Swim schools report sinking enrolments as downturn deepens

Being able to swim is often considered a life skill in a country like New Zealand - but tough economic times are forcing many families to pull their children out of lessons.

A swim school in Wellington said there had been a large drop in the number of families paying for swimming lessons over the last six months.

But water experts say the capital city is a hotspot for drownings, and if parents could not afford lessons, then something needs to be done.

Sarah Chambers from Little Makos Swim School in Wellington said about 100 families pulled out of swimming lessons for term four. Some families told her it was because they had lost jobs in the public sector cuts across Wellington.

The swim school managed to get some extra funding so some families kids' lessons could continue.

"It was about 100 families, which is pretty significant for us. We have a couple of community organisations that we've been working with and so that sort of plugged some of the gaps," Chambers told Checkpoint.

"They were able to fund about 50 families - both through private sponsorship and through this community organisation - to swim, so it ended up only being a drop of 50, but it was an actual real drop of 100."

The swim school has not raised its prices because families were already struggling to pay. But the cost of running the pool and facilities had gone up and up, especially the price of power and chlorine, leaving the school struggling to stay afloat.

"In winter, if it's a milder part of the winter, it can be anything from $1700 to $2000 a month for the power and then during summer it can be $800 to $1200.

"The chlorine for six weeks would be about $250. So, it's really the cost of the power that is one of our biggest expenses."

Some families told Chambers they were moving to Australia as they could not pick up work here.

"There have been a number of families that have actually headed overseas as a result, so we've lost about 25 families overseas who have either returned home because they've lost jobs, and they weren't originally from New Zealand.

"There's about 15 families that we've lost to Australia. Then for a number of other ones it was purely financial."

Chambers said the drop in kids and adults learning to swim was a real worry as we headed into summer.

"There are a number of ways that people can still take their kids to the pool themselves - Wellington City Council for under five, it's free to take your child to the pool.

"We run a number of weekends where we open the pool for free so that people here can have access to water. It's not all over if you can't take your kid to a swimming lesson."

In Auckland, a staff member from a swim school said maintenance costs - like the price of chlorine - had gone up 30 percent in the past year, so fees had gone up.

"We try to keep our fees as low as possible because I think everyone deserves to learn how to swim and it shouldn't be like a toss-up of 'oh, we can't afford it'. But we've had to raise our fees by at least 20 to 30 percent as well because of our lane space costs going up."

Although they had not seen a large drop off in numbers, bigger families have had to sacrifice other needs so their children could continue to learn to swim.

"Bigger families have mentioned how things are a little bit expensive and they'll swim over summer and pause over winter for example, instead of going throughout the year. They'll concentrate on the winter sports and then during summertime pick up their swimming again."

Daniel Gerrard from Water Safety New Zealand said he would like to see more financial support brought in so children could learn basic water skills.

"We know it's expensive, and any time financial pressure comes on often these sorts of activities are seen as almost a luxury.

"We've got to find solutions that are almost in addition to the private swim school. How do we make sure every kid gets that opportunity, and that these challenging financial economic times aren't what's causing a spike in drownings?"

Wellington sinking

Wellington was an area of concern. A black spots map that showed the worst places in the country for drowning had Wellington as the only black spot south of Raglan.

Gerrard said he would like to see more safety measures introduced around the Wellington waterfront.

"Totally appreciate that there's challenges from a council perspective, around putting up fencing versus education versus giving kids the skills - that's an ongoing challenge.

"But definitely an investment into schools and private providers [is needed] to help support the delivery of basic aquatic skills."

This year, Wellington City Council introduced plans for better lighting and edge protection along the waterfront. Temporary fencing had been placed until a permanent solution could be found.

But Gerrard said basic swim skills were essential - and more support for families was needed.

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