Swim lessons halved as schools choose pop-up pools

Bradford has seen a "shocking" decline in school swimming lessons at leisure centres, with many opting to use pop-up pools due to high transport costs, a councillor has warned.

A Bradford Council report said there were currently 62 school swim sessions in local authority pools - down from 120 in the 2023/24 financial year.

The district has a long history of swimming education, with Wapping School being the first in the country to get its own pool in 1898.

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland said "sticking plaster" pop-up facilities were "unsatisfactory in terms of life skills", adding: "Bradford is the birthplace of school swimming, but bureaucracy is strangling it."

The report said: "The current arrangements are having a negative effect on the KS2 school swimming programme provided by the Bradford Aquatics Service due to the high cost of transport.

"In 2023 to 2025 the service lost 15 primary schools due to pop-up pools and the service was advised that this was a cheaper option than the cost of lessons and transport costs.

"Then in 2025 to 2026 the service lost a further 15 primary schools."

The report said the reduction had left the lesson programme across the district with "significant gaps and a loss of much-needed income to facilities".

The aquatics service is also concerned that this has the potential to have a knock-on effect in footfall to leisure centres, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Schools can arrange their own transport to the pool, but have the option to arrange transport through Bradford Aquatics via the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA).

The report said: "The aquatics service has requested an urgent review of the transport costs that have been agreed with WYCA."

Ms Sunderland said pop-up pools were not a substitute for learning in an official swimming pool.

She said more investment in school swimming and transport to pools would be a huge benefit, adding: "It seems like we know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

"If you don't learn to swim as a child - very, very few adults start learning to swim."

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