Nov 16, 2009 Announcement

As you are aware, there has been talk of closing pools located in Toronto Public Schools for many years. The Aquatic Working Group was formed in 2008 under the leadership of David Crombie, and through successful negotiations with various levels of government many of the pools will remain open, including Glenview and Lawrence Park. The Ontario government has announced $15.6 million in capital funding for work to be completed on 39 pools before March 2011. With the necessary repairs, the School Board has agreed that they will keep both Glenview and Lawrence Park open for at least another 8 years.

The NTAC Board of Directors has been informed that repairs to the Glenview Senior Public School pool are scheduled for 2010 and the repairs are expected to begin on April 5, 2010.

As such, the Board of Directors is planning for this pending pool closure with our focus being on maintaining programming with the minimum disruption for the remainder of the 09/10 swimming season. As we work through this planning, and as more definitive information about the construction schedule and timing is confirmed, we will regularly communicate with our members through notices at the school as well as posting on our website. 

We thank you for your patience and your continued support at this time.

Founded in 1968, the North Toronto Aquatic Club is a unique not-for-profit swim club that operates a Learn to Swim Program, Specialty Programs and Lifesaving Courses for the community. We are run by a volunteer Board of Directors which works closely with our Pool Deck Supervisor and General Manager.

We offer swimming lessons and specialty classes for ages three to adult. Lifesaving and Instructor classes are offered in September and January.

Held at Glenview Public School and Lawrence Park C.I. pools, located in the Lawrence and Avenue Road area, classes are offered in the evening from Monday to Thursday and on Saturday mornings. Our regular season runs from September to May. In addition, we offer a four week Spring Program for swimmers in the lower levels.

Program Dates

Dates and times for our popular adult programs are listed at Specialty Programs.

We would like to welcome back all our returning families for the 2009-2010 season and look forward to meeting those families who are new to us this year. Our season will begin the week of September 14th for most Lifesaving Courses and on Thursday, September 24th, 2009 for Swim Level and Specialty Programs. Please refer to our Calendar and Lifesaving Courses for detailed lists of dates.

Registration is once for the school year. Returning members may mail their forms by July 15th for priority placement. New members must mail in an application, e-mail us at info@ntac.ca or telephone the club at 416-483-2929 for a water test appointment to determine their swimming level. Water tests will be conducted September 12th-17th, scheduled on the day of the regular swim lesson; ie water test on Saturday, September 12th for someone registering for Saturday lessons.

We anticipate an exciting and rewarding swim year and look forward to working with our members new and old for the next season.

Charitable Donations to the Swim Toronto Fund

Please help us keep more pools open!

We are once again asking for your support in keeping open as many of the TDSB pools as possible. While Glenview and Lawrence Park pools have been saved, many other pools will close this summer if funding is not obtained. Our community is very fortunate; because of the high community use of the Glenview and Lawrence Park pools, there was a strong argument to keep them open. Other school pools were not able to demonstrate significant community use and as a result the students in those 19 schools will no longer have access to aquatic programming as part of their school day unless funding or permit fee revenue is obtained.

The Aquatic Working Group in conjunction with David Crombie and the Toronto Lands Corporation have arranged with the Toronto Community Foundation (www.tcf.ca) to set up a charitable foundation to help fund the TDSB pools at risk.

We ask that you consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Toronto Swim Fund if you are able to. For instructions on how to donate, please see: www.torontosportscouncil.com/Content/Documents/Document.ashx?DocId=52823

Cheques payable to the Toronto Community Foundation -- Swim Toronto Fund -- can also be submitted with your NTAC membership application, and we will forward them on.