Swimming
We are very fortunate to be able to run our own swimming pool on site, and are very lucky to have our very own swimming teacher here at Seaton Primary School. Mrs Lawrence has over 7 years experience of teaching children from a variety of backgrounds and settings. She has developed a whole-child approach to teaching, and is very intuitive when trying to meet each child’s needs in the water.
Her qualifications include:
Level 2 Teaching Award
Teaching Adults
Autism Swim: Neurodiversity and Aquatics
School Swimming Academy
Cerebral Palsy and Swimming
Home Educated Families:
We have introduced a Home Educated children’s swimming lessons group here at the school pool. Providing links to the wider community, enabling all children, regardless of their education setting, to learn invaluable skills in swimming. This is something that Mrs Lawrence is very passionate about. Whilst it’s still a relatively new addition to the timetable (less than 2 years), it has already become very successful, with children developing strong swimming skills together with confidence building and learning how to be safe in the water.
Neuro diverse:
Having access to our own pool allows us to support children with Neurodiversity in a smaller session, whether this be on a 1:1 basis, or 1:4 etc. The benefits of water-based activity have been widely recognised. It can also assist in promoting speech and language. In addition to this, children on the spectrum find swimming can promote coordination, self-esteem and cognitive processing. Children have a natural affinity for water. The sensory aspects of swimming, the soothing feel of water, the calming rhythm of movement make it an ideal activity. Children enjoy the feeling of compression that a swimming pool provides. This is another area that Mrs Lawrence is hugely passionate about, both in school lessons and in her lessons outside the normal school day.
"Some of my most precious experiences have been from working with children with additional needs. Seeing them enjoy being in the water and gaining confidence is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. When the children achieve every little milestone, it brings home just how much I love what I do, and it doesn’t feel like a job at all"
Adults:
Whilst the majority of Mrs Lawrence’s lessons are aimed at supporting children on their swimming journey, she is also an advocate for adults learning to swim. Whether it be overcoming a fear of the water, wanting to improve physically, aid and promote healing or, just to focus on mental wellbeing. Swimming is a fantastic all-round form of exercise.
School Links:
As we are the only primary school locally, it has been wonderful to have invited other local schools to participate in swimming lessons here. Last summer was a huge success and thoroughly enjoyable for everyone involved. Creating those links with other schools is always positive. We are thoroughly looking forward to continuing and extending these links over the coming years.
Swimming Galas:
With our relationship with Primary Sports, we are always looking to promote the importance of swimming and hosted our first (in many years) Inter School Swimming Gala this summer. We were really looking forward to bringing together other local schools to participate in what we hope will, once again, become an annual event. It was a huge success, with 3 other local primary schools entering a team. The events were both skill-based traditional events, and some fun races. As let's face it, the whole philosophy behind what we are trying to create here at Seaton, is a fun, child-focused approach to water safety and beyond.
Much to our delight, we were thrilled to have come first across the schools in this gala. Mrs Lawrence was immensely proud of all the children who took part. The effort and values displayed by the children was terrific.
In the future, we are also hoping to reintroduce our own in-house galas, providing opportunities for all the children to participate against their peers in standard stroke races and fun games.
School Lessons:
Whilst it is only statutory for KS2 children to have lessons, with the aim of all children leaving primary school being able to swim at least 25 metres in all formal strokes, we at Seaton primary believe that all children should be able to have a block of lessons regardless of year group. This forms part of the children's PE program.
It is well known that the younger you start teaching your children to swim, the safer they will be in and around the water, which, considering where we live, is hugely important. Our EYFS and year one children will all have the opportunity to enjoy water confidence lessons with Mrs Lawrence during the summer term. This is always a highlight of the school calendar. Each term, different year groups will have a block of lessons, which range from basic water confidence, to stroke refinement and stamina building for our older children.
To finish off our school year swimming calendar, the children in every class are encouraged to participate in 'Fun Swims' in the summer term. It is unclear who enjoys this more; the children or their teachers, who get to be in the pool with their class for a fun-filled hour.
Fund Raising:
Our fabulous PTFA came up with a great fund-raising event which we rolled out across the school earlier in 2025. We 'swam the channel'!!! Each class, over the course of a month, during their normal lessons. Swam with grit and determination, clocking up miles in the pool. From our little ones in Reception classes, to our Year 6 children, the competitiveness and resilience shown by everyone was inspiring!! We not only swam the equivalent of Dover to Calais, but swam all the way back, and part way back again!!! The monies raised will be put towards equipping the pool with some much-needed new equipment that the children will benefit from in the coming year.
Summer Holidays:
Over the Summer Holidays, Mrs Lawrence hosted ‘Family Swim Sessions’. These proved to be very popular, with lots of families attending the closed sessions. It was a joy to be able to watch the children enjoy showing off their skills to their parents. They got to play with the large floats and other water-based equipment. This is something that Mrs Lawrence is now keen to carry on throughout the year, and will be trialling fortnightly Saturday afternoon sessions that families can book on to by contacting Mrs Lawrence directly. Booking is a must to secure a space.
HAF/Happy Hawks
Another area within the school community which have benefited from using the pool is our HAF children and those who attend Happy Hawks during the holidays. This was so much fun for all involved, with the older children taking on a protective ‘buddy’ role with some of the younger children. Being able to offer these opportunities to the children is incredibly rewarding, and hopefully these will continue being popular.
Hiring the pool for a party:
For something different to celebrate your child’s birthday look no further than a fun swim at our School Pool. Mrs Lawrence will gladly lifeguard the celebration and ensure that all the available large floats are out for your children to enjoy. Over the course of this year, we have hosted birthday parties, family gatherings and even a group of families who were on holiday who wanted to book the pool to enjoy some time together on a rainy day.
If you would like any further information regarding hiring the pool for a party, please get in touch. kwwswimming@icloud.com
This has proven to be very popular and is a wonderful way to utilise this fantastic asset outside the normal swimming lessons.