Corby primary school opens pop-up swimming pool in playground

A Corby primary school has opened the town’s first ever pop-up pool to deliver intensive swimming lessons to 350 pupils.

The large heated pool, in the playground at Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Primary in Occupation Road, comes with its own instructor, lifeguard and changing area.

The school is using its ringfenced government School Sports Premium grant to meet the £8,000 hire cost for the February to Easter half term. All schools get the grant and it must be used to provide PE activities and resources.

Members of the school council came up with the idea for the pool and it was organised by PE lead and year 4 teacher Nicola Wilson.

She said: “The buzz around school has been incredible. It’s been so popular with the children.

"It’s heated to 33 degrees and it’s actually pretty warm!”

School council members came up with the idea for the pool in one of their meetings. Year four pupil and school council member Kian said: “I just said ‘how about we get a pool? But I didn’t think we’d get one!"

His council colleague Thomas said: “I told them ‘guys, guys, money is a thing you know!’ but I’m really glad we got it.”

Each child in years one to six is having at least two half-hour swimming lessons in the 1.35m-deep pool per week for four weeks each. Small groups of up to ten mean that the children progress rapidly.

Younger children who would not normally get the chance to have school swimming lessons are able to use the pool.

There are special sessions for children who are nervous in the water or those who have SEN.

Government targets mean that every child should be able to swim 25m, use a range of strokes and be able to self-rescue by the time they leave primary school.

Children normally walk the mile to and from Corby East Midlands Swimming Pool but by the time they have had their lesson, they lose a whole afternoon of school time and often have to walk back to school in inclement weather conditions.

Miss Wilson said: “Some of our younger children have never been swimming before so this is the first time they’ve been in the pool. We’ve had to help some children to get in the pool the first time they’ve used it but their confidence has grown so much.

“It allows us to maximise learning time in other lessons. The turnaround time is just a couple of minutes and we’re able to run nine sessions every day.

"We’re seeing some really good progress.

"It’s been a real learning curve but it’s been worth it to see what the children are getting out of it.

"We’re lucky that we do have a great pool in Corby but there can be quite a long wait for lessons.”

The pool has been hired from Milton Keynes-based Sporty Schools. Around 70 of the school’s pupils have also taken up after-school top-up lessons priced at £5, which means the pool is vacant for less time.