Virgin Active is teaming up with children's television characters The Octonauts as part of an initiative to encourage more youngsters to learn to swim.

Working alongside the Swimming Teachers Association (STA), the Virgin Active Octonauts programme features Captain Barnacles, who is on a mission to help ensure young swimmers are equipped with the skills and tips to enjoy taking to the water.

The programme is being taught at all Virgin Active family clubs including Chiswick Riverside, Fulham and Notting Hill, and is open to members and non-members aged between two and eight.

As part of the programme, Dawn Idzikowska, swim manager at Virgin Active, offers five key tips for beginner swimmers to build self-confidence and strength in the water: breathing, floating, treading water, push and glides and rotation.

According to statistics from Swim England, one in three primary school pupils are unable to swim at the age of 11, with almost a third of children leaving primary school with no swimming skills. As a result, two thirds of parents worry their children would be unable to save themselves without assistance.

Virgin Active teaches more than 20,000 children to swim each week.