An 'invaluable' service is helping children with learning difficulties and disabilities learn to swim and improve their confidence - with more funding now secured.

Fifty children aged between five and 19 years old from all across the county currently enjoy taking part in the Aiming High programme which was launched by 1610 in Dorchester in 2013 and has since gone from strength to strength.

1610 has now secured a further £4,000 for this year to provide swimming and gym-based courses which are run in partnership with West Dorset District Council. It is funded by Dorset County Council Short Breaks for Children with disabilities programme. It offers a valuable service for the children, their carers and families.

One of the organisers of the Aiming High programme, Andrea Dabbs says that the programme is unique in Dorset and that there is a huge demand for the service.

She said: "We are the only site in Dorset which offers the children swimming and gym based courses, parents and carers travel from as far as Wareham, Upton, Swanage and Lyme Regis to access the facilities. We now have a waiting list as it has become so popular. The carers and parents benefit from the respite it gives them and the children really develop in confidence, independence, fitness as well as developing vital life skills. It is wonderful to see the children develop in this way and we are very grateful to receive the continued funding as it means so much to the families involved.”

Cllr Mary Penfold, West Dorset district Council’s portfolio holder for enabling, said: “The district council is delighted that this much-valued programme will continue to be implemented by 1610 at Dorchester Sports Centre. We want to ensure that the facilities at the centre continue to be accessible for everyone in the community.”

Georgie Carley from Dorchester has an eight year old son who attends the Aiming High sessions.

She said: “My son has been diagnosed with ADHD, autism and learning difficulties. He has always enjoyed swimming, however he has struggled in mainstream swimming lessons. We tried various different mainstream lessons, and we ended up with him not wanting to attend swimming lessons at all. He has really taken to the Aiming High programme and is doing really well.

"He is at least two years behind his peers in all other areas, he is unable to read or write. The Aiming High lessons have been invaluable to us, he is improving his swimming skills all the time, it meets some of his sensory needs and helps him to regulate. It also means in one area he is on a par with his peers, which helps his confidence. The staff have been very good at accommodating the children with their different challenging behaviours. As parents of children with special needs we have all found the swimming lessons an invaluable service, and would be lost without it."

For more information about the Aiming High programme contact Andrea Dabbs at Dorchester Sports Centre on 01305 858400.