Why Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington is fighting for schools in West Midlands

Rebecca Adlington OBE is offering local schools in the West Midlands the chance to receive part of a £1 million funding investment.

The four-time Olympic medallist is launching the lifeline for schools that may be struggling to maintain and keep swimming pool or dry side facilities open.

Shocking data shows that one in three children leave primary school unable to swim the statutory 25 metres - but Rebecca fears this number will be much higher due to the rising trend for school pool closures.

In a bid to solve the issue the swimmer is launching The Movement Project - an initiative from Total Swimming Academies and Vivify Venues - which is offering schools in West Midlands a £1million investment fund to help them remain open.

It is also hoped that the inititiative will give more children opportunities to learn to swim - as well as combating the growing obesity crisis,

The funds can be used for a range of maintenance works including new changing room facilities, viewing galleries, pool plant works or to build a reception area.

BirminghamWorld spoke with Rebecca about the project

‘We wanted to make a difference’

Touching on how The Movement Project came about, Rebecca said: “Our company, Total Swimming Academies, already do refurbishments and developments on pools, and we already work with a number of different schools - so we already had that kind of project underway for a couple of years.

“After coming out of lockdown and into that period where we all kind of joined back up again, and school lessons were able to resume - we noticed how many pools had shut down because the schools had been shut.

“Or, if they weren’t shut, they had been running very small numbers for key workers, so they hadn’t been used for a long time and had got into a bad place where they hadn’t been maintained.

“And we noticed in some communities the local pool had shut down so the local residents didn’t even have a pool to go to.

“So we’re now looking to find the facilities that are still there, and are still available that might need that bit of funding and bit of TLC.

“But they’re certainly going to be usable - because some schools just don’t have the funding to do it themselves - they don’t have a spare £10k to redo the changing rooms or other facilities.

“It’s not always just the pool, but galleries and changing rooms for example all need to be a really safe environment.

“It’s about giving schools those funds and a lifeline if you like, so we came together with Vivify Venues and said how can we make a difference and that’s how The Movement Project was born.”

The project will move through the country, targeting schools region by region - starting with the West Midlands.

‘Swimming is such a fundamental life skill’

Rebecca is also pleading with schools to fast-track swimming to the top of the agenda, saying swimming should be prioritised just as much as core subjects as it’s a life-saving skill every child deserves to have.

Figures show that 96% of children aged 7 to 11 in England - more than 3.4 million - will not have the fundamental skills to stay safe if they were to get into difficulty in the water.

Rebecca said: “It’s a really difficult debate, because parents think it’s the schools responsibility (swimming) and schools think it should be the parents, and it’s a really really difficult one because it is on the national curriculum, but how can a schools pupils swim if they don’t have a pool for 20 miles?

“It’s just not feasible – but if there isn’t a pool how are the parents meant to take the kids there, so it’s never going to get solved and we need that backing.

“Swimming is such a fundamental life skill; more and more kids can’t learn to swim and then you look at the bigger picture which is obesity and mental health and everything else that entails and this will all help across the board.

“Swimming is one those things that can certainly play its part in getting kids active in schools and giving the kids these skills that they can use for the rest of their life and it’s such an important life saving skill as well.”

She added: “I’m a big believer that the more active you are, the more mentally alert you will become, and we know the impact that sport has on helping children to achieve their life goals, both in and out of the classroom.

“I’m imploring headteachers, PE departments, governors, parents and local authorities to stand behind these valuable community assets and contact us about The Movement Project, whether it’s investment to upgrade the pool or dry side facilities or both - we can help.”

The Movement Project will only be open in the West Midlands until the end of this term.

Schools in the West Midlands can register their interest, here.

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