Call for water safety lesson in schools
Southampton MP also wants there to be a Water Safety Minister
Water safety lessons should be a crucial part of the school curriculum, a Labour MP has said, as temperatures soar across the UK.
Darren Paffey said 150 children had lost their lives to drowning in the past three years and called for every child to be given the "opportunity to learn and to live".
As many people head to the UK's waters during this weekend's warm weather, the MP for Southampton Itchen urged the Government to commit to a national swimming and water safety strategy.
Swimming lessons are included in the current curriculum, with all children expected to be able to swim 25 metres unaided by the time they leave primary school.
But Mr Paffey has argued this does not go far enough, with just 74% of children leaving school with the ability to swim 25 metres, and those from the most deprived areas twice as likely to drown.
Speaking in the Commons, Mr Paffey said: "My major request of Government is that when the national curriculum is updated, following the review currently happening, and is then taught in every school as mandated in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, will the Government use that opportunity to enshrine water safety as a core compulsory part of every child's education?
"The point of the curriculum, we know, is not just to pass exams, it's to prepare our young people for life. And if Labour's mission is to break down barriers to opportunity, then here is just about the greatest opportunity we can offer them - the opportunity to learn and to live."
He added: "Will the Government commit to a national swimming and water safety strategy based on up-to-date evidence about children's access across this country to swimming lessons and water safety education?"
Mr Paffey also pressed the Government to create a dedicated water safety ministerial role, as is the case in Wales and Scotland.
He added: "So I ask, why doesn't England? The National Water Safety Forum and the World Health Organisation have both urged the Government to appoint such ministers, and I echo that call today."
Responding to the debate, education minister Catherine McKinnell said: "The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which was introduced in December 2024 and is making its way through this House, does put that requirement on all state-funded schools, including academies, to teach the national curriculum, and will, once implemented, extend the requirement to teach swimming and water safety to all state-funded schools.
"Data from Sport England's active life survey reported in 2024 that 95.2% of state primary schools surveyed reported that they do provide swimming lessons, and we do want all pupils to have the opportunity to learn to swim."
She added: "We are working to ensure that teaching pupils the water safety code at primary and secondary school will feature in our new RSHE (relationships, sex and health education) statutory guidance, which will be published shortly."