This post is just for whānau with children involved in swimming sports.

Kia ora koutou,

Swimming Sports is this Thursday afternoon at Wharenui Pool. 

All children attending Swimming Sports will be having an early lunch at school on Thursday before boarding the bus at 12.15. In addition to our competitors, we have a few of our House Captains and deputy house Captains attending Swimming Sports to assist with the running of the event. There will be a Beckenham School staff member onboard each bus to supervise the children. 

• Children should go to swimming sports with their swimmers on underneath their school uniform. There is no time to get changed when we arrive at the pool. 
• Please ensure that your child has a packed lunch, a water bottle and a towel. 
• Children who carry personal medication, such as inhalers should have these on them. 
• We welcome you to join us and support our swimmers. We will have a space for spectators opposite the children, who will be sitting in house groups on the bleachers. To support us in running this event, we ask that you stay on the side allocated for spectators.  
• Should you wish to collect your child from Wharenui Pool, you must sign out your child with a Beckenham teacher. All other children will return to Sandwich Road by bus. We expect to be back by 3pm. 

We will start with freestyle, followed by backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and then the medley. The 25 m races will be done before the 50 m races. We will finish with a house relay. All races are straight finals with the exception of a few where the number of entries requires heats. There are also some occasions when multiple races of the same stroke and distance will be occurring at the same time. In this instance, the children will still be judged and placings recorded for their age. 

We are a little shorter on time than we usually are due to the pool not being available earlier. We will aim to be as efficient as we can and if necessary we may need to cancel the medley races if time does not allow. 

Here are some answers to frequently asked questions. 

• Between races, children must stay seated on the bleachers. As they will have had an earlier lunch than what they are used to, they may eat while seated. 
• Children may start in the pool, or may dive from the poolside or the starting blocks. Children who are not confident in performing a shallow dive are advised to start in the water. All backstroke competitors must start in the water. 
• The starting procedure is as follows:

Whistle - enter the pool, step up to the side of the pool or step onto the blocks

“On your marks” - Get into starting position and then stay still

Clap - Swim

• A false start will be indicated by two more claps and the dropping of a rope. Swimmers should then immediately return to the start.  
• If a child gets into difficulty, they should grab onto the lane ropes from where they will be assisted by the lifeguard. 
• Children can stop and stand if they need to (where depth allows). 
• 25 m races are one length, 50 m are two lengths and the medley is three lengths
• Children should do a one-handed turn/finish for freestyle and backstroke and a two-handed turn/finish for breaststroke and butterfly
• No disqualifications will be made.
• On completion of their race, they will be handed a token that represents their placing, which they then take to the recorders. Children should then go back to their seat.
• Children should get changed after their last event and return to the bleachers to cheer on their peers. 

We look forward to seeing many of you there!