Summer school pool use getting harder for trustees

Sunday, 20 November 2016

The tradition of securing a school pool key for summer dips has become a headache for boards of trustees.

Tightening of laws and rules has left many trustees having a longer conversation about whether they let locals get in the water out of hours.

About 60 percent of Kiwi schools have pools, according to the Ministry of Education.

And while some Waikato schools hand out keys for summer swimming, many shut up shop.

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Swimmers can have a soak at Tamahere Model Country School, just out of Hamilton, over the holiday period.

But the school has outgrown the facility which served it for decades and fund-raising for a new, community pool is under way.

About 90 to 100 locals pay for key access in the warmer months.

'It's harder and harder to basically just open the pool in the summer,' board of trustees chair Dave Houlbrooke​ said.

The school has had to strengthen its covenants around pool use, he said.

The water has to be tested three times a day, principal Waveney Parker said, and the person who does it must now have an NZQA qualification.

So school officials must either upskill some of their summer volunteers or find someone else.

Once the school finishes fund-raising, it will replace the current pool, thought to be 60 to 80 years old.

'Our plan is to have one on site and then the children can come here as a community pool in the evenings and mornings, too,' Parker said.

'It will be bigger and more economic to pay for somebody run it.'

Hamilton West School normally hands out about 70 pool keys over summer, but principal Mark Penman isn't keen to divulge the charge.

Health and safety changes have definitely made schools more concerned about letting people in the pool gates out of hours, he said.

But Hamilton West will probably dish out keys again this season.

The school already has safety measures in place, Penman said, but it will review them, pool signage and first aid availability.

The new Health and Safety Act didn't change the obligations of schools when it comes to pools, a Ministry of Education statement said.

'Keeping a school pool open or available outside of core school hours is a decision for individual schools,' spokesperson Kim Shannon said.

'If [a board] did so, it would mean they would be responsible for developing a policy around the management of its use outside of school hours.'

Since the act came into effect in April, the ministry has received more than 100 general health and safety queries, but only four from schools wanting to know about out-of-hours pool use.

Sample pool rules on the ministry website include forbidding solo swimming and having active supervisors for kids under eight.

And water testing must be done three times a day by someone who holds an appropriate NZQA unit standard.

Many Hamilton schools which responded to a query did not have pools.

Fairfield College will open its pool during the December school break - meaning it needs certified lifeguards with first aid qualifications and Pool Safe accreditation.

Pool access is important, business manager Rudy Kuhn said.

'It is, however, becoming more difficult to manage the pool taking into account the new health and safety laws, and to find suitably qualified personnel to employ.'

Hamilton Boys' High opens its pool to the public during weekends and school holidays.

But Glenview and Deanwell Schools don't open their pools until term one, citing various reasons, including colder weather, security and cost.

'We do not have keys available for our whanau [at Deanwell] because of concerns around safety and the liability of the school,' principal Pat Poland said.

WorkSafe referred queries to the Ministry of Education.