Olympic swimming champion promotes £1 million fund to keep school pools open
An Olympic swimming champion is offering schools across the region investment to maintain and keep swimming pool facilities open.
Rebecca Adlington is offering schools in the West Midlands the chance to receive part of a £1 million funding investment.
The four-time Olympic medallist is launching the lifeline for schools, after data showed that one in three children left primary school unable to swim the statutory 25 metres, with a rising trend due to school pool closures.
In a bid to solve the issue, and give more children opportunities to learn to swim, as well as combating the growing obesity crisis, Rebecca is launching The Movement Project.
The initiative from Total Swimming Academies and Vivify Venues is offering schools in West Midlands a £1 million investment fund to help them remain open.
The funds can be used for a range of maintenance works including new changing room facilities, viewing galleries, pool plant works or to build a reception area.
In addition, The Movement Project will support schools in managing facility operations to ensure school pool and dry side facilities stay open outside school hours, providing vital access to the local community.
Rebecca said: "There aren’t enough pools in the country as it is, and the impact of so many public pools closing this past year is catastrophic.
"The reason school pools are important is because their main priority is national curriculum swimming.
"They’re absolutely fundamental to achieving national curriculum swim targets, and equipping children with the basic skill set they need, when they leave for secondary school."
Rebecca said she is pleading with schools to fast-track swimming to the top of the agenda, saying swimming should be prioritised just as much as core subjects as it’s a life-saving skill every child deserves to have.
She said: "I can’t see that there is a more important activity that children should be doing in schools than learning to swim at primary age.
"We know that physical activity is key to tackling the obesity crisis and supports mental health and I implore headteachers and governors to take this seriously."
To learn more about the funding, go to totalswimming.co.uk/the-movement-project
