A GROUP of young pupils from Orkney have been praised for their commitment to swimming – travelling almost an hour for lessons.
The young students from Rousay Community Islands travel five minutes by bus to the Rousay port to get a 25-minute ferry to Tingwall port then a further 25-minute bus ride just to arrive at the swimming pool each week to attend the national Learn to Swim programme.
The class of seven to 11-year-olds take part in the lessons at the Pickaquoy centre in Kirkwall. which is one of the two swimming lesson providers on the island that are in partnership with Orkney Islands Council.
Lessons are given to the pupils as part of the partnership between Scottish Swimming and Scottish Water – backed by medal-winning Olympians Duncan Scott and Toni Shaw – to help children become safer and more confident in and around water.
Katie Lucas, headteacher at Rousay community school, said: “Learning to swim is such an important skill and we want to equip our pupils to be safe in and around water.
“It is an added bonus that learning to swim brings a lot of other benefits too, such as improving a child’s physical and mental wellbeing.”
The swimming lessons, which started a few years ago, were put on pause due to the Covid pandemic and this is the first year that classes have been able to start back up again – with more than 500 students attending each week.
Calvin Reid, operations Manager at The Pickaquoy Centre, said: “It is so important to learn how to swim, especially when living in remote locations surrounded by water, so we’re always delighted to welcome Rousay Community School – especially after the extraordinary effort they make to travel to the pool.
“The lessons are a mixture of abilities and ages, so we split the class. For the younger and non or weak swimmers we would focus on early skills development like breathing, body position in the water, sculling and other practices that will encourage skills in stroke progression.”
More than 160 pools provide the learn to swim lessons to more than 100,000 children with a goal in place to teach a further 100,000 by 2025.
Euan Lowe, chief executive officer at Scottish Swimming, said: “Swimming is more than just a sport – it’s essential for the health and safety of the nation.
“We’re delighted to see the Learn to Swim programme working so well in rural communities enabling young people to develop the confidence, skills and a real love of swimming.”
Olympic medallist swimmers Scott and Shaw are ambassadors for the framework that is taught across 36 leisure centres allowing essential swimming skills to be taught at a young age.
The framework allows the pupils to grow their skills in swimming to give them the chance to be more competent in the water as well as opportunities to progress in the sport or just as a hobby.
Brian Lironi, director of Corporate Affairs with Scottish Water, said: “The Learn to Swim programme presents an opportunity to create a generation of young Scots who are safe and confident swimmers – it’s fantastic to see that even when pools aren’t always within easy reach, geography is no barrier to learning to swim.”
