National School Swimming and Water Safety Programme (Nofio Ysgol): implementation plan 2026 to 2029

The Welsh Government is developing Nofio Ysgol, a national School Swimming and Water Safety Programme for Wales. The programme will support children to develop water confidence, swimming ability and essential water safety skills through a consistent national offer delivered in partnership with local authorities, schools, Swim Wales and other key partners.

The programme responds to the commitment to provide a minimum school swimming experience for pupils in Wales, consisting of 20 swimming and water safety lessons for pupils in Years 4 and 5. It also supports wider priorities around health, sport, public safety, drowning prevention, equity of access and the Curriculum for Wales expectation that learners should have experience in and around water.

School swimming provision is currently inconsistent across Wales. Around 19% of maintained primary schools provide no lessons, and only 13% of children under 11 take extracurricular swimming lessons, meaning many pupils rely on school provision to develop water competence. Swim Wales data for 2024 to 2025 indicates that, of approximately 182,000 primary-aged pupils eligible for school swimming, around 66,000 participated in provision, with 25,945 achieving the Nofio Ysgol Gold Award.

The Nofio Ysgol Gold Award includes a clothed jump entry, a 25-metre clothed swim, 30 seconds of treading water while signalling for help, and the identification of four key water safety messages. It is intended as a self-rescue standard that helps assess whether a child has the skills to survive in water.

Key barriers to consistent school swimming include transport costs, inconsistent local offers, limited clarity on provision, curriculum visibility, and additional access needs for disabled learners and pupils with Additional Learning Needs and/or healthcare needs. Transport has been identified by Swim Wales as the primary barrier.

The programme will seek to:

• improve water safety awareness, confidence in water and fundamental swimming competence
• increase participation in sport and physical activity, particularly among children in under-served groups
• support preventative health outcomes, including activity levels among children
• reduce inequality in access to swimming and water safety education, including for disabled learners, pupils with Additional Learning Needs and/or healthcare needs, Welsh-medium learners and pupils in rural or high-deprivation areas

Nofio Ysgol will provide a consistent national approach, with a core offer, quality standards, data requirements and reporting expectations. The planned minimum offer is 20 swimming lessons per pupil, targeted at pupils across Years 4 and 5. The recommended delivery model is 10 hours per year in Year 4 and Year 5, with a minimum 45-minute lesson duration, while allowing flexibility across Years 3 to 6 where local logistics require it.

The programme will include a focus on water safety, confidence in water and fundamental swimming competence. It will also include one Swim Safe Cymru Pwll session, availability of Water Safety Wales classroom resources aligned to the Curriculum for Wales, support for transport costs, bilingual provision, and accessible and equitable provision for disabled learners and pupils with Additional Learning Needs and/or healthcare needs.

The policy model is a universal offer with targeted additional support. This means all eligible pupils will be included in the national offer, with additional support directed towards pupils, schools and local authorities facing the greatest barriers to access or attainment, including transport, rurality, deprivation, Welsh-medium provision, Additional Learning Needs and catch-up provision.

The delivery model is direct Welsh Government grant funding to participating local authorities, supported by Swim Wales as the national programme lead. This model balances national consistency with local delivery responsibilities for school engagement, transport, pool access and provider capacity. It also allows the programme to begin through a first phase of delivery while testing and refining the approach before wider rollout.

Swim Wales will support national programme management, quality assurance, workforce development, data collection, reporting, training, communications, CPD materials, certificates and provision to help ensure no child is excluded through lack of swimwear.

The programme will be delivered through a phased rollout across three academic years, from 2026 to 2029. This approach is intended to manage affordability, readiness and implementation risk, while allowing early learning to shape wider delivery.

Phase 1: pathfinder delivery, 2026 to 2027 academic year

Phase 1 will establish the consistent national offer, based on 20 lessons per pupil, in up to 9 local authority areas from September 2026. The pathfinder phase will test delivery across different Welsh contexts and generate learning to support wider rollout.

Phase 2: expansion, 2027 to 2028 academic year

Phase 2 will expand the programme from September 2027, covering up to 16 local authority areas in total. Learning from the pathfinder phase will be used to improve consistency, quality, workforce planning and local delivery arrangements.

Phase 3: national coverage, 2028 to 2029 academic year

Phase 3 will extend the programme to all 22 local authority areas, delivering national coverage. During this phase, partners will continue to monitor participation, outcomes and impact, and embed continuous improvement locally and nationally through data and feedback.

A Programme Board will be established to oversee the design, implementation and delivery of the programme. Membership will include representatives from Welsh Government policy teams, Swim Wales, local authorities and other key partners.

The Programme Board will set the core offer, quality standards, data requirements and reporting expectations.

The programme will use key performance indicators to provide assurance on delivery, value for money and impact. These indicators will cover reach, delivery of the 20-lesson offer, attainment, equity, quality, cost efficiency and learning from Phase 1. An evaluation of Phase 1 will be completed and used to refine the rollout plan for subsequent phases.

The programme will be designed to support equitable access and outcomes. This includes a focus on disabled learners, pupils with Additional Learning Needs and/or healthcare needs, Welsh-medium learners, pupils in rural areas, and schools or communities experiencing deprivation. An initial equality impact assessment will be undertaken during Phase 1, with ongoing assessment during the pathfinder year. The programme will also monitor equity indicators throughout implementation.

Swim Wales will support workforce development, training and quality assurance. This will include identifying capacity gaps and supporting swimming teacher development.  Workforce planning will also consider the availability of Welsh-speaking instructors and staff able to support pupils with Additional Learning Needs.

Transport has been identified as a major barrier to delivering school swimming consistently. The programme will therefore include support around transport costs, alongside early engagement with local authorities and transport providers to explore sustainable transport solutions.

Pool availability and facility capacity are also significant dependencies. The programme will include local authority readiness assessments, early commissioning of pool time and engagement with leisure providers to identify pressure points before rollout.

The programme is linked to wider work on the audit of sporting facilities.

Summer 2026: programme mobilisation

Key outputs

Governance established; pathfinder local authorities identified; delivery framework, grant arrangements, data expectations and communications prepared.

September 2026: phase 1 begins

Key outputs

Delivery starts in up to nine pathfinder local authorities.

2026 to 2027 academic year: pathfinder testing

Key outputs

Workforce support, transport planning, equality and workload assessment, pupil feedback and impact measurement undertaken.

2027: phase 1 evaluation

Key outputs

Evaluation completed and learning used to refine Phase 2 rollout.

September 2027: phase 2 begins

Key outputs

Programme expands to up to 16 local authority areas in total.

September 2028: phase 3 begins

Key outputs

Programme expands to all 22 local authority areas.

2028 to 2029 academic year: national coverage

Key outputs

Monitoring, evaluation and continuous improvement embedded across Wales.