Trefnydd, Chief Whip and Cabinet Minister for Culture and Sport,
: I am pleased to announce a
National School Swimming and Water Safety Programme, with its
implementation commencing from September 2026.
Last month, in my statement on this Welsh Government's priorities
for culture and sport, I reaffirmed our commitment to school
swimming and ensuring that every child leaves primary school with
the opportunity to learn to swim.
I am today announcing the publication of the Nofio Ysgol Implementation Plan
20262029, which sets out how we will deliver a consistent
national offer of school swimming and water safety education for
children across Wales.
This Welsh Government believes culture and sport are central to
creating a healthier, more confident and more prosperous Wales.
We recognise the important contribution sport can make to our
preventative health agenda, helping children to develop lifelong
habits that support physical and mental wellbeing.
Swimming is both a life-saving skill and an important foundation
activity for lifelong participation in physical activity.
However, access to school swimming remains inconsistent across
Wales. Around one in five maintained primary schools currently
provides no swimming lessons, while relatively few children
access extracurricular swimming opportunities. For many pupils,
school-based provision is their only opportunity to develop water
confidence, swimming competence and essential self-rescue skills.
The Nofio Ysgol programme has been designed to ensure a clear and
consistent national approach. The programme will provide a
minimum offer of 20 swimming and water safety lessons for pupils,
primarily across Years 4 and 5, supported by a focus on water
confidence, swimming competence and water safety education. The
programme will also include Swim Safe Cymru provision, classroom
water safety resources aligned to the Curriculum for Wales, and
support to remove barriers to participation.
A key principle of the programme is that it will be a universal
offer with targeted additional support. While every eligible
learner should have access to school swimming and water safety
education, we are also committed to addressing inequalities that
can prevent participation. Additional support will therefore be
directed towards learners and communities facing the greatest
barriers, including those in rural areas, deprived communities,
Welsh-medium settings, disabled learners and those with
Additional Learning Needs or healthcare needs.
Recognising the scale of the challenge and the importance of
sustainable delivery, implementation will be undertaken through a
phased approach. From September 2026, Phase 1 will begin in nine
pathfinder local authorities, providing an opportunity to test
delivery models, strengthen workforce capacity, improve data
collection and evaluate outcomes. An allocation of £2m is being
made available to support delivery in this first year. The
programme will then expand to up to 16 local authority areas from
September 2027 before reaching all 22 local authorities from
September 2028.
The programme will be delivered through direct Welsh Government
funding to participating local authorities, supported nationally
by Swim Wales, the national governing body for swimming.
Our ambition is simple but significant. Every child in
Wales should have the opportunity to learn to swim, understand
how to stay safe in and around water, and develop skills that
could one day save their life.
The publication of this implementation plan fulfils our
commitment in our first 100-days plan and marks the beginning of
a collaboration across Ministerial portfolios and with local
government, schools and sector partners to ensure future
generations have equitable access to this essential life skill
and the many health, wellbeing and participation benefits that
come with it.
This statement is being issued during recess to keep Members
informed. Should Members wish me to make a further statement or
to answer questions on this when the Senedd returns I would be
happy to do so.
