Sw5jamesgoddard

Posted: 15 Mar 2011 | Channels: Sport, Consumer

Commonwealth Champion Launches British Gas Pools 4 Schools in Salford

Salford children are being taught to swim for free in an innovative portable pool which has been built by British Gas Pools 4 Schools at Wentworth High School, in Eccles.

The facility got the official seal of approval from triple Commonwealth gold medallist and Stockport Metro swimming star James Goddard.

Salford South School Sport Partnership and other local bodies, such as Salford Primary Care Trust, are fully funding the pool, which means there’ll be no cost to Wentworth High School.

British Gas Pools 4 Schools takes a special teaching pool around the country and provides free swimming lessons for children in areas where there is limited access to a swimming pool.

The programme is aiming to teach around 800 children from 15 Salford schools to swim over a six-week period, and will deliver at least 8,000 swimming lessons in total.

It’s hoped this will help local youngsters achieve the National Curriculum target of learning to swim 25m unaided by the time they leave primary school.

One in five children in the UK leaves school without being able to swim, and this statistic rises to four in five in some communities with limited access to a pool.

The 12m by 6m pool, which was built by Total Swimming, has been open since half term. It will remain at Wentworth High School, until 8th April 2011 and will be open to the wider community in the evenings by prior arrangement.