As per the ESSA statements below, the remaining 2020 (calendar year) Herts galas are now cancelled. This includes:
- 5th June 2020 - Herts Primary Inter-District champs
- 25th Sep 2020 - ESSA Second. Boys Team E/SE qualification
- 9th Oct 2020 - ESSA Secondary Girls Team E/SE qualification
- Nov 2020 - E&SE Primary Individual Champs (PIC)

At this stage all 2021 (calendar year) galas are still scheduled to occur.

The Herts Schools Swimming Association has looked at the implications of the cancellation of the 2020 ​Herts Primary Inter-District champs and details are above.

The ESSA management board have reviewed the current situation and taken into account a number of factors including availability of pools for qualification events and national championship competitions, and the delay in resumption of operation of schools/clubs to provide training for swimmers. It has been concluded that no further ESSA championships will be held in 2020. It is anticipated that ESSA events will be run as normal in 2021, though we will continue to monitor the situation and adjust plans as required. This has the following effects on the usual ESSA events:

The 26th ESSA Primary Schools' Team Championships (was due to be held in June 2020)
It is with regret that the ESSA announce the cancellation of the ESSA Primary Teams Championships for 2019-20.

The 63rd ESSA Secondary Schools' Team Championships (due to be held in November 2020)
It is with regret that the ESSA announce the cancellation of the ESSA Secondary Teams Championships, including qualification events, for 2020-21.

The 2020 Diving Championships (due to be held in December 2020)
It is with regret that the ESSA announce the cancellation of the ESSA Diving Championships, including qualification events, for 2020-21.

The ESSA U13 Water Polo Championships and Cadet Water Polo Competition (due to have been held in May 2020)
The regional under 11 and under 13 Cadet and national under 13 championship finals are postponed until further notice. 

The 2nd Summer Open (Individual) Championships (due to be held in July 2020)
 It has been decided not to hold this event in 2020.

ISF Gymnasiade School Summer Games 2020 (due to be held in August 2020)
This event will not go ahead on the original dates. The timeframe for this is uncertain at the moment, but further announcements will be made here when known.

ESSA events due to be held in 2021
We are planning on the assumption that we will be able to hold normal competitions in 2021, starting with the Water Polo competitions and Primary Teams Championships.

Stewart Nicklin
ESSA Hon. Championship Secretary.

During the Health Secretary's statement to Parliament (16th March 2020), the government advised people against all unnecessary social contact with others and all unnecessary travel. They cited a number of public spaces that should be avoided and stated that the advice, whist directed at everyone, was especially important for the over 70s, for pregnant women and for those with some health conditions.
In response, Swim England has cancelled a number of forthcoming events, up until the end of May. Jane Nickerson, Swim England chief executive, said: “Cancelling events is not a decision to take lightly but following the latest announcement by the Government, it’s only right and fair to our members and clubs that we made an announcement sooner rather than later.”
On the 18th March 2020 the Prime Minister announced that schools are to be closed from the end of school on Friday 20th March for the majority of pupils, until further notice. Swim England have also revised their advice and are now advising the club swimming activities should be suspended. The following statements address the impact on ESSA competition activities:
The 26th ESSA Primary Schools' Team Championships (20/6/20)
The ESSA has already announced (16th March 2020) the cancellation of the qualifying rounds for its Primary Teams Championships, and with the additional recent Government and Swim England announcements, and uncertainty on when restrictions may be lifted, it is clear that organising and conducting the championship finals in June will be impractical, and that there is no opportunity to re-arrange this event for later in the year. It is therefore with regret that the ESSA announce the cancellation of the ESSA Primary Teams Championships for 2019-20.
The 2nd Summer Open (Individual) Championships (4/7/20)
Due to the current uncertainty on when normality will resume for schools, the impacts on club swimmer training and the considerable effort to organise such a gala including arranging sufficient volunteers and officials, it has been decided not to hold this event in 2020.
ISF Gymnasiade School Summer Games 2020
The squad has been selected in accordance with the selection policy. We are awaiting confirmation that the event will go ahead before inviting the selected swimmers. The timeframe for this is uncertain at the moment, but further announcements will be made here when known.
The 63rd ESSA Secondary Schools' Team Championships (Sept 2020 Quals, Nov 2020 Final)
We are continuing to plan for these events as normal in the hope that normality may resume after summer. Further details will be announced here nearer the time.

Stewart Nicklin
ESSA Hon. Championship Secretary.

​During the Health Secretary's statement to Parliament earlier this evening, the government advised people against all unnecessary social contact with others and all unnecessary travel. They cited a number of public spaces that should be avoided and stated that the advice, whist directed at everyone, was especially important for the over 70s, for pregnant women and for those with some health conditions.
 
In response, Swim England has cancelled a number of forthcoming events, up until the end of May. Jane Nickerson, Swim England chief executive, said: “Cancelling events is not a decision to take lightly but following the latest announcement by the Government, it’s only right and fair to our members and clubs that we made an announcement sooner rather than later.”…
“At present the Government has not closed schools or restricted school activity and therefore we do not see any reason why clubs should not continue with their training programmes in their own environment within the guidelines of the facility.” But also said “We do not recommend training camps take place with members from different clubs.”
 
The ESSA Primary Schools Team Championships are scheduled for early June, and a decision will be taken by early May as to how this event is affected. 
 
Whilst the DfE advice does not restrict school travel within the UK, the advice against multi club events and unnecessary social contact implies that there is no longer support for multi-school sporting competitions.
Further, a significant proportion of our officials/volunteers that help out at our galas are in an age group that means we should not ask them to participate, leaving us potentially short of people to run our galas effectively.
It is therefore with deep regret that, in line with the advice from the government and Swim England, ESSA is no longer able to recommend continuing with county/divisional rounds of these championships.
Measures are being considered that would allow teams to be selected to represent their divisions at the national finals in the event that continues, and these will be announced by early May at the latest.

Stewart Nicklin
ESSA Hon. Championship Secretary

Please see the Secondary Results page for the results and scores of this gala.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the Officials, Team managers, Results recorders, and other helpers, for running a very successful and exciting gala. Also to the parents and swimmers for attending the gala.

ESSA are holding their 2nd Summer Open Championships on Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th July 2020.
It is open to all swimmers from 9 years old, including para swimmers.
Entry deadline - entries will be accepted up to 5th June where space permits - it is a ‘first-come-first-served’ entry
Licensed by Swim England at Level 3 (3SExxxxx tbc) – Long Course
K2 Leisure Centre, Crawley, RH11 9BQ
Age Groups: 9/10, 11/12, 13/14, 15 and over. Ages are calculated as at 5th July 2020
Events: 50m, 100m and 200m all strokes plus 100m IM, 200m IM, 400m Freestyle & IM All events will be heat declared winners.

See Primary or Secondary events page for full details and links to the ESSA website for entry

Please find below the link to the entry for consideration form for any swimmers (years 7 to 13 for the 2019/20 school year) attending any Hertfordshire schools for the 2020 Interdivisional Schools Swimming Championships.
This is a selection for the East Division team (East Division includes other counties besides Hertfordshire such as Beds, Cambridge).
Historically Hertfordshire has been well represented in the East Division team.
Please see the ESSA website for previous events and results.
https://www.essa-schoolswimming.com/index.php/events/inter-divisional-championships

The gala is Swim England licensed level 1 (LC) and is on Saturday 29th February and Sunday 1st March 2020 at Sheffield Ponds Forge.
Events include sprints (50m) through to longer distance (400m Medley and Free) and relays across the same 3 age groupings we use in Hertfordshire (Junior Yr7&8, Intermediate Yr9&10, Senior Yr11-13). Note that the 50m events are Open only.

Times submitted on the form will be verified by British Swimming rankings.

Deadline for submission is Friday, 10th January, 2020

Please click here for a copy of the form for submission.

Good luck to all the Herts schools have qualified for the ESSA Secondary Teams finals on the Saturday 16th Nov 2019 at the London Aquatic centre. Please see below for the Herts teams, gala event ranking (out of 30) and also including where reserve in event.

To see the full details of qualification events and rankings please see the ESSA Website at:
https://www.essa-schoolswimming.com/index.php/events/secondary-team-championships

Results for this gala have now been published.

Please see the Primary Results area of the website for the results.

We would like to thank all those involved in the organisation and running of this gala, especially the promoter and organiser of the gala Zoë McQuire (Watford District).

As usual, if you have any feedback (good or bad) then it will be very welcome - see the Contacts page.

Please see the Secondary results for the Girls results for each event and overall scores and the the results of the Juba trophy.

​Well done to all the swimmers!

We would like to take the opportunity to thank all the officials and helpers who made the running of the gala as efficient as possible. 
​Thanks to all the participating swimmers and for the teachers/parents and schools for bringing them to the gala.

Please note that ESSA secondary team championships are on Saturday the 18th November, 2019, for those schools qualifying.