Balsall Common Primary School Academy is blessed to have an indoor swimming pool where the near-700 pupils can learn life-long skills in water.
And it’s not only pupils who benefit from gaining these skills, members of all ages of the local community are encouraged to come to the pool to learn to swim after-hours.
Recently, the pool’s filtration equipment, which was installed when the pool was built in the 1970s, needed to be upgraded and replaced, so the school made a financial request to Berkswell Charities to cover a shortfall in the funds they had raised to complete the work.
The school needed a modern sand filtration system which is vitally important today to provide the highest standard of safety and water cleanliness to protect anyone using the pool.
The Charities had also helped to fund repairs in 2020 and this latest request was speedily granted and the work has now been completed to a high standard, meaning that pupils can make use and enjoy this facility for many years to come.
Swimming is part of the curriculum and the school’s dedicated swim teacher takes weekly lesson for youngsters from the Nursery, aged 3-4 years, right up to Year 6 when they progress into secondary education.
Mark Mitchell, Headteacher said: “The donation from Berkswell Charities is greatly appreciated and has already made a huge difference. We exist as a school to provide every possible learning opportunity for our children and learning to swim is a huge benefit to offer our young people”.
Andrew Yates, Chairman of Berkswell Charities said grants for educational purposes and support was one of the key objects of the organisation and they had been making them for hundreds of years within the local community.
He added: “We are pleased to have made the difference and it’s satisfying to help the school to upgrade its filtration equipment to the next level.”