Written by James, Bea’s father
We knew that, when Beatrice started in Year 4 of her primary school, she would start to go to school swimming lessons for one term.
The pupils would leave school on a minibus to go to the pool, and would need to be able to get themselves ready, take part in a group lesson, and then get changed afterwards before returning to school on the minibus.
I met with the school SENCO and class teacher in Year 3 and they told me that the year before another child who has SEN went to the swimming lessons but their mum went with them to help them get changed. She drove there in her own car and then took the child home afterwards. I did not want this for Bea.
So we worked with the school to understand exactly how to support Beatrice so she could be included.
Here are the things that we did:
- After her weekend swimming lessons we started to encourage her to dry herself quickly by using a timer. If she could beat the clock she could have a favourite treat.
- The school were afraid that she would be scared of the water or would not be able to get into the pool. So we told them all about the swimming lessons she was having and what she could do easily and aspects she found harder. The school passed this onto the school swimming school teacher.
- We suggested that she could get changed into her swimming costume under her uniform in school time, before leaving on the minibus, to make it quicker for her to get into the pool at the other end. This worked so well that the school started to do this for all pupils going swimming.
- A teaching assistant offered to get into the pool with her if needed. This was not needed but it was helpful to have a plan in place, just in case.
She had a great time and was fully included in the swimming lessons. Also, she was one of the fastest children to get changed and be ready for the minibus back to school too!
