Swimming on the national curriculum in England

Education is a devolved policy area, and the information in this section relates to England.

The national curriculum in England requires that, as part of Physical Education, all local authority maintained schools provide swimming instruction either in key stage 1 or key stage 2 (primary level).

In particular, pupils should be taught to:

  • swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres
  • use a range of strokes effectively [for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke]
  • perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations

The national curriculum is compulsory in local authority maintained schools. Academies and free schools are not required to teach the national curriculum, although in practice many do. They are, however, required to teach a broad and balanced curriculum. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill currently before parliament would require academies and free schools to teach the national curriculum.

Swim England has some information on the national curriculum that includes resources for schools.

Assessing the curriculum and how it is implemented is part of Ofsted’s inspection framework, as part of evaluating the quality of education at a school.

The Schools Minister set out an overview of the government’s position in response to a parliamentary question in January 2025, including potentially adding further water safety content to the curriculum:

Catherine McKinnell: Swimming and water safety is a vital life skill and that is why pupils are taught to swim and how to be safe in and around water at primary school. Swimming and water safety are compulsory elements of the primary physical education (PE) curriculum at key stages 1 and 2. It includes teaching on how to perform safe-self rescue in different water-based situations.

The department also supports schools to provide swimming and water safety lessons through teacher training and resources and the PE and Sport Premium for top-up lessons.

Schools also have the flexibility to include content on water safety as part of relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) or personal, social, health and economic education, to equip pupils with an understanding of the risks and enable them to make informed decisions. The department is currently reviewing the statutory RSHE curriculum, including looking at whether additional content on water safety should be added.

[PQ 23489 [Water: Safety], 16 January 2025]

Other parts of the UK

In Scotland, swimming lessons are not a required part of the curriculum. The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Jenny Gilruth MSP, told the Scottish Parliament in 2024:

Schools in Scotland have the flexibility to decide on the content of their physical education lessons. The Scottish Government does not specifically evaluate the extent to which swimming lessons form a part of those decisions. 

In Wales, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Lynne Neagle MS, told the Senedd in November 2024:

Under the Curriculum for Wales, which applies to 3–16 year olds, schools design a curriculum with a range of sports and activities to teach which meet the needs of their learners in their specific context. Swimming is a clear and obvious choice for schools to consider for learners as an important life skill.

In Northern Ireland, swimming is a part of the minimum content for the national curriculum in physical education at key stages 2 and 3 (ages 8-14).

Parliamentary materials

Parliamentary questions

Schools: Swimming

22 November 2024 | UIN 14072

Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of schools provide swimming lessons for Key stage (a) 1 and (b) 2 pupils.

Answering member: Catherine McKinnell | Department for Education

The department does not collect data on primary schools’ provision of swimming and water safety lessons. Sport England collects some data on swimming and water safety in from their annual Children and Young People’s Survey. This includes whether and how many swimming and water safety lessons are provided by primary schools who participate in the survey. This information can be found here: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fsportengland-production-files.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fs3fs-public%2F2023-12%2FActive%2520Lives%2520CYP%252022-23%2520Tables%252041-43%2520School%2520data.xlsx%3FVersionId%3DxCNGsG7bgs5I3oTWIn4Z9fmFsmfQvEdO&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK.

Children: Drownings

9 September 2024 | UIN 2782

Asked by: Mark Pritchard

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish an action plan to reduce deaths of minors from drowning.

Answering member: Catherine McKinnell | Department for Education

Swimming and water safety is a vital life skill and that is why pupils are taught how to swim and be safe in and around water at primary school.

Swimming and water safety are compulsory elements of the Physical Education (PE) National Curriculum at Key Stages 1 and 2. For example, it includes teaching on how to perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.

The department is focusing on a number of measures to support teaching in this area, as part of its ongoing review of the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum. The public consultation on the revised draft RSHE statutory guidance closed on 11 July 2024. The revised guidance includes a new section called ‘Personal safety’, which outlines that pupils should know how to identify risk and manage personal safety in increasingly independent situations including around roads, railways and water.

It is vitally important that teachers have clear guidance, which is why the department will be looking carefully at the consultation responses, re-engaging with stakeholders and considering the relevant evidence before setting out next steps to take the RSHE guidance forward.

The department is also working closely with swimming and water safety stakeholders such as the Royal Life Saving Society UK and Swim England to support schools in raising attainment in primary school swimming and water safety. Support and advice from Swim England includes resources for schools and parents, which can be found at the following links: https://www.swimming.org/schools/ and https://www.swimming.org/learntoswim/learn-to-swim-information-for-parents/.

Department officials have also worked alongside the National Water Safety Forum to develop free resources for schools to provide vital water safety knowledge that can go a long way to reduce drowning deaths. These resources can be found on the Royal Life Saving Society website at: https://www.rlss.org.uk/Pages/Category/water-safety-education.

Debates

Swimming Facilities

4 June 2025 | Westminster Hall | 768 cc184WH-202WH

Water Safety Education

7 May 2024 | Westminster Hall | 749 cc249WH-256WH

Water Safety

12 July 2021 | Westminster Hall | 699 cc23WH-38WH

Press and stakeholder materials

The following is a selection of news and media articles relevant to this debate. Please note: the Library is not responsible for either the views or the accuracy of external content.

Press releases and government publications

Further reading

Related posts