The Dolphin Swimming Club is a not-for-profit organisation, led by its members for its members.
The Dolphin Swimming Club was founded over 50 years ago by parents of children, (aged 5+ years), with special educational needs and disabilities who saw a way for their children to learn to swim, be active and break their social isolation. The members all have special educational needs or disabilities, SEND, including some physical or learning disabilities such as Downs Syndrome, others are on the autistic spectrum and some have ADHD. The families are incredibly diverse and bring many cultures together in a common goal.
Some children are simply working on not being afraid of the water and enjoying the special sensory experience of being in water whilst others are learning essential swimming skills, with the assistance of our swimming team and the parents and carers who join their children in the pool during the session, thereby also creating a wonderful way for parents to bond, support and learn with their children.
The club’s regular sessions are at the Latchmere Leisure Centre on Friday evenings and the Putney Leisure Centre on Sunday evenings, both during school terms. We have a great swim team and set of volunteers from the parent cohort, local students and peer mentors to support our members.
The club is led by its members and their families, through our Parent Steering Group, bringing experience, empathy and an understanding of the needs of all our swimmers to all of our work.