Amber gets her B diploma

As I took this photo Amber was swimming 50m, fully clothed, for her B diploma swimming test. I chose this image because it gives a glimpse of the sense of occasion and celebration that seems to go with these tests - in this pic you can see some of the balloons and bunting they put up and, in fact, there were balloons all round the pool.

It always strikes me as being quite some operation - you have the instructor with her head set and microphone, issuing instructions to the children (bilingually!), the rows of parents watching first from the poolside and then the gallery, the hordes of children going through the test (prior to this there were at least 40 doing the A diploma and in the following hour a good number would also be taking their C diploma), the underwater photographer - it all goes to making a proper occasion of it and a feeling that this is a real rite of passage in my daughter's childhood.

And most importantly - Amber passed the test!