Help Slip End and Caddington pupils swim again

Aim

To make the swimming pool at Slip End Village School a working, sustainable asset that will benefit the pupils from Slip End and Caddington.

Who are we?

We are a group of parents from Slip End Village school - a village school of around 150 pupils. The school is also federated with Caddington Village school which has around 350 pupils.

Slip End school has been lucky enough to have a swimming pool onsite since the early 80s. It has enabled generations of children to learn to swim, many who still live in the village and remember learning to swim there.

"I have memories of sending the boys to school with swimming kit and them
being able to swim almost every day - a wonderful opportunity. I am sure they have some good memories of it too. We were also able to use it a few times during summer holidays when there were enough volunteers to man it and provide safety backup and take money. Even the parents managed a brief dip occasionally to help out. It would be very sad if the facility was lost altogether after all the money and effort that was put in to get it there in the first place."
Alison Wilson, Slip End resident and editor of the Parish News

"My oldest daughter Juliet remembers swimming in the pool and she is now 27, as does Ashleigh, who is the youngest and now 18 - so as a family our children had lessons continually from about 2002 to 2014.  Danny, who is now 19, went on to swim competitively when he was older.  As a parent it was very reassuring for me to know that all the children could swim confidently." 
Nikki West, Slip End resident and former parent

Until the pandemic, the swimming pool was still in use every year by Slip End pupils. 

In the past, pupils from Caddington Village School, used to walk across the fields to have their swimming lessons in the pool. However, a lack of dedicated changing facilities at Slip End meant that this wasn’t as widely possible as the schools would have liked.

Unfortunately, the pool has now fallen into disrepair as the school has struggled to be able to maintain it due to rising costs and budget constraints. 

With the pool unavailable to both schools, pupils now need to be taken offsite for swimming lessons. It’s not possible for this to be done for all year groups which means most pupils no longer have the opportunity to swim at school.

How did we get here?

It started with a small group of parents who wanted to save the pool for their children. We approached the school and asked them if they would consider their decision to remove the pool and work with us to find funding to repair it.

All of our children (pictured) attend either Slip End or Caddington and would love to have swimming lessons at school

We want to help the school reopen the swimming pool so that the pupils at both schools can access swimming lessons and learn water safety. 

The national curriculum sets out that children should leave primary school able to confidently swim 25 metres, use a range of different strokes and perform safe self-rescue if they’re in trouble. 

The demand for swimming lessons is huge, with many local pools oversubscribed with waiting lists up to 3 months long.

We asked parents to tell us if they had had any difficulty accessing swimming lessons and parents told us:

"We previously had lessons after school but my son was too tired to concentrate after school."

"Took a while to book lessons as waiting list."

"Since COVID waiting times have been very long."

"Not enough availability and on several waiting lists."

"Locality has been an issue and long waiting lists."

As the cost-of-living crisis deepens swimming lessons will become an additional financial burden that many can no longer afford. If children cannot have swimming lessons outside of school, it becomes vitally important that they have the opportunity during school. 

There’s no doubt that being taught to swim is a huge privilege but it’s also an essential life-saving skill.

Bringing the pool back to the community

As the school now faces additional financial pressures it can no longer cover the running or maintenance costs of the swimming pool.

We reached out to the community and found that many people had very fond memories of them or their children using the pool and learning to swim there.

During July we asked residents in Slip End for their views on a community swimming pool. 

We have an overwhelming response with over 90 households completing the survey which told us:

• 97% of residents said that they felt Slip End would benefit from a community pool
• 63% of residents said they would b interested in using a community pool for family swimming, 35% for swimming lessons, 58% for adult only swimming
• 64% of people said they'd had difficulty accessing local swimming facilities
• 90% of residents said they were very likely or likely to use a community pool

The response from the community was clear - there is a need and a desire for a community pool.

Therefore, we would like to work with Slip End village school to open this pool to the community so that everyone can take advantage of the physical and mental health benefits swimming brings.

We have now established a community group called Swim Slip End with a committee of volunteer members from the Slip End and Caddington community.

Where will your money go?

The Governing Body of Slip End Village School has now approved ‘Phase 1’ of the project which is to repair the pool so it can be used by both schools for swimming lessons as soon as possible (hopefully by Spring 2024). 

The Phase 1 work will cost £18,600 and will include:

• installing a new pool liner
• pressure testing all pipework
• installing a second main drain to the bottom of the pool to meet PWTAG entrapment requirements
• servicing the current gas boiler
• fitting an additional pump with filter to reduce the water turnover from 16 hours a day to 4.5 hours

Phase 2 is to upgrade the pool’s efficiency and capability so that it can be used by the community and phase 3 will be to create accessible changing facilities including toilets and showers.

Phase 2 work will cost up to £34,000 and will be phased as funds become available. It will include:

• installing a bubble cover to retain heat when not in use
• installing an air source heat pump to reduce the cost of heating during warmer months
• insulation of pool walls 
• installing an industrial pool filter
• cladding the outside of the the pool walls
• KUNTZ automatic dosing unit to ensure accurate chemical dosing

The pool was last used in September 2021 for 6 weeks after being closed throughout the pandemic

The pool is 45 x 25 feet and 4 feet (1 metre) deep which can easily accommodate a class of up to 25 children

The pool is lucky to have a retractable roof which can be opened during the summer months making it a open-air pool

Funds already awarded

We have already been successful in two funding applications:

• Be Active Beds have awarded us £15,000 as part of the Opening School Facilities Fund from the Department for Education which will cover the new liner and most of phase 1
• The Bedfordshire and Luton Community Fund have awarded us £9,987 which will go towards some of phase 1 and some of phase 2

How can you help?

There are 4 simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Pledge your support with a donation. If we don't hit our target you'll get your money back!

2. Buy a reward. Buy something from our reward section and you get something out of it too!

3. Offer a reward. If you own a business or can offer a service please get in touch. The more rewards we have, the more successful our Crowdfunder will be

4. Spread the word. Tell your family and friends and share as much as you can on social media. We need as many people as possible to get behind us!

Contact us by pressing the "Contact the project" button at the top right of the page.

This project successfully funded on 16th November 2023