The only swimming pool left at a state school in Bristol could be forced to close because of the rising costs of running it. School leaders at Parson Street Primary School are appealing to the community for business sponsorship to make up the shortfall in funds, which would keep the swimming pool up and running for children across South Bristol.
The Bedminster school rents out the pool to other schools - and that helps pay the ‘ridiculously expensive’ costs of running the pool and enables pupils at the school itself to learn to swim there. Now Parson Street Primary’s PE leader Erica Tindall is appealing to local businesses to sponsor the pool, as the costs of heating and running the pool have increased with the rise in energy costs.
Ms Tindall, who has been at the school for 17 years, said: “We are the only state primary school in Bristol lucky enough to have our own swimming pool. Unfortunately with rising costs we can’t afford to keep our pool running for our children. Any businesses out there willing to sponsor us to allow our children to swim?” She explained that, at the moment, the money is needed to fund swimming for all the Year 1 and Year 3 children to swim all year round. “Our pool is ridiculously expensive to run,” she added. “We hire it out the rest of the week to help fund running costs.”
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It used to be that all year groups had swimming lessons, but that has reduced to Year 1 and 3 to enable the school to rent out the pool to other schools, businesses and toddler groups, to fund the running of the pool.
Former headteacher Jamie Barry backed the call. “I really hope you find a sponsor as it’s such a vital skill for the children,” he said. “I remember how much it cost to run when I was there, so it must be even harder to keep it going now.”
Ms Tindall said the school was looking to raise around £3,200 from sponsorship to keep the pool going for their children. She said the school had saved money by having a teaching assistant who was also a qualified swimming teacher, but they have now left, so any sponsorship or funding would fund a new coach as well.
"We are really lucky to have a pool and it's been a massive part of the school community,” she told the BBC. "We have a lot of children in our community who just don't swim and have never been to a pool before so it would be a real shame to lose it," added Ms Tindall.
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