For a second consecutive year, Konfidence are the headline sponsor of STA’s 2024 Aquatic Excellence Awards, which we launched last year to celebrate and showcase the achievements of all those involved in delivering learn-to-swim programmes and aquatics training. See all the 2023 winners here Peter Regan, Konfidence’s Director, who attended last year’s awards, said: “We are truly honoured to be the official sponsors of STA’s Aquatic Excellence Awards once again this year. We have enjoyed a long partnership with STA, over many years, and by sponsoring these awards, we can continue to support t ..read more

For the first time, STA has created an official PAW Patrol water safety lesson plan for International Learn to Swim Week (ILSW). The PAW Patrol themed lesson plan follows the Water Safety Code, and with the paw-some games and activities we’ve created, we can help children understand the principles of water safety and how to #LoveWaterSafely. The lesson follows a trip to Adventure Bay where the pups go for a swim and learn the water safety code when Marshall gets himself into trouble in the water. Each of the activities are based on the pups and their personality traits. On completion of the ac ..read more

Last week ukactive officially opened the entries for their annual awards, and timed the announcement to confirm that STA, for a second consecutive year, is the 2024 headline awards sponsor. Huw Edwards, CEO of ukactive, said: “We are delighted to open the entries for this year’s ukactive Awards, as well as announcing the STA’s return as our headline sponsors as we head to the fantastic ICC in Birmingham to host our ceremony this October. “Our members and partners have shown incredible strength and determination in the face of continued economic challenges, delivering some truly exceptional pro ..read more

In partnership with Janine Ramsey from Trauma-Informed Aquatics, STA is delighted to introduce a new online CPD titled ‘Fundamentals of Trauma-Informed Practice in Swimming Lessons’. This introductory CPD has been created to help swimming teachers gain a foundational understanding of what it means to be trauma-informed when delivering swimming lessons. The new CPD, which has been written by Janine and built by STA in consultation with the industry, is available now via STA Online. It takes swimming teachers through the steps of understanding trauma-informed principles and practices, and how th ..read more

For 2024, STA is running a year-long charity campaign called CommUNITY STArters, which is directly aimed at supporting not-for-profit organisations or groups; to help them start or boost a community-based grassroots swimming / water safety / aquatics related project. As part of this campaign, each month in 2024, one organisation / group / project will be chosen to receive a £1000 charity grant from STA, and we are delighted to confirm that the recipient of the March award is Ruislip Turtles Swimming Club. Ruislip Turtles, which is run as a charity by dedicated volunteers, provides swimming les ..read more

For those who love aquatics and fitness and want to share their passion, STA has launched an all-new STA Level 2 Award in Aquacise qualification. Endorsed against the CIMSPA Core Group Exercise Instructor professional standard, the new aquacise qualification has been developed by STA to train learners on how to professionally plan and instruct fun, motivating, and inclusive aquacise classes for participants of all abilities. Helen Done, Qualifications and Business Development Manager at STA, says; “We are very excited to launch this qualification today. It has been in development for a while ..read more

STA is seeing more and more swim schools start to build and have control over their own pools – but as we are starting to see in this blog series, they are not all being built in places you might think are obvious, and they are not all conventionally built pools. This is the case for our next inspirational swim school – SWIM IN A TIN – and Jarred Hill, STA’s Marketing Co-Ordinator recently had a chat with the co-founders Nick Timms and Helen Barge about their swim school, which features an endless pool housed in ‘tin’ containers on a farm in Leamington Spa. Before, we get into the details abou ..read more

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This time last year STA embarked on a new 3-year partnership with Fusion Lifestyle, with the leisure group becoming an STA Approved Training Centre (ATC) as part of their national strategy to attract new swimming teachers to the industry and grow their swimming lesson programmes across its 28 pool sites. The three-year plan involves internally training new STA tutors so that they can deliver STA’s Level 2 Award and Certificate swimming teaching qualifications to Fusion staff and people interested in a progressive career in swimming. Twelve months on, and we can report that Fusion Lifestyle, wh ..read more

Secure your 2024 STA conference place today, and SAVE with our new early bird* offers! Spring into action and join us at the Radisson Blu Hotel, East Midlands Airport on Friday 11th October and Saturday 12th October for our annual two-day conference. On the Friday, we will also be joined by Olympian and OBE, Professor Greg Whyte. During the two days a multitude of content will be covered, across several aquatic strands including: swimming, open water swimming, lifesaving, first aid, pool plant and marketing / business, which will allow you to expand your knowledge and learn about new and infor ..read more