THE COST of transport was the biggest barrier to school children in Cardiff participating in swimming lessons, according to a key council decision maker.
A partnership including Cardiff Council launched the Cardiff School Swimming pilot after a study came out in 2024 showing that only 16% of children in Cardiff could swim and only 57% of primary schools sent pupils to swimming lessons.
City councillors said at a public meeting earlier this year that they were worried to learn there were fewer people signed up to Greenwich Leisure Limited’s (GLL) swim school membership in March 2025 compared with figures for March 2024.
The council is now saying school engagement figures are up from 57% to 74% and that more than 2,250 children will have accessed swimming lessons at local pools through its pilot before the end of the academic year.
Cardiff Council’s cabinet member for education, Cllr Sarah Merry, said: “Swimming is part of the Curriculum for Wales, yet only 57% of Cardiff schools were participating in curriculum swimming lessons in 2022/23 with transport costs identified as the most significant barrier.
“We are committed to making significant changes so that schools have as much support as possible to enable swim provision to be delivered to learners and the pilot has already made an encouraging impact on accessibility and quality across the city, supporting the continuation and expansion of the model.
“We want to ensure that with further refinements and through successful partnership working, Nofio Ysgol Caerdydd can lead the way in ensuring every child in Cardiff becomes a confident swimmer and is able to have fun and be safe in and around water.”
One leisure manager in Cardiff said they were saddened by the findings in Cardiff Metropolitan University and Swim Wales’ study on swimming ability in the city last year.
The issue was raised again at a council scrutiny committee meeting in April 2025, when councillors were told that a total of 4,300 people were signed up to GLL, or Better Leisure’s, swim school membership in March 2025 compared with 4,641 in March 2024.
There was an increase in the number of people signed up to swim school membership between March, 2019 (4,387) and March, 2024.
However, one scrutiny committee member, Cllr Margaret Lewis said this was not a good improvement over a six-year period.
When asked about the figures, Head of Service at GLL Cardiff, Lee Jones, said: “It [swimming] is a key life skill. It [the data] is disappointing to see. It is one of our major objectives… is to get that number up.”
Mr Jones said Better was also trying to encourage parents to take their children to the swimming pool from the ages of 0-5 by offering concessionary prices.
Cardiff Swim School was delivered by the Council’s Cardiff Commitment Curriculum Team in partnership with Swim Wales, Cardiff Met Sport, GLL, Legacy Leisure, Urdd Gobaith Cymru and Public Health Wales.
In addition to addressing a number of challenges schools face in accessing swimming lessons, new processes to collect data on those pupils who have completed school swimming lessons have been implemented.
This is so partners can work with schools to identify those children who have not passed the national swim curriculum, Nofio Ysgol Gold Award, and ensure support is put in place to improve their water safety.
Aquatics Development Manager for Cardiff Met Sport, Ryan David, said: “Drowning is still one of the biggest causes of accidental death in Wales, especially among young people.
“Learning to swim and understanding water safety should be a basic right, not a privilege.
“Every child in Cardiff deserves the chance to learn these life-saving skills.
“We’re doing everything we can to make school swimming work for every school, and this pilot is a huge step forward. But we can’t do it alone.
“We need providers, schools, families and the whole community behind us to make sure no child gets left behind.”
The Cardiff School Swimming pilot will be expanded in 2025/26.
