Written Statement: Nofio Ysgol: National School Swimming and Water Safety Programme (24 July 2026)

I am pleased to announce a National School Swimming and Water Safety Programme, with its implementation commencing from September 2026.

Last month, in my statement on this Welsh Government's priorities for culture and sport, I reaffirmed our commitment to school swimming and ensuring that every child leaves primary school with the opportunity to learn to swim.

I am today announcing the publication of the Nofio Ysgol Implementation Plan 2026-2029, which sets out how we will deliver a consistent national offer of school swimming and water safety education for children across Wales.

This Welsh Government believes culture and sport are central to creating a healthier, more confident and more prosperous Wales. We recognise the important contribution sport can make to our preventative health agenda, helping children to develop lifelong habits that support physical and mental wellbeing.

Swimming is both a life-saving skill and an important foundation activity for lifelong participation in physical activity. However, access to school swimming remains inconsistent across Wales. Around one in five maintained primary schools currently provides no swimming lessons, while relatively few children access extracurricular swimming opportunities. For many pupils, school-based provision is their only opportunity to develop water confidence, swimming competence and essential self-rescue skills.

The Nofio Ysgol programme has been designed to ensure a clear and consistent national approach. The programme will provide a minimum offer of 20 swimming and water safety lessons for pupils, primarily across Years 4 and 5, supported by a focus on water confidence, swimming competence and water safety education. The programme will also include Swim Safe Cymru provision, classroom water safety resources aligned to the Curriculum for Wales, and support to remove barriers to participation.

A key principle of the programme is that it will be a universal offer with targeted additional support. While every eligible learner should have access to school swimming and water safety education, we are also committed to addressing inequalities that can prevent participation. Additional support will therefore be directed towards learners and communities facing the greatest barriers, including those in rural areas, deprived communities, Welsh-medium settings, disabled learners and those with Additional Learning Needs or healthcare needs.

Recognising the scale of the challenge and the importance of sustainable delivery, implementation will be undertaken through a phased approach. From September 2026, Phase 1 will begin in nine pathfinder local authorities, providing an opportunity to test delivery models, strengthen workforce capacity, improve data collection and evaluate outcomes. An allocation of £2m is being made available to support delivery in this first year. The programme will then expand to up to 16 local authority areas from September 2027 before reaching all 22 local authorities from September 2028.

The programme will be delivered through direct Welsh Government funding to participating local authorities, supported nationally by Swim Wales, the national governing body for swimming.

Our ambition is simple but significant. Every child in Wales should have the opportunity to learn to swim, understand how to stay safe in and around water, and develop skills that could one day save their life.

The publication of this implementation plan fulfils our commitment in our first 100-days plan and marks the beginning of a collaboration across Ministerial portfolios and with local government, schools and sector partners to ensure future generations have equitable access to this essential life skill and the many health, wellbeing and participation benefits that come with it.

This statement is being issued during recess to keep Members informed. Should Members wish me to make a further statement or to answer questions on this when the Senedd returns I would be happy to do so.