Sunderland swim school launches new scheme for low-income families

In at the deep end (IATDE) is the only Autism Swim Approved Centre in the North East. The swim school is encouraging business to back its new scheme, meaning even children from low income families have the opportunity to take up swimming lessons.

Many people are struggling following the pandemic and with the cost of living rising are finding activities, such as swimming lessons, difficult to afford. At the same time, families are also dealing with an unprecedented rise in mental health issues coming out of lockdown. Sunderland’s IATDE is aiming to help with both.

IATDE co-founder Mark McNichol, has been a qualified swimming instructor for more than 20 years and is passionate about providing fun, flexible and affordable lessons to swimmers across Sunderland.

He said: “Throughout the pandemic the swim school has closed several times complying with restrictions and as a result we had many families share with us how much their children were missing their swimming lessons as well as the impact it was having on their mental health and wellbeing.

“Our mission has always been to provide affordable and fun swimming lessons and have recently become a Mindful Swim School. We felt it was important to introduce mindfulness swimming activities into our lessons due to the rise of mental health issues in children and we wanted to go even further by bringing these lessons to those who may not be able to afford it and thus the corporate sponsorship scheme was created.”

The corporate scheme will have two tiers – £799+VAT for 1-2-1 lessons for one child for a year, and £199+ VAT for group lessons for a child for a year. In exchange, sponsors will receive a range of benefits and promotional opportunities both online and in print, as well as on IATDE paraphernalia. The top tier package will also receive discounted swimming lessons & activities for staff plus discounted corporate training and continuing professional development certification.

To find out more information about the sponsorship scheme visit www.inatthedeepend.com

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