Job Description

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The Yehudi Menuhin School is seeking a Swimming Teacher to deliver high-quality, engaging, and safe swimming instruction to pupils, supporting their physical development, water confidence, and overall well-being.

Job Specification/Key Areas of Responsibility

The Swimming Teacher has responsibility for ensuring the safe conduct of the class in the water and on poolside, in line with good practice and their training, which includes:

  • Planning, developing and monitoring the swimming programme.
  • Preparing schemes of work appropriate to pupils’ age, abilities and interests.
  • Enforcing emergency drills every term.
  • Being observant of the pool and pool users at all times.
  • Initiating any rescues or other emergency action required.
  • Being able to affect a rescue from the bottom of the deepest part of the pool.
  • Administering first aid.
  • Raising an alarm and summoning support in the event of an accident or incident.
  • Preventing unsafe activities.

Key Personal Specifications 

Qualifications

Essential:

  • Level 2 Teaching Qualification (e.g., Swim England/ASA Level 2 or STA Level 2 Certificate).
  • Recognised Lifeguard/Rescue Qualification (e.g., RLSS National Rescue Award for Swimming Teachers and Coaches - NRASTC or NPLQ).
  • Enhanced DBS Check (and registration for the update service) as the role involves working with children.

Desirable:

  • First Aid certification.
  • Additional qualifications in teaching children with disabilities or teaching non-swimmers/advanced swimmers.

Experience

Essential:

  • Experience of teaching swimming to children is required, preferably covering primary and secondary age groups.
  • Ability to create and teach attractive and differentiated lessons and series of lessons in swimming.
  • Proven delivery of structured swimming schemes of work and adapting lessons to mixed abilities.

Desirable:

  • Experience teaching a range of different age groups.

Knowledge

Essential:

  • Strong working knowledge of swimming frameworks (e.g., Swim England Learn to Swim Programme).
  • Deep understanding of Health and Safety requirements for swimming pools and emergency action plans (EAP).
  • Comprehensive understanding of safeguarding and child protection protocols within a school environment.

Desirable:

  • Knowledge of the National Curriculum for Physical Education regarding swimming.

Skills & Personal Attributes

Essential:

  • Excellent communication and organisational skills to manage large classes of students and communicate with school staff/parents.
  • A patient, encouraging, and enthusiastic manner to motivate students and build water confidence.
  • The ability to remain calm and decisive under pressure or in emergency situations.
  • Willingness to be a strong team player and a professional ambassador for the school.
  • An enthusiast for the sport and someone who can transmit that enthusiasm to pupils.
  • Sensitive and responsive to the needs of musicians who may be cautious about fingers and arms.

The School is registered with the DBS and successful applicants will be required to complete successfully the Disclosure Procedure at Enhanced level.  It is an offence for a person barred from working with children to apply for this post.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2020.

Our full Safeguarding/Child Protection Policy can be found here.

The Yehudi Menuhin School is an Equal Opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sectors of the community.

For full details about the role, please download the Candidate Information Pack.

If you would like to apply for the role, please use the 'Apply Now' button at the top of the page and complete our application form. The deadline for applications is Friday 26 June at 12 noon, however we reserve the right to appoint sooner and encourage early applications.