A SWIMMING instructor has urged parents and businesses to consider helping keep to a school pool open.

The pool at Sherburn High School is used daily to teach pupils from schools in the area to swim, but has been under threat after North Yorkshire County Council withdrew funding from the scheme last year.

Carol Saunders has taught at the Sherburn High School swimming pool for 25 years, and said the facility was a valuable asset to the region.

She said: “Four weeks ago I heard the governors were going to close the pool and I was advised to make a management take over bid, not for the school to pay for me to do it, but for me to run it for the school free of charge.

“I want to open the pool up to the community. It’s up for consultation by the school, who have asked parents for ideas and thoughts on paying for the pool, which is due to finish on May 31.”

Carol, who also teaches at the Mount School, York, said she taught hundreds of pupils to swim each year, and has contacted their parents to make them aware of the possible closure, which she said was more than just the loss of a leisure facility.

She said: “They are supposed to be sending emails to the head and the governors. I don’t just look upon it as a business, but as a life skill that all children should learn and it's on the national curriculum.”