North East Derbyshire District Council (NEDDC) has been recognised by the Amateur Swimming Association’s (ASA) Aquamark accreditation scheme.
Aquamark is the quality seal of approval for swimming lesson providers developed by the national governing body for swimming. It is an original and unique programme, designed specifically to help organisations providing swimming programmes to improve and enhance their service.
Comprising of four modules, operators are assessed on areas such as Programme Operation, Staffing, Customer Relations and Policy and Strategy. To achieve the top-level accreditation Premier status, a lesson provider must pass all four criteria.
The council began the application process for accreditation approximately a year ago and this month earned the prestigious Premier status.
NEDDC became an official partner of the ASA in 2006 and uses the National Plan for Teaching Swimming across its three sites – Dronfield Sports Centre, Eckington Swimming Pool and Sharley Park Leisure Centre. More than 2,000 people currently access swimming lessons each week.
North East Derbyshire District Council Swimming Development Officer Stephen Bird feels that
working towards Aquamark accreditation has allowed staff to review and improve the organisation’s practices.
'The swimming teaching team at the authority found the process went really well,' he said. 'The self-assessment allowed us to see what improvements needed to be made before the formal assessment and we found the whole process from start to finish to be a valuable tool.
'It has been a real team effort working towards Aquamark and the whole team has been given a huge boost with the news that we have been awarded Premier status.”
ASA Regional Business Manager for the East Midlands Sarah Price is pleased to see the centre gain the Aquamark Premier status.
“I am delighted that North East Derbyshire District Council has achieved Aquamark,” she said. “It is great to see their hard work paying off, and everyone can now be proud they are amongst an elite group of centres to hold the national standard.
“Stephen Birds and his staff have always been very pro active and this was an important standard for them to reach. It is great to see their work has been recognised and appreciated. I hope this achievement will encourage other centres across the region to strive towards the ASA’s seal of approval for leisure providers.”
Aquamark Assessor John Lawton believes that the centre has worked hard to achieve the accreditation and has proven it excels in many areas of swimming provision.
“The team at North East Derbyshire District Council have really embraced the principles of Aquamark and it is clear that great efforts have been made to raise the bar in terms of their swimming provision,” he said. “The swim programme is well-managed with some innovative practise that can become a blueprint for others. Structures are now in place to ensure that there will be a process of continuous improvement.”
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For more information contact ASA Media Assistant Gemma Field on 01509 632262, 07917 726431 or email gemma.field@swimming.org
The Amateur Swimming Association is the English National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, Open Water, and Synchronised Swimming. It organises competition throughout England, establishes the Laws of the Sport and operates comprehensive certification and education programmes for Teachers, Coaches and Officials as well as its renowned Learn To Swim Awards scheme. The ASA supports 1,220 affiliated swimming clubs through a National/Regional/County structure. The ASA aims to ensure everybody has an opportunity to learn to swim.
The Kellogg’s ASA Awards Scheme is the most successful awards scheme in British sport and issues around two million awards every year to swimmers all around the world.
For more information about ASA Awards please see www.swimming.org
