Speedo sponsored athletes; Adam Peaty, Alice Tai, Freya Anderson, Anna Hopkin, Tom Dean and Duncan Scott raise their hands to show the 1 in 4 sign, raising awareness of the fact that 1 in 4 children in the UK leave primary school unable to swim 25m or self-rescue.
1 in 4 children leave primary school unable to swim or self-rescue, research shows this is set to increase to 6 in 10 without intervention. Most of these children are from socially disadvantaged and minority ethnic communities. Research from the Black Swimming Association shows that 95% of black adults and 80% of black children do not swim in England and 93% of Asian adults and 78% of Asian children in England do not swim. According to the World Health Organisation, the risk of drowning is higher amongst minority ethnic communities.
Speedo has joined forces with Swim England, The Black Swimming Association and Active Black Country to form Speedo Swim United, a collective which aims to ensure all children are able to swim 25m by 2025. Collectively, Swim United has started a petition which asks the Government to intervene and drive tangible change, see link here.
