Kirklees Active Leisure (KAL) has reduced the age of pupils in graded swimming lessons from six years old to five.

Up until now, children under the age of six have only been able to take part in foundation classes, but have to have a parent or guardian in the pool with them.

KAL's nine pools across Kirklees will now be offering graded lessons to children who are five years old on the day of enrolment, due to popular demand and to bring the Learn to Swim scheme in line with national trends.

Aquatics manager Jane Donarski said: "We have already begun enrolling the five year olds at some sites and it is proving extremely popular, particularly with parents who have more than one young child.

"Now that they don't have to get in the pool with them, it's easier to have more than one child in swimming lessons than it was before.

"We have also made our swimming lesson class sizes smaller to be able to give more attention to the younger children.

"This will open up lessons to a lot more children who can learn a vital and enjoyable life skill earlier."

All children on KAL's Learn to Swim scheme can swim free of charge during public swim times for the duration of their course of lessons, so they can practise what they have learned. This is good news for parents now that the Government has scrapped the funding for the Swim4Free project.

KAL is also continuing with its programme of free swimming lessons for adults. Any adult who is either a complete beginner or a nervous or weak swimmer can still apply for free lessons.