Category Archives: Howell’s pool

The Howell’s Water-Dragons swimming club

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Dear Parents

Water Dragons swimming club will close for the Chrismas break on December the 11th 2010

Payment is now due  for the final five weeks covering  13th November to the 11th of December 2010 when the cost will be  £17.50

Water Dragons will re- open to continue with 10 week courses on Saturday the 8th of January 2011.

I am pleased to say that we have managed to hold our 10 week course charge to £35.00  for the New year.

New instructions  for the New Year regarding the children’s swimming ability.

Please note that those children who have managed stage three will remain at that level until they can manage the expected standards for the ASA  National Curriculum water skills award  before they can move to the next stage.

Then National water skills award requires that your child must be able to swim 25m in deep water  without stress , to tread water for two mins  submerge and then swim to the side and climb out unaided.

Due to this latest directive from the ASA  we will be replacing the 25m award with the national curriculum water skills award .

I have taken over Zoe’s  Stage two group which means that I will have some difficulty collecting the membership money.  If any parent feels that they could collect this for me during  the  hour lesson I would be very grateful  for your help.

Our beginner class is very small at the moment with just three in the 10.15 class and one in the 11.00 class so now is the time to enroll

January is also very quiet  and a good opportunity for your child to attend small classes If you are interested please contact me on 029   20 253784

I have still been unable to book pool time to introduce GCSE  lifesaving as an extention to our  club activities There may be a slot 9.00- 10.00 am  on Saturdays or 11.45  till 12.45.  I will canvas members to see if any of the improver /advanced group,  or their friends may be interested  in taking part in the near future.

Thanks once again  for all your support.  I do hope to see you all continue with the club in the New Year

Have a very happy Christmas and the very best New Year

Kind regards  Jean and all the coaches

Pat.Richard and Gloria

Summer break August 7th re -open September 4th

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Hi there everybody

This year has flown and we are into the summer holidays already.

Water Dragons will close for three weeks starting  7th of August and re-open on 4th September – 2010

I would rather keep the pool session going  throughout the year but most parents take the children away on holidays during this month consequently bookings  are way down and maintaining the courses throughout August are not cost effective.

Members may have noticed that we have now brought in flippers and masks for the children to practice with during “Free time”  and it has been a favourite activity for all the children.  The little one are loosing out because we do not have flippers for the smaller sizes.  I am sorry but  funds will not reach to further purchases at the moment and,  if you are a parent of a child wearing the smaller size perhaps you would purchase a set for your child in one of the stores and bring them along to the sessions.?

Regarding the groups advanced improver and beginner–

Firstly-  we will not be taking any under 5′s year group from September–Those who are members will remain if they wish but  they will join the beginner group.

Improver’s and advanced groups all continue as normal.

New–  A recent  directive from the ASA has advised all coaches to  enforce   floating skills  as  an aid to survival during swimming lessons and that  research has shown that this skill is more important than swimming for survival,   we will be following that directive throughout our courses.

I am still concerned that parents are  talking to the coaches during the classes .  I cannot emphasize enough,  the dangers this causes to the children in the water-   The coach  is diverting his/her attention from  the children to the parent  and a near drowning incident can occur

Please do not hesitate to let me know of any problems / feedback/ ideas you may have which may help in  the continual improvement of  our club

Thank you all for your enthusistic  and continual  support.

Kind regards

Jean,  Richard , Pat ,  Gloria,   Zoe

Open Day at Howell’s school 30th January.

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HI

On Saturday the 30th January Howell’s  school are holding an open day.

Expect a build up of traffic at the entrance, where helpers will be  directing drivers  to the car park within the  grounds.

In past years parking has not been a problem on these occasions but    when entering the grounds of the school  let the helpers know that you are using the pool and you should  be  able to travel to your normal parking area.

We may have  parents visiting  the pool while we are there,  so please ensure that any non swimming children are sitting  with you,  and keep push- chairs and baggage  clear of the surrounding area.

Saturday the 30th I hope to bring along some  Resusci-Annies to introduce  the children to water rescue and resuscitation practice.  We will us very brief sessions over the next 10 weeks, this will be as addons to swimming classe s,  and by the end of the course,  a basic understanding will have started  to be established.    Awards for these learned skills will be presented when the children have reached the standards  set.

We have had a good response from the children who say that they are looking forward to  the new activities which they should fnd enjoyable

Kind Regards

Jean