The latest figures published by the Government show that there are now over 1.6 million children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in England, that is nearly 20% of all children, and these additional needs include, but are not limited to: autism, ADHD, down syndrome, global delay, speech delay or anxiety.
It is a common trend that children with SEN seem to love the water, but equally, they tend to have no fear of it and therefore parents worry about their SEN children's safety in and around water.
There is currently a serious lack of swimming lessons specifically for children with SEN, which means that most SEN children cannot access swimming because they cannot cope with the strict, structured swimming lessons provided as they are designed for neurotypical children and take place in busy and noisy pools.
At Neil's Swim School4ALL, the team is committed to providing access to swimming for everybody – and therefore, because of the lack of current swimming provision for children with SEN, Neil and the team have set up a brand-new swim school just for children with SEN - Neil's SEN Swim School.
Neil's SEN Swim School will provide weekly water confidence, water safety and swimming lessons just for children with SEN at swimming pools in Bedford, Milton Keynes and Buckingham. The small team hire the entire pool just for their SEN Sessions so they are peaceful and private, parents and carers can get in with the SEN children, and so can siblings who are not SEN to provide a whole family experience. The sessions are set to take place at weekends when children and their families are free to attend; they are run by swimming teachers who are qualified, insured and experienced in working with SEN children.
The swim school is listed on the Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes Local Offer and also works with numerous parent carer forums and other SEN-specific organisations in and around Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. In addition, in 2023 the swim school received a BBC Three Counties Community Award for its SEN Swimming Sessions.
Neil Marshall, the swimming school owner and a Qualified SEN Swimming Instructor comments: “We currently teach over 50 SEN children each week, but with so many more parents wanting swimming sessions for their SEN children, we’ve decided to open the new SEN-specific swim school - Neil's SEN Swim School. There will be sessions available from next week in three different pools in Milton Keynes, Bedford and Buckingham. We are committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion and want to ensure that as many children as possible know the dangers of water and are comfortable entering and exiting the water.”
For more details of Neil's SEN Swim School and to book your child or children in please visit the website www.neilsswimschool4all.co.uk
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