PRIME MINISTER'S PERSONAL APPROVAL FOR £8.25M SWIM
SCHEME
An initiative designed to increase the number of children
learning to swim while at school has received an £8.25m
boost as part of a Government campaign to give every child
the opportunity of five hours of sport every week.
In unveiling the £100m Department for Children, Schools
and Families campaign, Prime Minister Gordon Brown awarded
further funding to the Amateur Swimming Association's (ASA)
School Top Up Swimming scheme - an initiative that is personal
to Mr Brown.
Pupils nationwide receive intensive coaching over a two-week
period to ensure more are able to meet the minimum life skill
requirement and therefore reduce the number of people who
drown each year.
On the eve of the DCSF announcement, at a Labour Party dinner
to celebrate 10 years of the its involvement in sport, the
Prime Minister spoke to ASA Chief Executive David Sparkes
and ASA Director of English Programmes Anne Adams-King about
his interest in the sport and described a lack of swimming
provision when he was at school.
"The Prime Minister spoke about the fact he didn't learn
to swim until secondary school because there simply wasn't
swimming provision in primary schools at that time,"
said Mrs Adams-King
"We spoke about a further three-years of funding for
School Swimming Top Ups as we collectively aim to get every
child to learn to swim.
"It is something the Prime Minister and his wife Sarah
strongly believe in and they spoke about taking their son
John swimming when he was five months old and the fact Mrs
Brown herself is a keen swimmer."
The ASA joined forces with the Government in 2005 to increase
the number of youngsters able to swim at least 25m by the
age of 11 and additional funding will ensure the programme
continues to deliver.
The first phase of the School Swimming Top Up scheme saw
the former Department for Education and Skills award £5.5m
to the programme from 2006 to 2008. The next wave of funding
will support the scheme with £2.75m a year for the next
three years.
Chief Executive Mr Sparkes has welcomed the announcement
that will enable even more children to achieve the national
curriculum standard.
"We welcome this further investment in our School Swimming
Top Up programme that has been such a great success since
it was introduced two years ago," said Sparkes.
"It clearly shows the Government's commitment to school
sport and in particular the need to ensure more of our children
are learning to swim at the right time in their development.
"This funding will allow us to build on our current
programme and increase further the numbers of children leaving
primary school with basic swimming life skills and hopefully
helping to reduce the number of young people who lose their
lives each year in water related accidents.
"The scheme also reinforces the Government's health
agenda as improvements in basic swimming skills will encourage
more young people to engage in healthy activity outside of
normal curriculum time.
Mr Sparkes was pleased to hear that sport will remain a high
priority for the new Government under Mr Brown's leadership
as indicated by the commitments given in today's funding announcement.
"It's clear that sport has moved up the political agenda
under the previous Prime Minister and Mr Brown has now given
strong suggestions that it remains a priority for him."
"On a number of occasions the Prime Minister has made
reference to a chance meeting he had with a swimmer at the
UK School Games earlier this year. The young swimmer talked
with him about training twice a day at 5.30am and then again
in the evening and he was impressed by the commitment shown.
""She invited the Prime Minister to see her train
or, alternatively, he could wait until 2012 and watch her
at the London Olympics. This left a strong impression on him
as Mr Brown felt this girl epitomised everything about the
spirit, enthusiasm and character of British sport. Today's
announcement will help to nurture even more of these committed
young athletes."
The School Swimming Top Up scheme evolved as a result of
pilot schemes in Durham and Bristol in 2003 where 57% of those
pupils attending achieved their Key Stage 2 standard by the
end of a two-week course.
In announcing the campaign the Prime Minister called for
a "united team effort" in the run up to 2012 to
make sport a part of every child's day to build a greater
sporting nation and a fitter nation.
The Prime Minister wants schools, parents, volunteers, coaches
and the sports world to offer the equivalent of an hour of
sport to every child, every day of the school week.
The plans include greater emphasis on competition within
and between schools, a network of competition managers and
a new National School Sports Week.
The new funding will provide:
* up to five hours of sport per week for all pupils, including
two hours within the curriculum, and three hours for young
people aged 16-19;
* a new National School Sport Week, championed by Dame Kelly
Holmes where all schools will be encouraged to run sports
days and inter-school tournaments. This will build on the
success of the UK School Games and its impact on motivating
young people to take part in competitive sport;
* a network of 225 competition managers across the country
to work with primary and secondary schools to increase the
amount of competitive sport they offer;
* more coaches in schools and the community to deliver expert
sporting advice to young people.
The new funding builds on the £633 million already
committed to creating a world-class school sport and PE system
over the next three years.
The Prime Minister said: "We need to put school sport
back where it belongs, playing a central role in the school
day. I was lucky enough to have primary and secondary schools
that had sport at the centre of their ethos. I want every
child to have that opportunity to take part.
"Watching sport is a national pastime. Talking about
sport is a national obsession. But now we need to make taking
part in sport a national characteristic.
"Whatever their natural ability and whatever their age
sport and activity can make our children healthier, raise
self-confidence and self-esteem. It develops teamwork, discipline
and a sense of fair play. Values that will stand young people
and the country in good stead in the years to come.
"To do this will take a concerted campaign, a real team
effort. Government is doing its bit. Schools, parents, volunteers
and the sporting world can do theirs. I call on them to join
us. Together we can help every child be the best they can
be."
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