Students with special needs from the municipality of Albufeira have already started to take adapted swimming lessons, twice a week, in the Municipal Swimming Pools, under a social inclusion project that is being jointly promoted by the Municipality of Albufeira, Football Ferreiras Club and the Ferreiras Schools Group.
This initiative aims to «develop the autonomy, psychomotor, psychosocial and physical qualities of these 20 students with significant limitations», according to the municipality of Albufeirense.
The children and young people involved in this project are between 6 and 14 years old and attend schools EB1 in Paderne, EB 1 in Ferreiras and EB 2,3 Professora Diamantina Negrão. Under the partnership now created, they have «the opportunity to have contact with water, either through classes for adaptation to the aquatic environment, or through adapted swimming».
«These classes are integrated into the educational plan of each student in order to help them develop their autonomy, social interaction, communication, among many other skills», according to Maria Manuel Genelioux, teacher responsible for the project.
"We intend to provide young people with special educational needs the opportunity to have contact with swimming, teach them to swim and offer them an activity that complements the school curriculum", stressed, for his part, António Colaço, president of Futebol Clube de Ferreiras .
The director highlights the involvement of Sónia Demétrio, responsible for the club's Swimming modality and leader of this project, as well as the Association for Solidarity with Children in Need of the Algarve (ACCA) and Laranjal Golf Quinta do Lago, partners of the Ferreiras Football Club in the area of Adapted Swimming.
Classes are taught by Paulo Sousa, graduated in Physical Education with a specialty in Swimming and Sports Coach for the Handicapped who, since 2015, has been a member of the Ferreiras Football Club Swimming team.
«In a society that intends to be fair and developed, we want these young people to have a treatment that, being differentiated, promotes equality for all», according to the mayor of Albufeira Carlos Silva e Sousa, guaranteeing that the municipality will continue the programme, which «dignifies Albufeira and the inhabitants of Albufeira».
See photos of the first classes:
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