A temporary swimming pool has been installed in an old school hall in Lambeth, South London, as part of an initiative designed to ensure every child has the chance to learn how to swim.

The 12m x 10m (39.4ft x 32.8ft) pool has been set up in the Sports Action Zone at Lilian Baylis (Old School), and will be made available to local schools and the local community free of charge as part of the Pools in Schools scheme. It is expected that 1,000 children will have access to the 0.9m (3ft) deep facility, which is similar to a leisure centre swimming pool and is the first of its kind to be set-up in the capital.

Lambeth is just one of a number of areas that will host the pool during the 2008-9 academic year as part of the Pools in Schools initiative, led by Total Swimming, the company formed by Olympic bronze medallist, Steve Parry. The scheme, supported by the the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA); the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF); and sports trust Greenwich Leisure (GLL) – which is providing swimming instructors – has already proved successful in Birmingham, Sheffield and Manchester.

Parry said: "The focus of the programme is to support young people in achieving the National Curriculum target of swimming 25m (82ft) and to gain an understanding of water safety. Lambeth is a key target area for this project, partly based on its estate-based population. "The results in Aston, Birmingham, were excellent. Less than 20 per cent of children in some schools had previously met targets, but after one half term of lessons, 84 per cent in one year group achieved them.

Children's minister, Delyth Morgan, added: "Swimming is a great opportunity for young people to keep fit and to gain confidence around water. The innovative 'Pools in Schools' scheme means more young people have access to a swimming pool in order to learn to swim." Andrew Clark, Swimming Development Manager at GLL said: “Within GLL-managed facilities across London, we have over 80,000 children taking part in schools and 'Learn to Swim' lessons each week. However, an initiative like this enables us to get into areas where barriers to participation exist, whether these be cultural, financial or geographic. It gives us the chance to kick start swimming development, by getting people excited and passionate about swimming."