Swimming Time

Mr Marks led us to the YMCA Lagoonfor our swimming lessons, as I got more excited, I was definitely hoping that I was in the large pools. Sure enough, I was. I went zooming past as Mr Marks said “go Starford”

It was my turn to get in. My teeth were chattering as I slid into the chlorinated pool, and cold water stung me all over, I was FREEZING!

As I pushed of the wall I went glidding through the water, looking stragiht up at the roof. I golped some water and I started to cough. Finally I reached the end and me and my friends were glad we made it.

“Yay” I said to my friends, we moved on to freetime and we started playing some wrestling im the pool. Mr Marks told us It was time to get out and get changed

Holiday Highlights

For my Holiday me,my sisters and my brother went to the lagoon down in Panmure. We got ready in our togs, then we jumped in with a big splash into the water, I was so happy because it was realFor my Holiday me,my sisters and my brother went to the lagoon down in Panmure. We got ready in our togs, then we jumped in with a big splash into the water, I was so happy because it was really hot that day. We were playing games like hand stands and how long you could hold your breath under water. And the pool was freezing cold!!

So me and my brother walked to the Splash Pad for kids to play with fountains and water gadgets. My favourite one was the big bucket because a whole pile of water falls on you. I tried to turn on the water gun but it never turned on so I went somewhere else.

“Diving board, diving board” Finally the lifeguard opened it up and i was the first on the diving board and I did a V bomb and it went high as!! Then I swam to the ladder and back of the line, my next move was a front flip and I touched the ground, I got a saw head because all the pressure in the water.

It was lunch time so me and my sisters and brothers walked to our bags and we had some Doritos and some Coca cola.With no energy inside of me I decided to get changed.

ly hot that day. We were playing games like hand stands and how long you could hold your breath under water. And

I'm in the Sunday Star Times!

On Sunday December 19th 2010, there I was in the Sunday Star Times - along with Chris and Kids from Pt England School.  Check out the article here:

WATER-WISE: Starford Toa in the portable pool at Auckland's Pt England School, where pupils are getting water education.

If schools can't get their students to a pool, why not bring the pool to the school?

It sounds far-fetched, but that's exactly what WaterSafe Pools2Schools programme is doing in Auckland.

Chief executive Sandy Harrop says schools face a lot of barriers when it comes to giving their students an aquatic education.

"These barriers are identified by schools as support for teachers and the cost of pool entry, tuition, transport [and] time out of school," she says.

Pools2Schools breaks down all those barriers by bringing the pool – and all that goes with it – to the school.

The programme was trialled at Papakura's Red Hill Primary school last year using a 10m by 5m vinyl portable pool borrowed from Premier Exhibitions.

Deputy principal Charlotte Castle said that when the school started working with WaterSafe, it realised a lot of its students didn't even know how to float. Now, thanks to $95,000 of KiwiSport funding, Pools2Schools has its own portable pool, water filter system, heat pump, scaffolding, marquee, security fencing and trailer.

It also comes with WaterSafe Auckland's aquatic education facilitator Chris Burton, who teaches the students and the teachers. Burton says Pools2Schools is not just about teaching kids how to swim 200m – a goal set out in the national curriculum.

"That's not necessarily going to help you in a rip," he says. "It's about building a knowledge base and decision making."

Decisions such as when to signal for help, how to fit a life jacket and how to duck-dive under big waves.

For the past seven weeks the covered pool has been at east Auckland's Pt England School. When the Sunday Star-Times visited, Year 5 students were learning how to use their hands like ice-cream scoops and how to stay warm and float in the water.

"I feel like a safer swimmer," 10-year-old Crusader Faletagoai says. "I didn't know how to do it properly before." Classmate Prince Scanlan says he's going to show his three and six-year-old sisters what he's learnt in the pool this term. Teacher Helen Squires says the students have also enjoyed lunchtime classes in the pool with Water Polo NZ, Surf Lifesaving and Olympic swimmer Hayley Palmer. Fellow teacher Jody Wild says her Year 1 students have "come along in leaps and bounds".