Barnet Copthall Hosts Annual Swimming Championships
On Monday 17th March, Barnet Copthall Leisure Centre welcomed 12 Barnet Primary Schools to the 2025 Barnet Primary School Swimming Championships. 145 children gathered to take part with parents gathered on Barnet Copthall viewing gallery to watch and cheer on each school.
Swimming is the only sport to be included within the national curriculum for physical education, with all primary schools having to provide swimming and water safety lessons to all pupils in either Key Stage 1 or 2. Whilst we continue to offer school swimming lessons at GLL, in Barnet we also have the Better Swim School and the comprehensive Barnet Training Scheme which offers young people in the borough with the opportunity to pursue a career in competitive swimming. The Primary School gala held on the 17th of March gave the children a glimpse into what competitive swimming involves, and the opportunity to represent their school in a range of events including Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Medley Relay.
The Mayor of Barnet Councillor, Tony Vourou and Luana Tierney (Greenspaces and Leisure Partnership Officer) were both in attendance to hand out certificates, goodie bags and medals. The medals were provided by Barnet Copthall swimming Club for the top 3 schools and goodie bags provided by Better Barnet for taking part.
After 15 races, points were totalled up and the winners were announced, with Whitings hill Primary school finishing in 3rd place overall with a total of 115 points, Goodwyn in 2nd place with a total of 118 points, and Brooklands Junior School winning the gala with a total of 128 points. Medals were presented by Mayor Councillor Tony Vourou, with gold, silver and bronze medals also being awarded to schools placed first, second and third overall. Huge congratulations to everyone involved!
A huge congratulations to Brooklands school who won the event and to all those who participated and we’d like to thank Barnet Copthall Swimming Club who arranged for the staffing on the day, and Barnet Copthall Leisure Centre who provided pool space.