The small town of Pukekohe, located in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand is where you will find Franklin Pool and Leisure Centre.

Franklin Pool and Leisure Centre is a recreational hub for Pukekohe and surrounding communities. The centre offers a vast range of inclusive programs and facilities catering to the community’s health, fitness and leisure needs. In saying this, an important offering at Franklin Pool and Leisure Centre is swimming lessons. Belgravia Leisure’s General Manager (New Zealand) Mark Blake explained “swimming and water play are such a big part of our lives here in New Zealand. Our goal is to help participants feel more confident in and around the water, which will improve their physical and mental wellbeing.”

All swimming instructors at Franklin Pool and Leisure Centre are fully qualified and have been trained to work with participants to develop a training approach to support a diverse range of client needs.

With access and inclusion front of mind, the team at Franklin Pool and Leisure Centre have been identified as the innovative partner of Belgravia Foundation, Special Olympics, Parafed Auckland and Swimming New Zealand, announcing the launch of an inclusive swimming program- ‘All In’.

The ‘All In’ program will offer people living with physical and/or intellectual impairment the opportunity to access subsidised learn-to-swim classes at Franklin Pool and Leisure Centre.

The program runs for a total of ten weeks, with funding for subsided lessons made possible by the support of Sport NZ’s Tu Manawa Active Aotearoa fund. The fund covers over 80% of the cost of the course, significantly reducing the participant fee. In cases of genuine hardship, Franklin Pool and Leisure Centre can provide further subsidy support of up to 100%.

Swimming New Zealand’s Head of Education and Water Safety, Davin Bray added “through the work that SwimmingNZ does, we see parts of the country that need to address local barriers to participation and provide sufficient opportunities for people with disabilities to access learn to swim opportunities.”

Belgravia Foundation commends all involved in the ‘All In’ swimming program at Franklin Pool and Leisure Centre and is pleased to continue to work towards connecting people to physical activity and leisure opportunities.