Advertisement Feature
One in three UK children leave primary school unable to swim 25 metres. FIFTH Movement’s Swim:ED trailblazing pop-up pool programme boosts results by 160%.
A revolutionary ‘pop-up’ pool programme is tackling the UK’s deepening school swimming crisis and Tameside schools are among those seeing the benefits.
The national curriculum requires Year 6 pupils to confidently swim 25-metres, know a range of strokes, and perform safe self-rescue. Yet in 2023, 28% of children left primary school without these potentially life-saving skills.
Swim:ED, delivered locally by FIFTH Movement, is reversing this trend. Its innovative on-site pools have dramatically improved results, with 82.3% of children making progress in at least one key area, and a 160% surge in pupils able to swim 25 metres.
Tackling the challenges of off-site swim lessons
According to Sport England, 36% of state primary schools offered either no swim instruction or fewer than 10 lessons per pupil in 2022/23. Local pool closures, high transport costs, and a shortage of instructors are often to blame.
Swim:ED solves these challenges by bringing a purpose-built pool and qualified instructors directly onto school grounds. The secure, modular structure, complete with changing facilities, is installed on the school playground, creating a safe, convenient space for swimming lessons.
By removing the need for costly travel and wasted journey time, pupils maximise every moment in the water. Schools also receive tailored lesson plans, digital toolkits, and access to an online platform that tracks progress against national curriculum milestones.
Impressive results across every focus area
The Swim:ED 2024 Impact Report highlights achievements across 7,589 pupils nationwide:
- 160% increase in Year 6 pupils able to swim 25 metres unaided, from 20.7% to 53%.
- 6% more children able to swim multiple strokes, from 26% to 71%.
- 7% increase in safe self-rescue skills, from 11.03% to 65.28%.
- 912% more pupils could explain how to stay safe around water, rising from 8% to 82%.
Each pupil takes part in fifteen 45-minute sessions over three intensive weeks, learning in small groups of no more than 12, ensuring individual support and rapid progress.
Giving more children the chance to swim
FIFTH Movement Founder, Jared Berndt, said:
“We joined the Swim:ED programme because we believe every child deserves a safe, supportive, and accessible place to swim. By removing the barriers of off-site lessons, Swim:ED gives pupils life-saving skills that build confidence in and out of the water. I, personally, never learnt how to swim in school, and later on in life this affected me, meaning I had to self-teach by watching swimming videos and I believe strongly that swimming is a right, not a privilege.”
A short video showcasing Swim:ED in action is available here:
Find out more: www.fifthmovement.co.uk/swimed