Swimming and water safety are national curriculum requirements and essential life skills. The national curriculum requirement is that by the end of key stage 2, pupils should be taught to:

• swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres
• use a range of strokes effectively, for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke
• perform a safe self-rescue in different water-based situations

You can use the PE and sport premium to fund the professional development and training that is available to schools to train staff to support high-quality swimming and water safety lessons for their pupils.

You can also use the PE and sport premium to provide additional top-up swimming lessons to pupils who have not been able to meet the national curriculum requirements for swimming and water safety – after the delivery of core swimming and water safety lessons.