STA is proud to be working in partnership with CIMSPA (Chartered Institute for the Management of Sports and Physical Activity). CIMSPA’s vision is to develop a UK-wide, vibrant and professional workforce through ensuring the provision of quality qualifications and CPD that meet the needs of the sector.
CIMSPA
STA is working in partnership with The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA). CIMSPA is the professional development body for the UK’s sport, fitness and physical activity sector and has been awarded chartered status by the Privy Council. CIMSPA provides leadership, support and empowerment for professionals working in sport and physical activity and is the strategic lead for professional development in the sector.
CIMSPA has been tasked by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), backed by Sport England and employers, with leading the sport and physical activity sectors workforce development programme. This will be achieved by creating a clear and rigorous set of employer-led standards for all sport and exercise professionals, with a similar clear and rigorous system for assessment, awarding and validating qualifications.
CIMSPA is recognised as the authoritative, single unified voice for the sector by government departments, key agencies and partners, including Sport England, Public Health England, ukactive, Sport and Recreation Alliance, Sporta and CLOA. The institute has membership options for everyone working in, or interested in working in, the sport and physical activity world – from student and apprentice through to service director and CEO. CIMSPA already provides a route to chartered status for those working in leisure operations, and is developing similar routes for the whole of the sector.
STA will play a key role in working groups tasked with defining new professional standards for aquatics-based job roles within our sector. This will help to ensure that STA’s qualifications remain at the very forefront of both employers’ and learners’ needs along with continuing to develop a quality CPD programme to allow learners to progress in their careers.
About CIMSPA Affiliate Membership
The benefits of CIMSPA membership include:
- Recognition of your earned status and a statement of how your professionalism translates into employability.
- Personal member logo for use on business cards, online portfolios etc.
- Online access to S&PA Professional, the quarterly CIMSPA magazine
- Access to the CIMSPA online library and policy guidance collection, including access to the magazine archive
- CIMSPA member bulletin – a carefully curated selection of sector reports, guidance, useful resources and news, sent fortnightly
- Members area access on CIMSPA’s website
- Access to the latest sector job vacancy information
- Free access to selected CIMSPA nation/region CPD and networking events
- Access to discounted insurance
- Online record of professional development, providing evidence of competence and an up-to-date skillset
- Access to CIMSPA’s eLearning package containing a wide variety of online activities to aid with continuing CPD.
If you have any queries relating to CIMSPA membership, please feel free to contact a member of the CIMSPA team via email at info@cimspa.co.uk or telephone 01509 226474.
* For new members only. Individuals must either be employed or seeking employment in a front-line role in order to benefit from 12 months free CIMSPA Affiliate Membership.
STA is delighted to announce a partnership with the UK’s largest operator of swimming pools, GLL. This partnership will transform the way the social enterprise delivers swimming teaching nationally, with the introduction of STA’s level 2 swimming teaching qualifications.
GLL
The GLL and STA teams at the launch of the iconic London Aquatics Centre.
GLL and STA have joined together in a new 3-year partnership that will see the charitable social enterprise – and now the UK’s largest operator of swimming pools, transform the way it delivers swimming teaching qualifications nationally. The programme has been designed to enhance training opportunities and provide a progressive new aquatics career pathway for GLL’s 1,450 swimming teachers.
Nationally, the UK has seen a shortage in qualified swimming teachers and 30% of 10 year olds leaving primary school unable to swim. The new partnership – unveiled at the iconic London Aquatics Centre on Monday 30th October – will tackle this at scale. STA’s level 2 swimming teaching qualifications will be embedded into GLL’s 141 swimming pools nationwide. The programme will be rolled out from January 2018.
Andrew Clark, GLL’s National Sport & Aquatics Manager said We have evolved the learn to swim sector enormously in the past 10 years with over 200,000 pupils each week and this partnership will allow us to revolutionise the way its workforce is trained. By creating our own national training framework that is powered by STA’s swimming teaching qualifications, we will be able to open up new career pathways and grow a quality workforce that is work ready; thus ensuring staffing demands are met. As a social enterprise that works in local communities, the move also supports our ambition of providing affordable, accessible and exemplar training and employment opportunities for local people.
We will be extending our internal tutor network that has relevant front-line teaching experience, to support our workforce, ensuring that good quality delivery is maintained throughout our facilities. Furthermore, with STA’s level 2 qualifications being endorsed by CIMSPA, we know they are of the highest quality and meet our needs as an employer,
added Andrew.
Andrew Clark, GLL’s National Sport & Aquatics Manager with Dave Candler, STA CEO.
Ultimately we share a vision of wanting people to see swimming teaching as a profession and one that can open-up a lifetime of career opportunities
Mac Cleves – Head of GLL College said: This partnership will revolutionise and support the GLL college agenda, by supporting the three delivery arms of the college. The activity will include widening the opportunity to GLL staff to achieve more qualification and CPD, plus increasing our internal delivery team and become more self sufficient, secondly supporting our ‘Better Apprenticeship’ agenda in aquatics and diving, and finally supporting the offer of employment opportunities and career pathways to our wider communities through our growing commercial offer.”
Dave Candler, STA’s CEO said: We are delighted to be partnering with GLL and excited to be supporting a programme that is set to positively change how they deliver swimming teacher qualifications. GLL have set the bar high, and we are very keen to support their ambition using our 80 years plus expertise of training great swimming teachers and tutors.
Ultimately we share a vision of wanting people to see swimming teaching as a profession and one that can open-up a lifetime of career opportunities,
added Dave.
By working closely with CIMSPA and GLL to develop an aquatics careers pathway, our aim is to professionalise the industry so we can retain its workforce and attract more people to become qualified. The more trained swimming teachers we have, the more people we can teach how to swim and be water safe, which wholly underpins our charitable objectives.
(From left) – Andrew Clark (GLL’s National Sport & Aquatics Manager), Spencer Moore (CIMSPA’s Director of Development), Dave Candler (STA CEO) and Mac Cleves – Head of GLL College.
Virgin Active and STA have announced a new exciting partnership, which will see the leading health club chain become the first to roll out STA’s new Pool Lifeguard qualification nationally as part of its commitment to raising professional standards and providing enhanced, and more flexible training opportunities for its workforce.
Virgin Active
Virgin Active and STA have announced a new exciting partnership, which will see the leading health club chain become the first to roll out STA’s new Pool Lifeguard qualification nationally as part of its commitment to raising professional standards and providing enhanced, and more flexible training opportunities for its workforce.
The partnership will see Virgin Active create its own national training framework, powered by STA, a national governing body and an official awarding organisation partner for CIMSPA. Further, as part of Virgin Active’s aims to consolidate training providers and work with a single awarding organisation for aquatics that is both nationally and internationally recognised, STA’s First Aid and Pool Plant qualifications will also form an integral part of the new partnership moving forward.
This is all in addition to STA’s Swimming Teaching qualifications, which are already successfully embedded into Virgin Active’s health club network.
Pip Werbinski, People Development Director at Virgin Active, says the new partnership with STA provides Virgin Active multiple benefits, both operationally and commercially, and for the benefit of staff and customers.
The new partnership with STA provides Virgin Active multiple benefits, both operationally and commercially, and for the benefit of staff and customers.
She said: “By creating our own national training framework under the governance of STA’s Approved Training Centre model, we can radically transform how we manage and deliver staff training across our national network. Importantly, this will enable us to control, plan and standardise the quality of training our internal tutors deliver, in line with our own staffing and commercial requirements – in addition to opening up opportunities for us to deliver external STA training courses and new local recruitment channels.”
With STA recently aligning its Pool Lifeguard revalidation process with First Aid at Work, Virgin Active will also be able to create a more robust 3-year competency plan and for the first time, each club will have the flexibility to organise on-going refresher lifeguard training at a time that suits their needs, and with minimum disruption to customers.
“This planned approach will create huge time and cost-saving efficiencies across the business, and with STA’s Level 2 qualifications being endorsed by CIMSPA, we know they are of the highest quality too, and meet our needs as an employer,” confirmed Pip.
“The logic behind this partnership is consistency and quality. By working closely with STA across all aquatic disciplines, there are not only all the administrative and practical benefits associated with having one point of contact but being an Approved Training Centre will also ensure we stay on top of our game in terms of governance and compliance related to swimming teaching, pool lifeguarding, first aid and pool plant. For our staff and customers, quality, and consistency of quality is our highest priority,” added Pip.
We are extremely proud to be working with Virgin Active, and we are delighted that they are leading the way by becoming the first national health club chain to embrace our new approach to pool lifeguard training across their 43 clubs in the UK.
Dave Candler, STA’s CEO, said: “We are extremely proud to be working with Virgin Active, and we are delighted that they are leading the way by becoming the first national health club chain to embrace our new approach to pool lifeguard training across their 43 clubs in the UK.”
Dave confirmed: “STA is uniquely positioned in being the only single awarding organisation in the UK that can deliver, and has the experience of offering leisure operators a range of accredited qualifications across these multi-disciplines. The benefits of this approach are far-reaching, and we look forward to sharing our knowledge with Virgin Active and providing all the help and support they need to run a successful Approved Training Centre with our awarding organisation Safety Training Awards.”
About Virgin Active
Virgin Active’s first club opened in the UK in 1999 and is part of the Virgin Group, founded by Sir Richard Branson. Since then it has grown to become the leading international global health club operator with over 1.4 million members and close to 240 clubs spanning four continents and eight countries (South Africa, UK, Italy, Australia, Namibia, Botswana, Thailand and Singapore). Virgin Active’s purpose is to make exercise irresistible, by providing its members with leading expertise, superb innovation and the best clubs.
STA have teamed up with the UK Academy of Swimming (trading as waterphobia.com) to give STA members the opportunity to train to become an Aquaphobia Coach (A.C) using a specialist new teaching programme that has been designed to help people who have an inherent fear of the water.
Waterphobia.com
About ALPThe Aquaphobia Learning Programme (ALP) is a 12-stage step approach to support those with a fear of water, providing them with the confidence, skills and techniques to enjoy the unique freedom that being in water can give.Distinctive from swimming programmes, ALP focuses on eliminating and desensitising fear, with the physical mechanics of swimming being secondary. The aim of the programme is to teach a participant how to relax, float, feel happy and in control in the water and reduce all stresses in a safe and careful way.Taught by a qualified Aquaphobia Coach, each course is tailored to the individual’s personal needs and degree of fear, going at their own preferred pace, so they feel uplifted, encouraged and comfortable to undertake lessons on a regular basis. When a person has achieved a stage, they then progress on to the next one in sequence, with no set timescale or pressures on the individual they will learn key swimming skills that really boost enjoyment and relaxation.
Birthlight is a friendly charity and teacher-training organisation focusing on the holistic approach to pregnancy, birth and babyhood, on land and water.
birthlight
About birthlightThe Birthlight Trust is a non-profit organisation dedicated to enhance the health and wellbeing of women and their families from conception through to the third year. We use simple bodybased practices inspired from yoga and traditional modes of parenting. Some of our practices are land-based and others are in water. Our aim is to enhance the wellbeing of women and their partners through the journey of pregnancy and birth, and to help parents and infants relax in shared enjoyment of their new life together.
STA has partnered with Autism Swim as its exclusive aquatics certification associate to provide STA members the opportunity to access their specialist autism training packages at a discounted rate and for swim schools to become ‘Autism Swim Approved.’ Autism Swim is widely recognised as world leaders in wandering and drowning prevention for those with ASD/cognitive deficit.
Autism Swim
About Autism SwimAutism Swim was established in 2016 by Founder and Clinical Director Erika Gleeson (G.C Autism, B.A Behavioural Science).Erika is a Senior Behaviour and Skill Development Specialist in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and cognitive deficit; and is widely recognised as Australia’s leading expert in Wandering and Drowning prevention for those with ASD/cognitive deficit.Autism Swim is an international, multi-disciplinary organisation, combining the expertise of Autism Specialists, Behaviour Specialists, Occupational Therapists and Swimming Instructors to achieve the best possible outcomes for the individuals whom they support. Autism Swim also operates under the skilled leadership of an Advisory Board.
STA are delighted to have partnered with Mermaids UK to develop the industry’s first regulated Mermaid and Mono Fin Swimming qualification. Endorsed by CIMSPA, this qualification and popular aquatic activity is a great addition to any swimming programme.
MermaidsUK
Mermaid and mono fin swimming continues to gain momentum in the aquatic world, but with the absence of any regulated qualifications, this growth has fuelled safety concerns about teaching standards. To address this and also help more swim schools capitalise on this popular activity, STA sought guidance and with Mermaids UK is pleased to announce the launch of the UK’s first Level 2 Award in Aquatic Teaching – Mermaid and Mono Fin Swimming.
Richard Baker, Qualification Development Manager (Aquatics) says: “Mermaid and mono fin swimming is in consumer demand at the moment, and its popularity does not seem to be wavering. Whether you are pro mermaid swimming or not, as a governing body for swimming teaching we’ve been following its progress and cannot ignore its widespread popularity, and the fact that until now the only teacher training available has been in an unregulated CPD format.”
“Teaching mermaid and mono fin swimming is a highly specialist skill that requires professional training, which is why we have partnered with Mermaids UK to create the industry’s first regulated Level 2 qualification. In doing so, we want to drive best practice and raise standards by equipping swimming teachers with the skills needed to deliver mermaid and mono fin swimming in a safe controlled environment,” confirmed Richard.
Charlotte Scoins ASTA, Director at Mermaids UK explains: “The Level 2 Mermaid and Mono Fin qualification is a comprehensive 1-day course that covers the health and safety of mermaid and mono fin swimming, as well as the physical and social benefits. The course content also includes the many activities that can be completed whilst using the mermaid tail and mono fin, including safety skills and the different types of mono fins available on the market for both instructors and participants. We are delighted to be partnering with STA to offer aquatic professionals an industry first in mermaid and mono fin training.”
Note: The STA Level 2 Award in Aquatic Teaching – Mermaid and Mono Fin Swimming is a one-day course, and the prerequisites for attendance are a STA Level 2 Award in Teaching Swimming (or acceptable equivalent) and STA membership.
STA has partnered and endorsed a trio of new Straight Line Swimming CPDs, which have been created by double open water 10 km world champion and silver Olympic medallist Keri-anne Payne and triple Olympian David Carry. Their new Straight Line Swimming methodology offers a fresh approach to how swimming is understood, taught and coached.
Triscape
What’s Your Next Swimming Challenge?Olympians Keri-anne Payne and David Carry founded Triscape to share their knowledge, experiences and passion for inspiring and enabling Healthy and Active Lifestyles in World Class Environments. Triscape gives you confidence to take on your next Sporting Challenge.At Triscape we are all about inspiring more people to swim more often. We coach you through our Straight-Line Swimmming method to give you the confidence to take on your next swimming challenge. Join us InPerson, OnLine & OnRetreat
STA have partnered with Eurolink Safety who have been providing bespoke HSE services for a diverse range of organisations in the UAE since 2003. They service the construction, engineering, and oil/gas industries, together with retail and banking, as well as airports and medical.
Eurolink Safety
Eurolink Safety was established in the UAE in 1992. They offer high quality health, safety, and environment traning and consultancy services for the formulation of HSE Management Systems, Procedures, Safety Plans, risk Assessments, Audits, Inspections and Accident Investigations.
In an ever changing world where legislation is being passed to ensure the health and safety of personnel, Eurolink Safety has invested in new training programmes with accreditation to international recognized bodies and is one of the new companies in the Gulf region carrying out these specific programmes.
They provide bespoke HSE services for a diverse range of organizations – including the construction, engineering, and oil/gas industries – together with a wide range of other business.
One of Eurolink Safety’ core activities is HSE training where they offer training courses to suit all levels, from management to worker level.