Over term two, Manaia View School had the portable pool on site allowing their students to learn vital water safety and swimming skills. Over five weeks, Swim For Life Instructors Jana Barclay and Jo Duff spent time teaching both teachers and the students the fundamental skills of learning to swim and survive. Jana and Jo recount some of the great success they had while they were at Manaia View School.

During our time at Manaia View School we saw many successes ranging from students choosing to start bringing their togs (as opposed to not bringing them ever) to year 8 students super eager to learn how to swim because they felt they could not swim.

Many of the year 1 students could submerge already at the start and by the end of our time eight out of 15 students can now float and five can swim five metres.

A year 1 girl (Liberty) says “whaea I cannot swim, can you teach me?” Initially Liberty was not very confident and would hop on my back with her arms around my neck.  Once she became comfortable to be away from me we gave her some ‘magic goggles’ to wear (as well as wearing a buoyancy aid) and really encouraged her to put her face in the water.  After a couple of lessons she could put her face in but only with the “magic goggles” says Jo.  After a few more lessons Liberty did not need the goggles, her confidence had grown so much that she was happy to jump off the ladder with her buoyancy aid.

The year 2 students had similar results with many demonstrating that they could submerge and some not able to float or swim 5 metres.  With our help and encouragement, many of them gained confidence and can swim 5 metres competently.  “One little year 2 boy (Mikaere) came to us and mentioned that it was his first time swimming at school as he was new and did not know how to swim.  He was super brave and tried everything we asked him to try.  He learnt that he could do lots if he tried his best.  He was so positive, it was wonderful to see the look on his face when he realised he could achieve new skills with just a little bit of effort.

Jana goes on to say “another experience was with Teriki, year 7 boy who appeared very reserved and did not want to be noticed by his peers especially when I tried to give him tips.  He started out being able to swim 5 metres however his technique needed improving.  Each time I tried to teach him another way of doing a skill he would shy away and say yeah I know how, but would not know how”.  Buddying Teriki and Rawiri who had similar swimming abilities aside, we focused on breaking down instructions to teach them the skills they needed.  “They did great, listened really well and improved their swimming ability with Rawiri going on to swim 100 metres and Teriki achieving 15 metres.  The greatest achievement was seeing the confidence levels increasing and seeing others in the group being really supportive and cheering them on which was fantastic” says Jana.