West Dean swimmers make waves to win school crown

West Dean's swimmers celebrate their schools victory

The Cormorants invited six local primary schools to the event – West Dean, Bosham, The March, Central, St Richards and Jessie Younghusband.

Competition was tough, with only five points between West Dean and Jessie Younghusband at one stage. Jessie Younghusband did not take the pressure off and it was a fine battle to the end, but West Dean swimmers just would not give up.

There were events in all four strokes, including a medley relay and a freestyle relay, for both boys and girls in Years 5 and 6, culminating in a mixed squadron freestyle relay.

As West Dean are a small school, some of our swimmers were from Year 3 and Year 4 and they swam against significantly older pupils.

Head teacher Gill Moss said: “At West Dean we really value our swimming: both as a safety necessity and as a superb sport for a healthy lifestyle.

“We invest in our swimming coaches and encourage children to believe that, with lots of practice and determination, they can improve to reach the high standards achieved by children in previous years. This ‘can do’ attitude translates into other areas of life both inside and outside school.

“Once again, we have been so impressed with the swimmers’ attitude and effort during training – nothing was too much to ask; the children listened carefully and gave their all. This was so evident, time and time again, as they flew down the pool and then still managed a sprint finish.

“We must also thank the children’s parents for their support and of course our thanks go to Chichester Cormorants for organising this event.”

West Dean had already celebrated pool success this year, winning the SSP Relay Gala at Arun Leisure Centre.

They are waiting to hear if they are through to the next round of the English Schools’ Swimming Association relay gala after coming third in the small schools section.