European Swimming Federation LEN has released new minimum Learn to Swim standards to ensure young people are taught the same skills regardless of the country they live in.

One of the key standards is to ensure that by age 11 all children are able to swim 200 metres – using front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke – without stopping.

Jon Glenn, Learn to Swim director at Swim England, has been representing the UK during the development of the standards and attended the launch in Copenhagen, Denmark.

“This is an important step to ensuring all children learn the key swimming techniques”, said Glenn.

“Across Europe, swimming standards differ greatly. No country has developed a fool-proof system which means all children have the required knowledge about swimming and water safety that will keep them safe if they get into trouble.

Other key standards listed in the LEN guidance include treading water, floating and sculling skills for those aged between eight and 11 years old, and, for older children, water safety and jumping in safely.

The guidance also includes specific sections relating to facilities, minimum standards of qualifications for teachers, supervision, safety, safeguarding and health.

The new standards are now live, but European countries will spend time looking at their own programmes to ensure all the measures are incorporated.

“From a UK perspective we’ll continue to work with colleagues at Swim Wales and Scottish Swimming to ensure all our relevant Learn to Swim programmes incorporate the European standards,” Glenn added.

“Although there’s still a long way to go, it’s a great start to ensuring all our young people are able to enjoy the water safely.”