Innovating, developing people and changing lives

Tom Walker, Editor

Swimming is a life skill. That makes the latest figures on school swimming particularly difficult to ignore. A BBC investigation found that 28% of Year 6 children in England left primary school in 2024-25 unable to swim 25 metres. The aquatics sector has rightly described the findings as sobering and from page 50 you can read how, for the Swimming Alliance, the figures should be the beginning of the conversation, not the end. As the alliance points out, the task now is to understand why so many children are missing out – and build a system capable of ensuring every child leaves primary school with the swimming and water safety skills they need. After all, our sector is full of people who know how to find solutions.

Aquatics is also an extraordinary industry in which to build a career. Look around today’s leadership teams and you will find many people whose first professional step was onto poolside as a lifeguard. Few sectors offer such a visible pathway from frontline responsibility to senior leadership – and you can read about some great examples on this from page 28.

While the swimming industry faces some serious problems, it also develops people, innovates and responds to new challenges remarkably well. Among the biggest challenges it has had to deal with in recent years are the chronic shortage of swimming teachers and rising energy prices. From page 22, you can read how one leisure centre and pool operator has found an innovative way to tackle the latter. At its move Urmston site, Trafford Leisure has partnered with Deep Green and Zendo Energy on a data centre whose waste heat is captured to warm the swimming pool – turning the demands of AI computing into lower energy costs and carbon emissions.

Meanwhile, the Institute of Swimming’s Recruitment Academy is making inroads into cracking the teacher shortage problem. The Academy offers an alternative ‘train-to-employ’ model for operators struggling to recruit enough teachers to cope with the demand for lessons (you can read more on page 72).

Meanwhile, open water swimming continues to attract new participants. That growth is hugely positive, but it brings new responsibilities around safety and consistent operating standards. From page 68 you can read how RLSS UK is working on dedicated guidance for commercial inland open-water operators to help meet that challenge.

The common thread? Aquatics changes lives. Our job is to make sure everyone has the opportunity to experience it – safely, sustainably and confidently.