Record numbers of primary school children are learning to sail for free on the Isle of Wight with the Seaview Sailing Trust (SST).

Almost 400 children from 10 different Island primary schools have completed a course of sailing lessons throughout the summer term.

The Seaview Sailing Trust offers nine-10-year-olds a course of free sailing lessons in dinghies, with most attaining RYA Sailing stage one and some reaching stage two.

The primary schools now signed up to programme are Oakhill, Nettlestone, Bembridge, St Helens, Newchurch, Brading, Dover Park, Binstead and Haylands, plus Nine Acres via the Sir Thomas Lipton Trust.

Last term, the Trust completed 1,500 sessions over the 10-week Sea View Yacht Club programme – a total of 385 year-five students.

Lucy Holloway, teacher at Nettlestone Primary School, said: “The sailing programme is firmly embedded in the curriculum. 

“This is the fifth year we have been involved, and I continue to see how it equips the children with so much: from the ability to listen, learn and apply new skills - and to work as a team.”

Andrea Minton Beddoes, SST chair, said: “The Island provides so many holidaymakers with wonderful experiences on land and sea, but at the same time, many local children never experience the joys of sailing - we want to change this.”