Costs sink school swim scheme
School pool closures, swimming-related costs and the New Zealand curriculum is affecting Kiwi kids’ ability to swim, Water Safety New Zealand chief executive officer Jonty Mills says.
Just over a quarter of schools taught children ‘‘adequate’’ and basic lifesaving skills such as floating with about 75 per cent of schools not able to provide the minimum recommended lessons.
Schools that provided lessons had crept up since 2001 but the time spent in the water had reduced by up to four hours each year. That could affect a child’s skills, Mills said.
‘‘The three biggest barriers for an aquatic education are cost, transport and access to facilities.’’
Rata School principal Dave Appleyard said the Lower Hutt school offered twice the number of recommended lessons, however it was hard to ensure every child could take part.
Most days children turned up without swimwear. Many just did not own a swimsuit, he said.
In the past five years, about 165 school pools have closed and about 135 are at risk of closing because of health and safety, or maintenance costs.
Newtown School principal Mark Brown said teaching children how to be safe around the water was more important than ever with more schools welcoming families immigrating to New Zealand from countries with forgiving aquatic conditions, or limited access to water.
The school was recently awarded a $500,000 grant from Wellington City Council to fix its decaying pool, but many others were not so lucky, he said.
Half an hour outside of Whangarei, Poroti School has battled to keep its community-built pool open. With 37 children on the roll, principal Pauline Johnson said Government funding did not stretch far enough.
Last year it was forced to shut the pool for the season, its future looked grim, Johnson said.
She said children in Poroti had access to secluded swimming holes so they needed to be water-savvy.
Ministry of Education early learning and student achievement associate deputy secretary Pauline Cleaver said schools were required to provide all students with opportunities to learn basic aquatic skills by the end of Year 6.
But exactly what those lessons looked like varied from school to school because each designed its own lessons.
‘‘While we don’t ask schools to report to us on the progress of students, we do expect that schools will inform caregivers and wha¯ nau about their child’s progress as part of their regular reporting.’’
Cleaver admitted pools were expensive to build and maintain which led more schools to use community facilities.
Mills said students were ‘‘missing out’’ because of pressures on the education system.
Water Safety New Zealand has been working to tackle the issue of drowning fatalities through its Water Skills For Life Givealittle page. The money raised will go toward its goal to have the programme reach every Kiwi child before they leave school.