Nearly 8 in 10 children in Cardiff can't swim, data shows
ITV Wales' Issa Farfour went to the Western Leisure Centre in Cardiff where children from Ysgol Nant Caerau attend their swimming classes
Just 16% of children in Cardiff can swim, according to data collected by Cardiff Metropolitan University and Swim Wales.
But Cardiff council says it's coming up with a plan to make sure as many children as possible get the chance to learn to swim in school.
According to the data, only 57% of primary schools in the city sent pupils to swimming lessons in 2022 to 2023.
A teacher from Ysgol Nant Caerau says the cost of living crisis could be the reason why fewer children know how to swim.
Mali Bird, Year Four teacher at Ysgol Nant Caerau said "swimming lessons are expensive"
"For me, it's such an important thing. Swimming is a life skill to have especially for children and younger children these days," she said.
"It's so important for them to develop the basic skills for swimming. I know that children in my class really have found swimming lessons positive in the past two weeks and they can't wait to carry on the swimming lessons."
When asked why she thought fewer children know how to swim, Ms Bird said: "If I'm completely honest then I do think it's the cost of living crisis.
"Swimming lessons are so expensive and we are lucky enough to have the school pay for the two weeks' lessons for the children to be able to have the swimming lessons."
Adham Mahmood, a swimming instructor at Western Leisure Centre, said: "By being at the leisure centre, they learn how to get inside the pool safely, what should they be looking around for - like safety signs - and to understand the area around them.
"So, they learn the safety of swimming, as you don't have to be a swimmer but you have to be safe in water."
Scrutiny committee member, Cllr Catriona Brown-Reckless, said she was shocked by these new figures.
"I was really saddened. I'm a mother and my children get to swim and I want to see other children get to learning how to swim," she said.
"We have a lot of swimming pools in Cardiff - there isn't really a shortage of facilities - but what I do see is when I come to swimming pools during term time during school days, they are often relatively quiet. We've got these facilities, so let's use them."
Levels of swimming ability are assessed against the Nofio Ysgol School Swimming and Water Safety standard.
Hannah Guise, Swim Wales National Learn to Swim manager, said that swimming lessons are getting expensive.
"The average cost for swimming lesson in Wales is £7.66 for a 30 minute lesson, which is actually a 21 percent increase since 2020," she said.
"So, it's beyond the means for a lot of people in our community to afford to pay for swimming lessons. So, they are reliant on schools taking their children to give them lessons for these potentially life saving skills."
Cardiff’s figures are significantly lower than the Welsh average, which is 41%.
GLL, which runs leisure centres in Cardiff, is currently coordinating with a number of other swimming providers to work out how to improve school swimming and boost use during quieter periods.
Data collated by GLL shows membership has increased across its leisure centres between March 2023 and March 2024. However, numbers are down at a number of locations compared with 2019 figures.
Maindy Centre has seen the biggest dip since 2019 with 820 fewer members, followed by Llanishen Leisure Centre with a drop of 545 members.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Swimming should be one of the range of physical activities that learners participate in as part of the new Curriculum for Wales.
"We fund Sport Wales’s free swimming initiative which provides a minimum of one free splash session each weekend for young people in every local authority run pool, and an additional two free sessions a week during the summer holidays.”
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