Joy Lane Community Pool fundraising campaign

We are very fortunate to have a unique primary school resource here at Joy Lane Primary School, which over the years has been instrumental in helping literally thousands of our children learn to swim in a very safe and nurturing environment. Our swimming pool and qualified swim school instructors are fabulous, and we believe in sharing our facilities with the local community so that many families can benefit from this wonderful resource. 

We are one of a handful of schools across Kent that are lucky enough to have its own swimming pool - the nearest other state school with a pool is over 20 miles away! Our pool is fully utilised by children at Joy Lane, other local schools, plus members of the wider community. Lessons are delivered to approximately 800 children every week, both during and after school. The pool is hugely popular and has been an instrumental part of the Whitstable Community for the last 38 years. 

However, while we are delighted to have and offer these facilities, the cost of maintaining and running the pool continues to rise. At the moment, we are subsidising this using school funding, but as school budgets continue to get ever tighter, we do not believe that in the longer term this is sustainable, especially after the pandemic, which has had such a chastening effect on us all. 

It is approximately 11 years since both the school and local community played such a huge part in the fundraising that was needed to refurbish our pool. Some of you may remember we were presented with a £50,000 National Lottery cheque by winning the Meridian Television Peoples’ Millions Competition, and that together with generous donations and other fundraising, has enabled the swimming pool to be the success it is today. However, the time has now come again to mobilise the wonderful Joy Lane and Whitstable community to fundraise for further improvements and urgent repairs to our very special swimming pool. 

Our school is expanding, and in order to safeguard swimming for future generations here at Joy Lane, we all need to collaborate so that this school resource, which benefits the whole community, continues to thrive. As a matter of urgency, we decided to install a new pool lining in advance, so that the swimming pool could remain open and be ready for the beginning of the school year. This will still remain part of our fundraising campaign, and I hope you will agree it looks fabulous for the children at the start of the new term!

Therefore, we are appealing to parents/carers and the whole community for financial help and donations to safeguard this wonderful resource for future generations. If you have any ideas for securing financial help, know of any wealthy benefactors or trust funds that we can apply for, we would be very interested in hearing from.

If you are interested in collaborating with us and providing some form of sponsorship to enable us to continue offering this service to the community, please do not hesitate to contact us; whatever you might be able to contribute, we would be keen to discuss this and how it could make a difference.

We have a list of fundraising priorities in the following order:

1) Fibreglass pool lining - already installed as an emergency to keep the swimming pool open
2) A more efficient and environmentally friendly heat exchanger
3) Improved insulation for the pool surround and pool cover
4) Pump house roof improvements
5) A reception or waiting area for parents and carers

If you would be interested in getting involved in supporting this wonderful cause or you would like to visit the swimming pool and have a look around the facilities, meet some of our children and get a feel for why we are so proud of Joy Lane and its swimming pool, please contact us through [email redacted]t.sch.uk and ask for Mark Ashley-Jones, Head of School or Mr Rob Dowling, Joy Lane Swim School Manager.

https://www.joylane.kent.sch.uk/information/fundraising