Y6 Swimming and Water Safety

National Curriculum requirements for swimming and water safety

• swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres
• use a range of strokes effectivelya
• perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.

It is an Ofsted requirement that all schools publish how many of their year 6 pupils have achieved the national curriculum (NC) key stage 2 swimming requirement.
The Schools' Swimming and Water Safety Standards Test is a standardised test that measures whether a child possesses the knowledge and the skills to enable them to be safe in and around the water and to potentially rescue themselves from a life threatening situation.  The belief behind it being that every 11-year old child should leave primary school with the skills to keep themselves safe while enjoying swimming with friends and family.
Measuring this requirement is vital to ensure that schools are able to effectively target their swimming provision to meet these standards but also for parents to be aware of their children’s swimming ability and to help take an active role in ensuring their child’s safety around water environments.

  • During 2022-23 at Beech Green, pupils in Years 2 to 6 were given a course of swimming lessons
  • Beech Green pupils in Year 6 had a swimming and water ability assessment by qualified swimming teachers.

The percentage of Y6 pupils who achieved the national curriculum (NC) key stage 2 swimming requirment is:-

Academic year 2022-23:

54% can swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at  least 25 metres.

54% use a range of strokes effectively [for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke].

100% can perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.

During the 2023-24 academic year, we will have an on-site swimming pool for all of Term 3. It is our intention that all children in Key Stage 2 will have access to intensive swimming lessons every day for a week, and that those children in Year 6 who have not met the expected standard during their lesson will have additional "catch up" sessions for a further week.