A YORK youngster has made a splash at her school, after winning first prize in a water safety poster competition.

Laura Manning, nine, a pupil at Woodthorpe Primary School, was one of 160 York-based pupils who entered the Total Leisure Management (TLM) competition to design a poster on the subject of water safety, for Yorkshire Water's SwimCare campaign.

Laura won a term's free pool hire and a massive pool party for her classmates in the competition.

Runners-up Rebecca Anderson, seven, of St Paul's C of E Primary School, and Emma Pauw, ten, a pupil at Fishergate Primary School, won a goodie bag and a free family swim. All three were presented with certificates at a special ceremony at the Barbican Leisure Centre.

SwimCare was launched last year after an Ofsted report revealed one in five pupils nationally was failing to meet a National Curriculum swimming target, and that over half of schools had reduced time allocated to swimming and were failing to provide any to pupils who were non or reluctant swimmers.

The poster competition was launched in November following two interactive workshops, funded by a £2,000 donation from Yorkshire Water and organised by TLM, which operates of York Barbican Centre, Edmund Wilson Swimming Pool and Yearsley Swimming Pool.

These sessions aimed to raise the awareness of water safety as part of the national curriculum to primary school teachers.

Updated: 12:05 Tuesday, February 12, 2002