Parents facing two-year swimming lessons wait

Parents facing two-year swimming lessons wait

21 June 2017

PARENTS are being warned they face a two year wait for children’s group swimming lessons in Downpatrick.

Almost two years since Newry Mourne and Down Council publicly pledged to recruit more instructors to meet soaring demand, parents are being told of the huge backlog.

The issue has been highlighted by one disgruntled parent who said she was shocked to be told her child would not gain a place on the council’s swimming programme at Down Leisure Centre for “at least two years”.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said she was involved in the parental campaign two years ago to secure proper swimming provision in the town.

The campaign, which drew hundreds of supporters, was launched at that time by parents who were angry with the council’s controversial plans to abolish private one-to-one swimming instruction at Down Leisure Centre.

The council moved to deter private instructors from using public facilities for lessons and to instead redirect pupils to its own group lessons.

However, parents overwhelmingly rejected the move, warning the council already struggled to cope with existing demand and would be unable to provide lessons to hundreds more children if private lessons were stopped.

The council finally agreed to row back, allowing one-to-one lessons to continue but not permitting group lessons for children over four. At that time the council said it would extend its provision to ensure families had access to its public programme.

Chief Executive, Liam Hannaway promised they would “provide a clear and coherent way forward for the provision of swimming lessons in our district and which ultimately leads to increases in the levels of regular participation in this sport across the district.”

However, the local mum said she was angry the waiting list had “quietly grown” despite the council’s commitment to meet community demand.

“I was surprised to hear that we would wait for two years, which is a ridiculous timescale,” she said.

“The council obviously made attempts to cater for demand for a short time following the public outcry before allowing things to slide back.

“I know other parents on the list. Either the council allows private teachers to use the pool for group lessons, to ensure children are taught water safety and confidence at a young age, or the council gets its act together and sort out a system that works properly.”

Newry Mourne and Down Council has declined to confirm the wait or numbers on the list for Down Leisure Centre.

However, a spokeswoman said it was anticipated that remaining customers would be offered places “over the months following the summer programme”.

“Downpatrick Leisure Centre has made significant progress over the past year in being able to offer swimming lessons to the community and is delivering approximately twice the number of lessons previously delivered prior to introduction of the new Learn to Swim Academy,” she said.

“Additional spaces are also being made available in Kilkeel Leisure Centre and Newry Leisure Centre.  We have over 1,200 weekly lesson spaces throughout our centres.

“Each centre has witnessed excellent retention rates from term to term with the majority of swimmers progressing through the stages of the programme and achieving their competencies.  

“For those that do not progress at the same level as their peers, opportunities for re-enrolment are made available to ensure that they continue their journey and develop their swim proficiencies.

“Based on the varying levels of lessons on offer and various entry level requirements from complete beginner to advanced, new enrolment frequencies per level can fluctuate term by term based on the number of pupils progressing to the next level, outs and also abilities of those on the enquiry list.

“We are nearing completion of awarding spaces to those that were on our enquiry list prior to its closure and we will soon be advertising enrolment evenings for new applicants to our swim programme.”