7th June 2021
Dear Parents/Carers,
In line with government advice during the COVID pandemic, school swimming lessons were suspended early in 2020, although some leisure swimming pool facilities have since reopened under certain restrictions.
Durham County Council are keen to restart swimming lessons as early and as safely possible. With this in mind they are working to restart the county school swimming programme from Monday 14th June 2021.
Whilst they are able to restart the delivery of school swimming lessons, there will be a number of differences which we have had to implement in line with advice from national bodies (such as Swim England, ‘Returning to the Pool’ – 2020). There will be some differences to entrance and exit routes, changing room allocation and capacity, transport logistics, hygiene and cleaning regimes.
To ensure they are able to deliver a Covid-19 secure school swimming programme to schools they are also having to operate an alternating two-week timetable for the foreseeable future.
Schools have been allocated new lesson times to ensure capacity to deliver lessons to all schools throughout the county. These will enable schools to provide lessons and assessment to year 6 pupils only over the Summer term 2021. This will be reviewed for the start of the new academic year 2021/22
Nettlesworth Primary has been allotted School Swimming Time as follows:
| Week 1 | Week 2 |
| 14th – 18th June | 21st – 25th June |
| 28th June – 2nd July | 5th – 9th July |
| 12th – 16th July (No Swimming Thursday 15th July) |
They will continue to review guidance and respond to changes in guidance as it occurs. As updated information emerges, this will be provided to schools.
Covid-19 School Swimming Timetable: (Freemans Quay Leisure Centre)
| School | Week 1 or 2 | Day of lesson | Time of lesson |
| Nettlesworth Primary School
|
Week 2
|
Thursday 24th June
Thursday 8th July
|
9.15 – 9.55 |
Further supportive information:
- Schools should only bring pupils from one bubble- No mixing of bubbles
- Pupils that are not swimming should stay at school.
- Showers and vanity areas are closed.
- Outdoor shoes must be removed before entering onto the poolside
- Teachers will teach from the poolside only – there is no ‘in water’ teaching
- Swimming teachers will be unable to support with the application of swimming hats or application of teaching aids.
- Education Swimming Teachers that are external to a school bubble should adhere to government guidance on social distancing
- Where it is not possible to stay 2m apart, everyone should keep a distance of 1m plus precautions.
- School teachers and teaching assistants that are internal to the bubble can replicate the same procedures through swimming lessons as they do in the classroom.
- Swimming pools have been adapted to use amended entry and exit system throughout the swimming pool, please follow these upon entering the building
- Swimming Teachers and leisure centre staff will be on hand to support the moving around of classes during lessons.
- Each swimming pool facility has accessible sanitisation in place
- School staff will be required to wear face coverings whilst attending all swimming pool facilities across County Durham
- School staff will support the lesson delivery with the following:
- Group management on poolside to help maintain social distancing
- Manage pupil behaviour
- Support from within the pool if required
- Assist with putting on and removing teaching aids
- Assist with putting on swim hats and goggles
- Allocated changing areas will be provided for lessons
- Toilets can be used but managed as one in/one out.
Freemans Quay Leisure Centre:
Entry to the building
- The school will wait outside until a member of staff/swimming teacher will welcome them into the building.
- All pupils and teachers will be asked to sanitize their hands on entering the building. Teachers and any other adults attending will need to wear face masks at all times.
- The swim teacher will lead the group, following the directional arrows, to a seated area where the children and teachers will take off their outdoor footwear. Shoes etc will be left in the boxes provided.
Walk through to the changing rooms
- The swimming teacher will show the children to the designated changing area. They will enter via the blue door which leads onto the small pool.
Use and allocation of changing rooms
- Schools will use the two group changing rooms; one for male and one for female
- There are no lockers available within these group changing rooms, however, the rooms will be locked when the children go to their lesson
Entry onto the poolside
- The swimming teacher will lead the class to the poolside for their lesson in the small pool
Exit from the poolside and exit from the changing village
- The swimming teacher will lead the class back to the group changing rooms in the changing village and, once dressed, lead them back out.
- Footwear will be replaced. This need to be done as quickly as possible to avoid congestion.
Exit from the building
- Children and teachers will then exit through the main door following the directional arrows.
For the two allocated lessons: Thursday 24th June 2021 and Thursday 8th July 2021, children will need a swimming costume/swimming trunks, a towel and a swimming hat.
No jewellery, tattoos or nail varnish are allowed on in the pool and girls will need to have their hair tied back.
Children are allowed to bring swimming goggles but floatation aids and everything else are provided by the centre.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Kind Regards
Donna Lee
Head Teacher
