Making the Difference - Kia Tū Whakarerekē Water Safety Programme Report 2018

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Overview

The Making the Difference Water Safety Programme has been extremely successful in the last twelve months. We are thrilled that the programme is now successfully run as a partnership between CLM’s Aquatics (SwimMagic) and Swim Rotorua Swimming Club. Prior to July 2018 the partnership was between Swim Rotorua and Rotorua Lakes Council’s Rotorua Lakes Swim School. We are also thrilled to have Water Safety NZ on board as a funder. The programme works with schools to improve their pupils’ water safety and swimming skills, particularly in low decile schools and those with school pools. We target year 4-8 students and use the personal survival parts of the Water Safety NZ Water Skills for Life Programme as well as developing swimming skills at appropriate levels for all tamariki whether they are learning to submerge or can already swim.

Funding Funding for the programme has been provided to date by BayTrust, who contribute to the instruction and administration costs, Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust, who cover the transport costs, and Rotorua Aquatics who discount pool entry. Prior to July 2018 Rotorua Lakes Council through Rotorua Aquatic Centre, who provided free entry. In 2018 we were thrilled to receive funding from Water Safety NZ as a contribution to instruction, admin and pool entry. In addition, CLM provide management/strategy in kind, as to do Swim Rotorua who charge for only a small proportion of management hours as most of the rest are undertaken by a volunteer. In addition, Ritchies Bus Company provide discounted bus transfers for the programme, and some schools are asked to provide contributions to the instruction cost. Making the Difference is managed by Lynn Cartwright and Tara Mackay (CLM, Rotorua Aquatics), and Claire Baylis (Swim Rotorua). Up until December it was also managed by Vernei Mullen (Rotorua Lakes Council). It is ably administered by Tara Watt who works for both organisations.

The Programme: Some schools are brought in to the Rotorua Aquatic Centre by bus. These children are then divided into ability groups and taught largely by Rotorua Swim Magic staff (although sometimes Swim Rotorua contribute staff). The benefit of teaching at the Rotorua Aquatic Centre is that there is enough pool space to divide children into smaller groups and we can teach them in the deep 25m pool, the learner pool and in the longer 50m pool too. During term 1 and 4 instructors (mainly Swim Rotorua) go out to schools with pools and teach classes in their own pool. This is a key aim of the programme to ensure school pools are well utilised. We ask that a teacher be present at all times, as they remain responsible for discipline and health and safety. We also expect teachers to be learning from the instructors as much as possible. We do find the latter is a bit variable but some teachers are very engaged, videoing or taking notes, and asking lots of questions.

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In school pools, the way that the programme is run is largely influenced by the level of the students and the range in each class, as well as the size of the pool. Sometimes we work with the whole class at once, with one instructor taking the lead while one or more other instructors focus on individual feedback. Often if there is a range of abilities then we will split the class into smaller groups that will focus on activities at an appropriate level. The sessions

focus on water-safety skills, with skills being made more advanced or added to as student’s skill level improves. These water safety skills make up the majority of the lesson and are followed or integrated with some learn to swim, which improves their body position and technique which allows students to feel more confident about their floating and propulsion. Programme Coverage and Assessments: We definitely encourage schools and whānau to see the Making the Difference programme as only a contributor to Water Safety – although hopefully one that does ‘make the difference’. The programme was never intended to replace classroom education, school swimming lessons, private lessons or the Unison Lake Safety programme that has been operating for years in Rotorua. The programme was designed to be an add-on to these other factors as much as possible, and in that sense to be a bespoke programme to some degree that works with children at their current ability. Obviously though some children especially in Rotorua, which has areas of significant socio- deprivation, do not have access to private swimming lessons. In addition, some schools do little or no swimming in their curriculum. We hope that over 3- 4 years we can make the difference to keep these children safe in the water too. The other factor that we are concerned about is that some parents feel that when their students are at intermediate level – year 7 and 8 and could swim 1 or 2 lengths of the school pool they are water-safe and are safe to go unsupervised to lakes etc with friends. Children often over-estimate their ability with regards to swimming and this is how they can get into difficulty eg swimming out to a raft etc. We recently tested this out with a class of year 7-8 College students most of whom have been at schools with school pools throughout their school life, so one might think they would be strong swimmers who know their own ability. However: • 35% of these students over-estimated how many lengths of the school pool they could swim • Several over-estimated by more than 75% • 50% of these students aged 11-13 yrs could only actually swim 25 metres.

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We do not have the funding, time or pool space to cover all aspects of the WSFL .Water safety is a 3-way responsibility – with schools needing to take responsibility for classroom education and additional school swimming lessons. We encourage them to take part in the Unison Lake Safety Programme, and ideally whānau take responsibility for either private lessons or at least safe exposure to aquatic environments. Therefore Making the Difference focuses on the following Water Skills for Life: - Submersion – we cover this, although we do not always have access to deep water. - Personal Buoyancy – we cover floating, sculling, floating and signalling. We sometimes cover treading water – this will depend on class ability and the access to deep water. We do not cover the personal buoyancy lifejackets, as this is covered by Unison Lake Safety programme, as is Reach and Throw rescue. - Orientation and Propulsion – we improve these skills. - Safety – we focus on the ability to be able to float and signal for help. - Water Safety and Awareness – we expect schools to cover this in the classroom. Schools can get help from SNZ educators and from the WSNZ website if they are not confident. While we do talk about these issues as we teach, we do not assess them.

Students are regularly assessed against these Water Skills for Life standards, as well as basic swimming measures e.g. distance, ability to breathe. Children’s assessments are given to schools, are being loaded on to the WSNZ database, and children receive a take-home card with their assessment on several basic standards,ā and which encourages whānau to continue with lessons with SwimMagic Rotorua or to join Swim Rotorua Swimming Club. We have also started entering the backlog of assessments on to the WSNZ Database and we will have all assessments entered by 30 June 2019.

Which Schools are offered Making the Difference?

Of approx 2500 students taught in 2018 • 60% are Māori • 51% were from decile 3 and below schools • 81% were from decile 5 and below schools

When Making the Difference was set up a range of schools were selected with the help of SNZ Education Officer, input from Te Arawa Lakes Trust, Swim Rotorua and Rotorua Lakes Swim School. We focused on a mix of rural and city schools, and those with and without pools focusing on lower decile schools. We have continued to work with these shcools but have added more schools each year. We do try to leave schools that already have other organisations working in the school due to our limited fuding/staffing and pool space. We also have some schools who have repeatedly turned us down.

Schools without Pools: The number of schools that we can teach who do not have school pools depends on pool space and staff availability at Rotorua Aquatic Centre. In 2018 this was complicated slightly

4 due to the change over in management. However we taught tamariki from nine schools all of which were decile 5 and under – most being decile 2 or 3. In 2018 we decided to work with the three Intermediate Schools in the City – they are all decile 5 or below. These schools were asked for a contibution of $1 a day per child towards the programme. We worked with the year 7’s with the intention that in 2019 we will probably do the same thing but also call back the year 8’s that last year were well below water safety standards. By working with the intermediates we ensure children who may go to lakes etc alone are aware of their ability as are their whānau. We also see this to some degree as a ‘last chance’ intervention, as we have found it difficult to persuade non-swimmers of a High School age to participate even in free lessons.

Schools with Pools in the Rotorua Area We have covered most schools with pools in the wider Rotorua area. It is our understanding that two of the schools that we have not worked with already have other organisations/instructors working with them. Where schools are already paying to upkeep a swimming pool we do not ask them to contribute to Making the Difference. (The one exception to this was in 2017 when we did some deep water work with and St Marys at RAC.) Note – We had not scheduled to work with Lynmore school however, we have an arrangement that if another school pulls out of the programme for some reason we can go to Lynmore with no notice and work with the children who are scheduled to swim.

Glenholme School 2018 School 2018 Not Yet worked with – some water quality issues School + someone else teaches there School No info Lynmore Primary School * 2018 School No info Ngongotaha School Declined Ōwhata School 2018 Rotokawa School T1 2019 Someone else works there – may approach in Rotorua School near future St Mary's Catholic School (Rotorua) 2018 Upper Atiamuri 2018 School 2018 Whangamarino School 2018 Reporoa Swimming – includes Reporoa 2018 College, Reporoa Primary school and Broadlands Waikite 2018 2018 Horhoro 2018

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Schools that benefitted from Making the Difference in 2018

Term School Decile % Māori

1/4 Reporoa Swimming 6,4 44 1/4 Horohoro 2 96 1/4 Whakarewarewa 2 67 1/4 Ngakuru 10 15 1 Kaharoa 10 18 1 Glenholme 3 52 1 Whangamarino 3 98 1/3 Ōwhata 2 90 1 SDA 4 20 2 Mokoia 5 46 2 St Michaels 4 35 2 Rotorua 4 60 Intermediate 2 Malfroy 3 72 3 Selwyn 2 82 4 Rotoiti 2 100 4 St Marys 5 19 4 Lynmore 9 20 4 Kaitao Intermediate 2 76 4 Waikite 10 21 4 Reporoa College 6 44 4 Upper Atiamuri 5 25

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Some Key Outcomes in 2018 • New funding from Water Safety NZ, use their Water Skills for life programme and the WSNZ Database. • Provided water safety lessons to nearly 2,500 children – over 12,400 lessons. • 81% of these children were from decile 5 or below schools • Worked with 15 out of 20 schools with pools in the wider Rotorua district • Consistently excellent feedback from schools and students • Provided the most outreach work in school pools to date – 1,170 children • Targeted the 3 local intermediate schools as we view these tamariki as being at risk • Whakarewarewa and Horohoro recently told us that because of the programme their school pools are now open routinely in Term 4 as well as term 1 Some Key Lessons from 2018 • Good funding for school pools essential to make the programme more effective so the pool is heated and water quality is good. • Teachers/schools integral to improving participation rates • Schools also need to provide additional swim lessons as do whanau – we cannot make children water safe alone • Schools have appreciated having our young male instructors (Swim Rotorua have had 3 male university students working over summer) as positive role models • New partnership with CLM’s Rotorua Aquatics will be very beneficial • WSNZ Database will be useful for reporting and analysisng data but is time- consuming to input • As suspected many intermediate age children over-estimate their ability to swim and are NOT water safe

Enabling Factors and Barriers Positives: • At most schools we went out to, the teacher was engaged and had good control of class behaviour. This allows us to solely focus on teaching the students. Another positive stemming from an engaged teacher was having majority of student’s swim, the school and teachers’ expectations defiantly contributed to this happening. This allows us to reach as many kids as possible with the Making the Difference programme. • The schools that have well-heated pools allowed students to participate for the whole lesson and therefore they did not miss any water safety skills. The weather also plays a huge part in temperature and allowing kids to swim, good weather is a huge enabler for this programme. • Schools being organised with class lists and ensuring that families know the lessons are happening is hugely helpful to the running of the programme, as our funded administration hours are limited.

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• Teachers/schools who ensure their pool is open and heated to the best of their ability for term 4 and term 1, and who practise swimming skills and water skills for life with the children when instructors are not present is hugely effective in improving water safety. This can be seen from the levels of skills of similar decile schools with and without pools. • A huge benefit to working at the Rotorua Aquatic Centre is the ability to use three different pools – including the 25m deep pool and bulkhead, the learner pool for those who are not confident and the 50m pool for older students and those we want to challenge on distances. Barriers to Effectiveness:

• Many children in Rotorua have very low water safety skills due to scoio-economic deprivation. This means we are working with many children who have very low skill levels. • The first was that some school pools were not ready for us or had filtration/heating breakdowns in the week we had scheduled to be teaching, this meant reshuffling schools to ensure they didn’t miss out. This was difficult and created extra work to organise. Good funding for school pools is essential to make the programme most effective and more importantly if the asset is to be worthwhile. • Another barrier was the temperature of the school pool, as many students could not last the whole session. This was an issue as each day these students got out early, they missed a proportion of the skills. To combat this, we changed the order of skills we started with each day. • Another barrier at times was if a teacher was not engaged or had poor class control. This is a barrier as our instructors then had to discipline as well as teach, which takes time away from students learning. (It is also distracting for the students in the pool when the students on the side are free to do as they please, although we did only experience this at only one school.) • The last barrier we encountered with schools were those who had a significant number of non-swimmers. School/teacher expectations makes a big difference to absentee rates, but there is no doubt that those who are least confident and able in the water are most likely to ‘forget’ their togs, especially as they got older. The only barrier completely out of anyone’s control was the weather. We were pretty lucky with weather this year, although there were a few instances where schools missed out on lesson due to thunder and lightning – this is particularly frustrating if it is on one of the last days when we are doing more assessing.

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Our work in 2018: One significant positive this year was to be told by two different schools that because of the Making the Difference programme they now routinely open their pool in Term 4 as well as Term 1, where previously they did not. In Term 1 2018 – approx. 550 children received blocks of lessons under the programme. Term 1 is very busy at RAC, so there is limited space available in their bookings for Making the Difference, so most work takes place in school pools. Before the term started we provided a holiday programme for the Reporoa area children. Unfortunately, due to bad weather fewer children turned up than had previously enrolled. These children were contributing to the cost of the classes. We then continued with the weekly lessons at Reporoa College pool with over 45 children taking part. This term our instructors worked with their volunteers with the aim that they will become more and more self-sufficient. We provided the rest of the block of lessons to Horohoro school. Ex-Principal Eden Chapman explained the importance of the programme to this school – “Apart from one whānau, none of the children at the school have had access to swimming lessons. Many are penny divers from Whakarewarewa and others come in from in Rotorua. These tamariki have not had the advantage of after school Learn to Swim lessons. We also have a pool that is deeper in the middle than at the edges which makes it very tricky for younger swimmers out of their depth.” We went back to Whakarewarewa school and completed lessons there that had been put off in Term 4. Jessica, our instructor explains: “In total the year 7 and 8s had 5 consecutive 30 minute lessons. The year 5 and 6 kids had 7 consecutive 30 minute lessons. They were led by two Swim Rotorua coaches and had a ratio of 1:6. This was very beneficial for the kids as this allowed the teachers to target specific things. The school was great to work with and the lessons were very effective as the instructors took 2 groups in the pool with one teacher watching, while the other half of the class was in the classroom with another teacher. This was great as there was minimal distractions from kids outside of the pool, and there was a teacher there to manage behaviour if needed and who could ask questions about the skills we were practising.”

Tamariki practise their water safety skills at Whakarewarewa Tara and Jessica provided lessons to 126 Kaharoa children in their pool. These children are water confident, with many having had lessons which allowed us to focus on longer distances

9 and more advanced water safety skills. By the end of the block of lessons, many of the older children achieved most of the Water Safety Skills for Life that we teach. Deputy Principal Rose Powley writes: “On behalf of the Kaharoa school children, parents and teachers we would like to officially thank the sponsors of the Making the Difference Water Safety Programme run by Swim Rotorua and Rotorua Lakes Swim School. Tara and Jess were absolutely wonderful instructors. The children enjoyed their lessons very much. Tara and Jess gave clear instructions along with actions which made it easy for children of all ages to follow. The teachers also had 'swim-side' PD by being able to observe the instructors with the children and could also ask questions to help their own knowledge of teaching swim techniques.”

We also provided 49 children from Ōwhata with three more days of lessons to build on their skills. Jack led these lessons, and a senior swimmer and NZ Rep from Swim Rotorua, Paddy Baylis volunteered his time to the school to help out. “The programme has terrific results, with all of the tamariki involved developing real confidence in the water and water safety skills. Without the continued support of this programme our tamariki would never be able to gain the same level of skill and confidence in the water, and we have a swimming pool.” - Ōwhata Principal Bob Stiles In addition, Rotorua Lakes Swim School offered lessons at Whangamarino school, Glenholme and to Seventh Day Adventist students at RAC.

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Term2 2018 – Mokoia School – 151 students took part in the programme at the Rotorua Aquatic Centre. This was the first time that Mokoia had taken part and it was great to see the students’ improvements. We hope to bring back students with weak water safety skills in 2019 for more lessons. It was also very gratifying to receive letters from some of the classes and very positive feedback from the Principal and teachers. It was fantastic to watch their confidence grow and they learnt a variety of new skills. They had a blast! A huge thank you. Toni Bocock, Teacher, Mokoia.

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St Michaels 103 year 3 - 6 St Michaels students completed the Making the Difference water safety in week 8 term 2 2018. 29 students can now swim 200m. 16 are able to move through the water to complete 100m. 15 are unable to swim 15m.Teachers were very positive about the programme and the improvements they were seeing from day to day.

St Michaels students make use of the different pools at the Rotorua Aquatic Centre

Rotorua Intermediate School - 248 year 7 Rotorua Intermediate students attended the Making the Difference water safety programme at the Aquatic Centre. It was very pleasing to see that we could quickly improve water confidence, personal safety and propulsion levels with this age student. By the end of the sessions - 154 students completed the move 100m, and 51 students can confidently swim freestyle 200m, although many were surprised at how far this was. 16 students could only move 15m and we would recommend that those 16 students come back next year.

Rotorua Intermediate School enjoy the beautiful weather in July as they learn Water Skills for Life.

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Term 3 In term 3, 240 students from Malfroy Primary School came to the Rotorua Aquatic Centre for Making the Difference lessons. This was followed by 122 students from Ōwhata and finally, 231 students from Selwyn. A group of our instructors took part in the Water Safety NZ Teacher Training Day in Rotorua, although there was a disappointing lack of teachers from Rotorua possibly due to timing of the event. Swim Rotorua provided use of our clubrooms for the day and Rotorua Aquatic Centre hosted the workshops.

Term 4

This was an exciting term as we taught almost 900 students from 10 schools, however, due to weather and absenteeism not all children received 5 lessons. Swim Rotorua had two teams of two instructors working in the outreach part of the programme at school pools, which involved two new instructors joining our existing three instructors. Meanwhile Swim Magic provided lessons to two schools at the Rotorua Aquatic Centre in between their usual busy Term 4 lessons.

As mentioned above there were some barrier this term, with one of the most significant being the need for us to shuffle work around due to weather or pool issues. Once instructors have been engaged for the work, they do need to be paid so we worked hard to provide alternative work if lessons were unable to proceed. Unfortunately, the first school for the term, Rotokawa school had to pull out due to a significant issue with their pool, so our instructors went to Lynmore school at very short notice and worked with the classes that were scheduled to swim. Thanks to Lynmore for their flexibility. We were able to work with 167 students across the week.

Ōwhata was scheduled to swim in the last week of term, but pulled out at relatively short notice. We then approached Reporoa College because the Reporoa Swimming Programme had only started operation on 12 December due to the pool opening being delayed. Reporoa College were enthusiastic about us coming for a week of work, but unfortunately the attendance at lessons was spasmodic. We did test these students, asking them to estimate how far they could swim without stopping vs the number of lengths they actually could do when put to the test. Students only completed 78% of the lengths they suggested they were able to which indicates the importance of frequent swimming lessons to allow them to appropriately gauge their actually ability and hence avoid putting themselves into potentially dangerous situations. Especially important to note that because these students were from Reporoa College they are year 7 and 8; the age would indicate a less distorted self-evaluation than would be seen in younger students. (see also p3)

St Marys – we have found this to be a really good school to work with in Term 4 because their pool is reliably heated, and the teachers are committed to swimming even if it is raining. This year we worked with both the year 3-4 classes and the 5-6 classes. As per usual we received

13 very positive feedback from the teachers. One class managed to all swim every single day of the programme. Regarding feedback. Swimming lessons were excellent. Great tutors, children swimming all the time. Lots of good skills work. Thanks, Sylvia, Teacher, St Marys

“Ngakuru was awesome to work with – the majority of the kids brought their togs every day and the teachers were engaged in the lessons. The teachers asked questions, managed behaviour and took notes on things we were doing with the students. As the teachers managed the behaviour of the classes, we were able to concentrate on delivering the program. The small range in the class allowed us to run the class as a whole, which cannot always be done. The only issue was that the pool was very cold so children did not last the whole session with us, in order to combat this, we started the lesson with different skills each to ensure that the students who got out early did not miss out on this.” Jessica, Instructor Swim Rotorua

The instructors were fantastic this week and our students learnt a lot and had fun. Many thanks, Gareth and Staff

We went out to Upper Atiamuri school for the first time. The school had approached Sport BOP for some help with swimming skills and Sport BOP approached us. This is a small rural school with a role of 27 kids, only 13 were year 4+. Most brought their togs every day, which was great to see. The level was pretty similar throughout and we could run the classes together. Waikite - we have not worked with this school before and unfortunately again there was a pool issue. However, we arranged pool space at Rotorua Aquatic Centre and taught 20 children (2 minivan’s full). It would be good to get a full assessment of this school. Rotoiti unfortunately brought significantly fewer children to the Rotorua Aquatic Centre than were expected for their swimming lessons – this was unusual for the kura.

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Kaitao Intermediate – to round off our work with the three intermediate schools in Rotorua we invited Kaitao in to the Aquatic Centre (at relatively short notice). The school were very responsive, and it was great to have them back on the programme. We focused again on year 7 and to be consistent with the other intermediate schools asked for a $1 a day contribution per child (although as usual we do say no-one should be precluded from swimming). We do notice with Kaitao that there was a significant level of absenteeism for the lessons - about 40 students and once term has started, we will be following up with the school as to what the barriers might be eg lack of togs, not wanting to swim because they are less confident, lack of $1 a day etc. Absentee rates for most schools were between 5-15% but for Kaitao it was 25%. If these are the weakest students, this is a real issue. Horohoro our lessons here were plagued with thunder and lightning this year, and again some absenteeism, but it was good to be back at the school. Reporoa Swimming - the College pool only opened for the week of December 12th. It was pleasing to see many volunteer coaches and Gateway students, and for 2019 they are working alone without our instructors help. It would be good to see all the volunteer coaches qualifying with Swimming NZ and learning Water Skills for Life. Whakarewarewa asked us to work with them in term 4 which we agreed to even though we had worked with them in term 1 because they are a lower decile school and many schools’ pools are not reliable in term 4. We are seeing good progress at the school. Thank you so much. Your mahi with our tamariki is so worthwhile. Each year more and more of our kids become more confident in the water. Your communication with the kids is clear and to the point. Thank you for your time and energy. Kind regards Hinei Taute, Principal Whakarewarewa

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Some Statistics: Whakarewarewa Case Study The Spread of the top 30 children at Whakarewarewa over their ability to complete 3 key water safety skills. Skills were float on back for 1min, move underwater and move 50m.

• 3 Skills is achieved all three skills • 2 Skills is achieved two of any of the three skills • 1 Skill is achieved one of any of the three skills • 0 Skills is none of the skills achieved

December 2017 February 2018

3 Skills 2 Skills 1 Skill 0 Skills 3 Skills 2 Skills 1 Skill 0 Skills

Ōwhata School and Selwyn The table below compares 2 decile 2 schools Ōwhata and Selwyn. It shows the starting point in 2016 for Ōwhata children after one block of Making the Difference Lessons – they are below the standard of Selwyn. In 2018 Ōwhata students have a significantly higher level of water safety skills. This is attributable in part to having a school pool, but mainly to the fact we have often managed to provide 8-10 lessons to these students over a 12 month period as we go into their school pool as well as having them at RAC.

Decile Move Float for 1 min Move Move 50m underwater 15m Selwyn 2 50% 74% 54% 21% Ōwhata 2016 2 73% could float and 3% regain feet Ōwhata 2018 2 74% 98% could float for 1 min 88% 47% and signal for help

Murupara Area School

We went to this school at the beginning of 2019, but the following statistics are useful in showing water safety skills before and after a week of Making the Difference programmes: • Of 84 yr 3-7 tested twice on moving 15 m - 45% could manage it when we started. 86% could move 15m at the end of the week • Of 66 tested on ability to float for 1 min – 34% could float for 1 min at the beginning of the week while 63% could float for a minute by the end of the week (the class not tested were still mastering floating and regaining feet) • Of 45 tested twice for sculling for 3 mins on their back 31% could manage 3 mins on day one16 while 93% could manage it on the Friday • Standard of propulsion for 67 year 5-8s - 77% could move 50 m, only 25% could move 100m

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