nine councils first, the rest by 2028

Swansea and Carmarthenshire are two of nine councils starting this term. The others are Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion, Cardiff, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Gwynedd, Ynys Môn and Wrexham. Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend are not in this first group.

The Welsh Government says every council in Wales will be running it within three years. Heledd Fychan, Minister for Culture and Sport, said starting with nine “means we can learn what works best as we prepare to extend this universal programme to every local authority in Wales by 2028”.

Ms Fychan said the scheme “is about more than swimming. It is about giving every pupil in Wales a foundation to develop lifelong habits that supports their physical and mental wellbeing.”

“Skills that could one day save their life”

Mr ap Iorwerth said: “I look forward to seeing Nofio Ysgol grow across the whole of Wales so that all children have the opportunity to learn and develop skills that could one day save their life.”

Swim Wales, the sport’s governing body, is running the lessons with the councils. Its chief executive Fergus Feeney called it “a significant step forward in ensuring every child in Wales has the opportunity to learn essential swimming and water safety skills”.

“Being able to swim is not only important for health and wellbeing, it is a life-saving skill that can give children confidence in and around water throughout their lives,” he said.

He said it would reach “tens of thousands of young people and their families in communities across Wales”.

Penlan, the pool that stayed open

Penlan Leisure Centre is one of six council-owned centres across Swansea, with Morriston, Bishopston, Cefn Hengoed, Penyrheol and the Elba, run for the council by the not-for-profit trust Freedom Leisure, alongside the LC in the city centre.

Its pool has had help to stay open. In 2023 Swansea Council put around £1.5m from its energy support fund into keeping Freedom Leisure’s centres, the Wales National Pool and the Arena open as bills soared.

Council leader Rob Stewart said at the time that pools elsewhere were closing and the council was “playing our part in making sure that doesn’t happen” in Swansea, adding that access to leisure “is especially the case for young children learning to swim”.

The children at Penlan on Wednesday were in blue Nofio Ysgol caps and kit, with float boards at the ready, as the First Minister and Ms Fychan watched from the side.