ARUN DISTRICT COUNCIL
07.02.2005
ARUN DISTRICT COUNCIL IS FIRST FOR STAmark SWIMMING ACCREDITATION
Littlehampton Swimming & Sports Centres Swimming Tuition programme, which is part of Arun District Council in West Sussex, is the first local authority to receive the Swimming Teachers’ Association’s (STA) STAmark quality accreditation for swimming tuition. Following this achievement, the authority has now become a member of the National Federation of Swim Schools (NFS), the first official organisation to represent Swim Schools in the UK.
The STA introduced the new quality award to help Swim Schools improve service standards and to recognise good industry practice. Although not mutually exclusive to members of the NFS, the council felt that the STAmark sits comfortably within the framework of the NFS, allowing benchmarking and continuous improvement to develop, and enabling all elements of swimming from competitive sport to life saving to be taught in the most effective way.
Norman Dingemans, leader of Arun District Council, said: “Gaining this award helps us to demonstrate our commitment to the importance of providing a comprehensive Swimming Development Programme from toddlers through to children, youths and adults. The whole spectrum of swimming tuition has been addressed in a way, which is fully inclusive and takes account of all sections of the community. It provides clear pathways which allow pupils to progress in a structured way, encouraging them to reach their potential at whatever level that might be.”
Dave Candler, Swimming Development Officer at Littlehampton Swimming Centre adds: “For some time we have had concerns at the absence of any national guidance and standards for the management of swimming lessons. Given the importance of swimming both as a competitive sport, leisure pursuit and in the role of life saving it is vital that swimming lessons are delivered in the most effective way. We feel that this award is most valuable and worthwhile, and the STA should be congratulated for setting up the NFS.
The Arun District Council has over 14 miles of coastline as well as the very fast-flowing River Arun running through its district, therefore the importance of swimming and life saving cannot be overstated.
David Batchelor, centre manager, said: “I am delighted to receive this STAmark award on behalf of my staff and it is both a very pleasant surprise and very rewarding to have been judged with a ‘Distinction’.”
For further information on STAmark or NFS please telephone 01922 748394 or 01922 645097 ext 394.
