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The King’s Worcester Swimming Academy offers a number of specialised swimming programmes designed to cultivate swimming skills and foster aquatic sports talent among children.
The King’s Swimming Academy is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, including a 25-metre, 6-lane heated swimming pool and diving blocks and utilises the Fitness Suite situated in the school’s Keyes Building, ensuring a comprehensive and safe learning environment.
Professional coaches, who are certified and experienced trainers and some of whom are competitive swimmers, lead our academy. They focus on developing fundamental techniques like freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly, alongside essential water safety practices. Emphasis is also placed on building endurance, strength, and proper breathing techniques, which are crucial for competitive swimming.
Beyond training, the King’s Worcester Swimming Academy promotes mental discipline, teamwork and goal setting. Regular swim meets, and competitions are organised to provide children with opportunities to showcase their progression and gain valuable experience in a competitive setting.
What does King’s Worcester Swimming Academy offer?
Academy Swimming Sessions
The Swimming Academy offers four swimming sessions every week during term time. The two morning sessions will be swim training sessions run in partnership with Worcester Swimming Club; these sessions are available to pupils at the King’s Worcester Senior School who are Swim England registered club members. The afternoon sessions will be technique and skill-based swimming sessions and are available to all pupils at the King’s Worcester Senior School (both club and non-club members).
Morning Swim Sessions – for Swim England club members (Run by Mr Jenkinson and Mr Stowe)
- Monday – 06:00 – 7:30 (Fully Booked)
- Friday – 06:00 – 7:30 (Fully Booked)
Afternoon Swim Sessions – for club and non-club members (Run by Mr Jenkinson and Mr Stowe or Mrs Monkhouse)
- Monday – 15:50 – 17:30 (Fully Booked)
- Friday – 15:50 – 17:30 (Fully Booked)
**Breakfast is available on-site in the Senior Dining Hall following training sessions.**
We recognize that many pupils will also be involved with other swimming clubs. Our Swimming Academy aims to support our school’s swimmers by collaborating with local swimming clubs and their coaches to ensure that they reach their full potential.
The Swimming Academy weekly Swimming Sessions are now fully booked for the Spring Term. However, please complete the short form to register your interest in a future place for your child.
King’s Swimming Camps & Clinics
New for 2024, our 3-day King’s Swimming Camp offers a structured environment where children aged 10-16 can enhance their techniques, build endurance, and learn new swimming strategies, all under the guidance of expert and passionate swimming coaches and teachers.
Specifically designed for those who already swim at club level, the fun-filled camps will include a combination of pool training, dryland workouts, and educational sessions on nutrition and mental preparation.
Due to an extremely high level of interest, all places on this camp are now taken. We will be offering more Swimming Camps in future school holidays. If you would like to be informed about these future swimming camps, please fill in the form below.
Our Swimming Coaching Team
Mr Chris Jenkinson
Head of Swimming
Mr Chris Jenkinson
Head of Swimming
King’s Worcester is delighted to announce that Chris Jenkinson has been appointed as the new Head of Senior School Swimming, starting from September 2024. Chris joined the King’s School Foundation in September 2023 as the Sports Coach at Prep School King’s St. Alban’s. Chris graduated from The University of Worcester with an honorary teaching degree, and is also a qualified Specialist PE Teacher, with twenty years of teaching and coaching P.E. and school sport across Worcestershire.
Chris is local to the area, having been born and educated in Worcester. He has a vast amount of experience in teaching and coaching a wide range of sports, particularly swimming. Chris is a very keen athlete, who has a long background in swimming, having competed at county, midland, national and international level in swimming for Droitwich Swimming Club, Worcester Swimming Club, Worcestershire County Swimming Association and Great Britain’s Masters team at the European Swimming Championships. Chris also worked as a lifeguard and swimming teacher when he was younger and currently coaches swimming at Worcester Swimming Club. Chris is extremely passionate about the sport of swimming, having been the Club Captain at Droitwich Dolphins Swimming Club for several years, and still holds several club records there.
Chris is really looking forward to helping nurture the students’ own passion and love for swimming at King’s and is excited about being able to further develop the school’s swimming provision through a variety of different opportunities, including additional morning and after school swimming sessions, swimming festivals, and an increased number of competitive swimming galas, to name a few.
Mr Mark Stowe
Lead Swimming Coach
Mr Mark Stowe
Lead Swimming Coach
Mark Stowe is a seasoned and dedicated Head Coach at Worcester Swimming Club, bringing a wealth of experience and expertise to the team. As an ex-National Qualifier from his childhood, Mark’s passion for swimming has been a lifelong journey. He continued to excel in the sport throughout his university years, demonstrating his commitment and skill in competitive swimming.
With nearly 40 years of coaching experience, Mark has become a pillar in the swimming community. As Swim England Level 3 Swimming coach, his extensive knowledge and ability to nurture talent have been instrumental in shaping the careers of numerous swimmers. Under his guidance, many athletes have reached National level, showcasing their abilities on some of the sport’s biggest stages.
Mark’s achievements as a coach are significant. He has led Worcester Swimming Club to two National finals, a testament to his strategic approach and deep understanding of the sport. His coaching methods are designed to bring out the best in each swimmer, fostering both their physical abilities and their mental fortitude.
Currently, Mark coaches Paralympian Rebecca Redfern MBE, further highlighting his versatility and capability in training elite athletes. His work with Rebecca underscores his commitment to inclusivity and excellence, ensuring that every swimmer, regardless of their background, has the opportunity to succeed.
Mark Stowe’s enduring passion for swimming, combined with his extensive coaching experience, makes him an invaluable asset to King’s Worcester Swimming Academy. His dedication to the sport and his athletes continues to inspire and drive the next generation of swimmers towards success.
Mrs Lizzie Monkhouse
Aquatics Teacher
Mrs Lizzie Monkhouse
Aquatics Teacher
Lizzie has been a dedicated and influential figure in the swimming community and education sector for many years. She joined KSA on the Pre-Prep opening in September 2009 as a Teaching Assistant and Swimming Teacher, playing a crucial role in developing young swimmers.
Lizzie qualified as an ASA Level 1 Teacher in 2004 and advanced to a Level 2 Swimming Teacher in 2010. Her deep understanding of swimming techniques has fostered the growth of numerous swimmers.
Currently, Lizzie serves as the Competitions Secretary and Club Records Officer at Worcester Swimming Club, where she has volunteered for 22 years. Additionally, she is the Honorary Records Secretary for Worcester County Swimming, cementing her reputation as a respected and knowledgeable figure.
On a personal level, both her son and daughter competed at the British Championships level, with her daughter in the Elite Performance Programme at Swansea University. This experience as a parent of elite swimmers equips Lizzie with valuable insights, enabling her to mentor swimmers effectively.
Since 2016, Lizzie has been involved in Senior School Swimming, taking swimmers to the ESSA Nationals annually, except during the Covid-19 pandemic. Seeing students, she taught in Reception compete nationally is one of her proudest achievements.
Lizzie’s extensive experience and unwavering commitment make her an invaluable asset to any swimming program. Her ability to inspire, mentor, and guide swimmers is truly commendable.
Harry Cronin
Strength and Conditioning Coach
Harry Cronin
Strength and Conditioning Coach
Harry Cronin’s initial foray into elite athlete development occurred during his Lower Sixth year at King’s Worcester, where he had the privilege of shadowing the Strength and Conditioning Coach at Worcestershire County Cricket Club. Despite S&C work being in its nascent stages in cricket, witnessing seasoned players like Graeme Hick and rising stars such as Moeen Ali approach their training with unwavering dedication provided Harry with invaluable insights into the elite sports world.
Since then, throughout his academic journey and after qualifying as a Strength and Conditioning Coach, Harry has consistently worked with top-level athletes, including Ted Hill (England Rugby), Giedre Rakauskaite (GB Rowing – Paralympic Champion), Myren Madden (GB Weightlifting), and Lennox Clarke (British & Commonwealth Champion boxer). While this work remains exhilarating, his passion for athlete development has never waned. He has dedicated time to both school and academy settings, from a year at a rugby-focused boarding school in New Zealand to five years with the Severn Stars netball pathway.
Harry’s specialisation within Strength and Conditioning (S&C) is injury management and rehabilitation. He has used this as a foundation for the swimming S&C programme at King’s, where young athletes competing nationally in both swimming and water polo have year-round access to bespoke training programmes and direct coaching support. Harry’s primary objective with the swimming S&C programme is to establish a robust support system whereby young athletes are able to explore and further develop their understanding of dryland training in a manner that complements and supports their hard work in the pool.
Our Swimming Facilities
Pool
Our Swimming Pool comprises a six-lane, 25-metre heated indoor swimming pool, complete with competition diving blocks and anti-wave lane ropes.
A recent substantial investment has seen the swimming pool undergo a major refurbishment. This includes a new, larger plant room to house a state-of-the-art filtration system, upgrades to the pool enclosure, and relining of the pool itself. This will provide a much-improved swimming environment, ensuring that the swimming facilities offered by King’s continue to be the best they can be for years to come.
Male and female changing rooms sit adjacent to the swimming pool and comprise toilets and showers.
Fitness Suite
Located in The Keyes Building, our modern, top-class powerhouse gym houses a wide range of modern equipment and a twenty-five-metre sprint track, providing the optimal facilities for strength and conditioning and explosive athletic training.
Our Strength and Conditioning Coach is a highly experienced exercise professional with vast knowledge in many health and fitness fields and who coaches elite athletes alongside his role at King’s. They provide one-to-one or group training sessions and have expertise in sports strength and conditioning, sports psychology, and nutrition.
All swimmers have access to both the fitness suite and our Strength and Conditioning Coach multiple times during term time and throughout the school holidays.
More Information
For queries or more information on the King’s Swimming Academy, our Swimming Sessions or the Swimming Camp please contact Mr Jenkinson, Head of Swimming via swimmingacademy@ksw.org.uk.