A long hot summer at Makara Model School

Makara Model School in Wellington are the latest addition to the State Kiwi Swim Safe family with the school embracing the programme in every way, shape and form.  

With a roll of 25 students, Makara School have a beautiful school pool on site that is used at every opportunity – sometimes twice a day!  

Following some professional development from Swimming New Zealand, the teachers at Makara School continued their love for teaching their students to swim, making use of the State Kiwi Swim Safe resources to help their children understand how their bodies work differently in the water to what they do on land, and how they can effectively manage these differences to get the most out of their swimming. The students have reflection time after swimming to discuss with the rest of the school what they learnt in the pool and are encouraged to explain how they did particular skills.  

Following an assessment session this week, the teachers have noted that “all of the students have made significant progress in their swimming this season” and that they have found the swimming  resources “logical, easy to follow and really great to use.”  

With students covering years 1 to 8 within the school, the teachers have had to run lessons that cater for not only the different levels of ability in the pool, but also the ages.   

Lots of structured play has been used through games including captains coming, ball floats and stuck in the mud while the older and more capable children are set up with a “buddys’ that they support in the water for part of each lesson.  

Makara Model School has been an absolute pleasure to work with, and we look forward to continuing to work with them throughout 2013.