We just wanted to provide you with another update on our West Somerset Swim School. We fully understand that parents will continue to be frustrated at not being able to access swimming lessons for your children at St Michaels School and Butlins. As you will know the measures around social distancing have now been relaxed, which means that we would be in a position to use both these venues should they be accepting external bookings. Butlins have confirmed that will be accepting external bookings from September onwards and St Michael's has already re-opened.

However unfortunately we are still unable to bring back our West Somerset Swim School as it has been over 17 months since it ran previously. Our casual swim teachers and lifeguards who were responsible for delivering sessions have moved on to alternative employment and we therefore now do not have the workforce to staff the swim school. We currently have an advert out for the recruitment of swim teachers and lifeguards to support our swim schools, although we know that the shortage of swim teachers is also a national problem, with the industry short of nearly 8,000 teachers.

As we have done previously, we will continue to review the situation and keep you updated. However if the situation does not change, then we may have to make the extremely difficult decision that our Swim School in Minehead will not return.