Swim:ED’s groundbreaking ‘pop-up’ pool programme is reinventing school water safety education, raising 25-metre success rates by 157% in the past 12 months.
The UK’s deepening water safety crisis
More children than ever are leaving primary school without life-saving swimming and water safety skills. In 2024, 30% of Year 6 pupils were unable to confidently swim 25 metres – up from 28% the previous year. Despite pockets of progress among younger children, the knowledge gap is expanding across most age groups.
By 2026, it is estimated that 1.2 million children will fall short of the national curriculum’s key requirements:
- Swim competently, confidently, and proficiently over at least 25 metres.
- Use a range of strokes effectively (for example, front crawl, backstroke, and breaststroke).
- Perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.
A perfect storm of instructor shortages, local pool closures, and rising operational costs has made it harder for schools to access and deliver quality swim and water safety education. In the 2022/23 academic year, 35% of primary schools offered fewer than 10 swim sessions per pupil – the equivalent of weekly lessons for just half a term.
While schools struggle to provide essential swimming and water safety instruction, child drowning deaths in England have doubled in the past four years.
Powering change with a pop-up approach
In 2023, Swim:ED launched a game-changing alternative to traditional off-site lessons. Bringing the pool to the playground, we eliminated transport, staffing, and admin pressures with a one-stop package of state-of-the-art swim facilities, experienced instructors, and bespoke swim curriculums.
Enjoying specialist support at every stage, schools benefit from a temporary, heated, purpose-built pool installed and managed directly on their grounds. Facilities are housed in a lockable, industrial-style modular structure, with the option of changing rooms for added ease and privacy.
The comprehensive programme includes flexible timetables, tailored teaching plans, rigorous safety protocols, and a data-driven portal to track pupil milestones.
Redefining school water safety education
Swim:ED’s inclusive, intensive approach speeds and consolidates learning, so children quickly master new skills and put them to practical use.
Over 5-7 disruption-free weeks, children get fifteen 45-minute sessions of specialised, small-group teaching with no more than 12 classmates. Compared to standard off-site arrangements – typically involving weekly 25-minute lessons across ten weeks – schools report greater impact in significantly shorter timescales.
Without time wasted on off-site travel, every moment in the water is maximised – and the proof is in the progress. Swim:ED’s Making Waves, Changing Futures: 2025 Impact Report tracks the development of 15,382 Swim:ED participants over the 2024/25 academic year, sharing achievements of Year 6 leavers, in line with the government’s and Swim England’s assessment standards.
Pre- and post-programme results show remarkable advancement, with 91% of children improving in at least one national curriculum focus area:
- A 157% jump in Year 6 pupils able to swim 25 metres unaided, climbing from 23% to 59%.
- A 119% increase in children mastering multiple strokes – more than doubling from 31% to 68%.
- A 337% improvement rate in safe self-rescue abilities. After Swim:ED, 69% of pupils demonstrated self-rescue skills – rising from 16%.
- A 503% surge in water safety knowledge. Following Swim:ED, 78% of children could explain how to protect themselves in and around the water, compared to 13% before the programme.
Glowing feedback for the Swim:ED programme
Download the 2025 impact report
Swim:ED’s Making Waves, Changing Futures: 2025 Impact Report provides expert guidance and cost-effective plans to consistently boost swim and water safety proficiency. Inside, you’ll find:
- Solutions to common hurdles, including staffing issues, planning problems, and lost teaching time.
- Impressive performance milestones from 2024/25 Year 6 leavers.
- Number-based benefits of the pop-up approach.
- Teacher feedback, industry insights, and case studies from UK primary schools.
- A complete Swim:ED snapshot, including pool and changing facilities, tech tools and templates, custom curriculums, and experienced teaching teams.
To find out more about Swim:ED’s revolutionary swim and water safety education programme, download the report here.
Grab a spot on our discovery webinar
Want to learn more directly from the Swim:ED team? Join us on Thursday 27 November at 4pm for a friendly, informative discovery webinar. We’ll guide you through the Swim:ED programme step by step, helping you explore the possibilities for your school.
