Building Confidence & Safety in the Water: The ISA Swimming Programme
This week, parents of Grade 2 and 3 students were invited to an Open House ‘clothes swimming’ lesson at the Meerkamp Pool, offering a glimpse into one of their child’s most distinctive learning experiences. The session is part of the Dutch National Zwem-ABC programme, which ISA follows as part of our Lower School physical education curriculum. On 20 November, students will be swimming for their diploma.
In the Netherlands, learning to swim is seen as more than a pastime or sport: it’s a vital life skill. In a country defined by open water and canals, the national approach to swimming focuses on safety and endurance. For many families new to the Netherlands, this can feel quite different from what they know back home, where swimming is often seen primarily as leisure or competition.
The Zwem-ABC diploma system was strengthened nationwide after the 1953 floods to ensure that all primary-school-age children across the country develop strong water safety and swimming abilities to the same national standard. Through this framework, students progress through three diploma levels, each designed to build their confidence, endurance, and safety in and around the water.
“Swimming is a life skill,” says Lex Bronkhorst, ISA’s Swimming Programme Coordinator. “Here in the Netherlands, with so much water around us, it’s not about swimming as fast as possible, but rather as long as possible. It’s about being safe and confident in any situation.”
At ISA, all students in Grades 1 to 3 take part in weekly swimming lessons as a required part of the curriculum. For Grades 1 and 3, this runs for half of the school year, while Grade 2 students swim for the entire year, meaning that every child who completes these grades at ISA receives a total of two full years of swimming education.
The swimming lessons are designed to be active, engaging, and fun, helping students build confidence in the water from their very first lesson, ensuring that each child progresses at their own pace while developing essential safety and swimming skills. Students explore eleven basic elements of swimming, from floating and breathing to turning and treading water, and their progress is recognised through a ribbon system that celebrates each stage of learning.
These sessions focus not only on swimming strokes but also on learning how to stay safe in real-life situations. During the ‘clothes swimming’ lessons, for example, students practise what to do if they unexpectedly fall into water, gaining firsthand experience of how clothing affects buoyancy and movement.
“During clothes swimming, children experience how it really feels to fall into water unexpectedly,” Lex explains. “That’s an important part of being safe. We want them to be able to react calmly and know what to do.”
The ISA swimming curriculum is delivered by certified instructors following the Dutch National ABC Diploma guidelines. The Zwem-ABC diplomas are overseen by the Dutch National Swimming Association, which sets rigorous standards for instruction and assessment. Only certified instructors and accredited swimming schools are authorised to award these diplomas, ensuring that every child who earns one meets the same high level of safety and competence.
For many children, diploma swimming is one of their first major milestones of achievement. Families are invited to watch as their child demonstrates the skills they have worked toward over many months, from swimming underwater and diving through hoops to swimming distances fully clothed. Passing the exam is a moment of pride and independence for students and signals their readiness to be safe in any pool or open-water setting.
Additional swimming opportunities are also available through ISA’s extracurricular programmes, where students can develop their swimming ability prior to Grade 1, or continue honing their skills after Grade 3. As students progress to Upper School, extracurricular swimming focuses on preparing for the ISA Swim Team, which competes in regional NECIS tournaments.
Whether for safety, confidence, or lifelong enjoyment, swimming at ISA is about more than learning a stroke. Our students learn swimming as an essential life skill, developing their confidence, resilience, and respect for water.
