Ripon schools collaborate to provide swimming lessons

Ripon Grammar School is making its sports pool available to local primary school children for swimming lessons.

The importance of children learning to swim is paramount, particularly in a city that has the rivers Ure, Skell and Laver, a canal, and a lake near the racecourse.

Pupils from St Wilfrid’s Catholic Primary School are saving money on coach hire costs by using the grammar school’s pool.

The primary school’s headteacher Jill Allen said:

She said:

“We are very grateful to have use of the pool. It is a walk across the field rather than a long trudge to the new baths or coach which we can’t afford. The children all love it!

“We are now on track to ensure all Year 6 children can swim 25 metres before leaving primary school, despite the disruption of the past few years,” she said.

More than one million children in the UK are believed to have missed out on swimming lessons during the pandemic, and there are fears this could lead to a ‘lost generation’ of swimmers, with many leaving primary school unable to meet the minimum national curriculum standards.

Mrs Allen thanked RGS’s ‘tremendous’ sixth form students for supporting Year 5 and 6 pupils, including those in the water helping youngsters who were unable to swim.

“At the other end of the scale one child achieved her gold award and others silver and bronze.”

RGS director of sport Adam Milner said he was delighted the local community was able to access the RGS pool. He said:

“As a state school, we are lucky to have it and are pleased it’s helping more children to learn to swim, a vital life skill every child should have.

“We hope it will also help those primary school pupils who go on to attend Ripon Grammar School with their transition to secondary school. Hopefully there will be opportunities for other schools to join us in the pool in future.”

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Ripon students learn how to save a life

Students at Ripon Grammar School are being taught vital skills that could help them save a life one day.

Nine sixth formers and five Year 11 students are working towards National Pool Lifeguard Qualification (NPLQ), the most widely recognised lifeguard qualification in the UK & Ireland and a requirement for most lifeguarding jobs.

Trainee lifeguard Neive Zenner encourages others to consider the course:

She said:

“My advice would be, don’t be scared of throwing yourself into everything. You may feel embarrassed to shout across a pool, however the confidence you gain is worth it.”

Course tutor Myles Strudwick, who has been involved in lifeguarding and lifesaving for 20 years, both nationally and internationally, agrees:

He said:

“I am passionate about the development of skills in this area for anyone at any age, and nobody is too young or too old to start taking part.

“Even if it’s not something you use every day, the skills covered might just be enough to save a life one day. And it’s a strange – but thankful – feeling when that happens.”

Henry Grice-Holt, plans to work at Camp America during his gap year, where he hopes the qualification will help him get a lifeguard role.

The 17-year-old, who aims to study medicine after RGS,  inspired him to apply.

Henry, who plans a career in medicine after RGS, pointed out that the most important thing he had learnt was how to perform CPR with the use of a defibrillator:

“I have also been taught how to safely get someone who is unconscious out of the water and get them in the recovery position.”

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Neive, 17, said she was taking the course to help her get an interesting part-time job while at university. The accomplished swimmer added:

“Practical lessons allow you to have hands-on experience and basic first aid training, while theory provides you with the information you need to apply to lessons and even life situations.

“The most important skill I have learnt is communication, I found myself speaking out and answering questions in theory lessons, this then transferred to our pool sessions where we worked in teams relying on verbal skills.”

Henry and Neive use their Wednesday afternoon enrichment period – when sixth formers can take a break from studies to enjoy a range of other activities – to gain their qualification, which involves lessons for two hours a week at the school’s swimming pool, with additional home study.

Year 11 pupils have been taking their lifeguarding classes after school.

As well as being qualified in pool lifeguarding and supervision, with integrated defibrillation and anaphylaxis training, there is the option for the students to gain a First Aid at Work qualification and students, who began the course in November, will gain their qualifications at the beginning of April.

Sat nav failure sees Leeds man stuck in ‘god-forsaken’ Ripon

A Leeds man suffered an embarrassing sat nav failure when his car got stuck on a tiny footpath on the outskirts of Ripon.

The driver, who told his rescuers he was an ex-army man trying to cross the River Skell to get to work, was marooned for an hour.

He went down Borrage Green Lane, which turns into a narrow footpath that leads to a tiny footbridge.

Although the route is clearly unsuitable for vehicles, and barely wide enough to navigate in his Citroen, he soldiered on until he somehow managed to reach the bridge.

Finally accepting it was impossible to cross, he attempted to turn only for the back end of his vehicle to get wedged in the banking.

Luckily mum Jo Allenby, who was feeding her alpacas at the time of the incident early on Saturday morning, saw the mayhem and called a local farmer to help.

The farmer’s vehicle was too wide to get down the footpath so he drove a farm vehicle across the field and, with the help of another passer-by, was eventually able to release the vehicle.

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The sheepish driver then reversed to a slightly wider area, did a three-point turn and drove off without saying a word. Ms Allenby said:

“There was no ‘thank you’ or ‘sorry to bother you’, he was off. He was probably too embarrassed.

“When I first saw him I said, ‘what on earth are you doing?’. He said, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing. My sat nav took me down here. I’m never coming to this god-forsaken place again’.

“But anyone with half a brain cell could see it was a footpath. Nobody has ever gone down there in the 10 years I’ve had my animals in the field. I didn’t realise there were people as stupid as that.”

 

Search for ‘hero’ who rescued child from Ripon river

The search is on for a young man who earned the title of hero after he rescued a child from a river in Ripon.

A witness told the Stray Ferret that a girl slipped into the River Skell around 4pm yesterday afternoon.

The high water soon took the girl downstream – but, at that moment, a young man rushed out of the pub towards the water. He waded through the strong currents and managed to reach the girl before he pulled her out and saved her life.

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Sara Peirson was at The Water Rat pub watching the River Skell at about 4pm yesterday when she noticed the girl slip into the water.

Mrs Peirson told the Stray Ferret:

“I think that he is a hero, he was completely selfless. The river was very full yesterday, it was a surging current. But he didn’t think about that. He just jumped straight in and grabbed her. I spoke to him afterwards but he brushed it off.”

The search is now on for the man who rescued the girl. Mrs Peirson described him as no older than 20.

She would like the nameless hero to get recognition for his efforts in saving the young girl’s life. Anyone who knows the young man should get in touch and send an email to contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.

Second river rescue near Ripon

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue issued a water warning today after a second river rescue in North Stainley at about 6.45pm yesterday.

In the separate incident, a passer-by rescued a teenager who got stuck on a rock by the high currents after playing in the water. Her rescuer used life jackets to bring the teenager to safety.

A spokesman for the service said:

“Whilst open water can look tempting on warm days, it can be full of hidden dangers including strong currents and vegetation or objects that you can get caught up in. If you see someone in difficulty in open water you should call 999.”