Swimming is a very valuable skill: it increases the safety of children and young adults, gives them enjoyment, enables them to work on therapy goals and helps to keep them fit. It is an essential life skill.

Our own Hydrotherapy pool enables us to offer regular swim sessions to our pupils as part of our curriculum. Our pool is fitted with state of the art sensory equipment, including floating lights, and switch and sound activated sensory lighting, to enable pupils to access it as part of a sensory learning experience, as well as for the teaching of swimming.

Abbey Court staff are trained in how to support pupils in the water using a range of teaching strategies. This includes following The Halliwick Association of Swimming Therapy (Halliwick AST), a programme devised to develop the teaching of water safety and swimming for people with disabilities. In addition to this, pupils are supported to gain a range of accredited swimming awards during their time at Abbey Court, including Duckling Awards and Water Skills awards. 

As pupils progress through the school, some move on to visiting leisure centres to develop their swimming skills further and to prepare them for accessing these facilities in their adult lives, as part of a healthy lifestyle.