School swimming

[GraceMC]

Hi, My daughter is 7 years old and she is in year 3. This term her school is doing swimming lessons, although she has been swimming in the local swimming school for 4 years(currently in stage 7), she is happy to go with her school as well.

She can confidently swim in each stroke 50 meters no problem. But her PE teacher pointed out she has two technical problems, the first one is when she is doing front crawl, she lifts her head up slightly at the front rather than from 30 degrees above water. The second problem is when she is doing backstroke, she doesn't use her arms at the same time.

Despite that she can swim 50 meters on each stroke, her PE teacher said she won't pass national curriculum because those two technical problems. I am very shocked to hear that because I had a look swimming national curriculum, there was no any indication about what kind of technical problem will make them fail.

And I really don't like the way she talked about my daughter. After the 1st lesson my daughter was in the middle group, some children were clearly not as good as her ended up in the top group. So I went to see the PE teacher and wanted to know why. She told me even my daughter is in the top group, she won't pass the national curriculum. I was so shocked and asked her:"so you won't let her pass?" She said: "no, I won't let her pass, but if she stays in the middle group, I will let her pass. "

I really don't know what to say and what to do, I feel I have been threatened by a PE teacher.

[GuestWW]

School swimming is a joke IMO, if she is enjoying it then let her go but don't rely on them for life saving skills.

[Tomorrowillbeachicken]

Tell the teacher to naff off

[heateallthebuns]

What does it matter if she doesn't pass? Does it actually mean anything or have any impact?

[sirfredfredgeorge]

Pass/fail is meaningless here.

Why do you care what group she is in, it sounds like she's in the group where the technical deficiencies she has will be addressed, and if she's in another group it won't (presumably because they'll be doing different things) All of that sounds reasonable, you getting involved doesn't.

[user789653241]

Pass or fail for NC? That sound bonkers. I never heard of that.

[ivykaty44]

My dd2 swam with a squad and primary swimming lessons were just a splash around - don’t worry about it

[paddlingwhenIshouldbeworking]

100% ignore the pass/fail/group issues. It's not relevant to anything at all. I don't think my DCs school graded swimming in any way so it can't be neccessary. One of my DC was middle group rather than top simply because he missed the assessment. Its not important. You know she can swim and has a good level of fitness which is the important thing.

Technique advice is worth bearing in mind if you feel like talking to her out of school swimming instructor.

[AJPTaylor]

ignore the whole thing. it really doesnt matter and it wont matter to your dd unless you let it.

[Tilapia]

Don't worry OP. Honestly it won't affect your DD's school results.

I'd simply leave it if I were you - it doesn't matter which group she's in.

[knottybeams]

Swimming teacher/coach or non swimming specialist pe teacher or primary teacher with a bit of water safety knowledge? Makes a big difference. I was taught by all 3 in my time and the non swimming specialists were the worst for this sort of thing, especially for those of us who didn't shine in dry land sports. I was swimming miles outside school with club and on own but they refused to sign my first badge off for 2 years for similar. No input as to how to improve though, ever.

[Ttbb]

Who cares? It's school swimming. Take up the technical co verbs with her real swimming coach and let the teacher do what ever she wants st school. If your daughter is put out this may be a good time to teach her a lesson about pride, condescension and picking your battles. If the LE teacher knew anything about coaching swimming she'd be coaching professionals, not a seven year old school gym class. As such her opinion is of little value and your daughter has no reason to be upset by it. If she is upset it is because she is proud and vain and she needs to get over that, it will only hold her back. In this case it does her no harm to just condescend and do whatever her teacher wants. It may very well be a case of the teacher not liking her and wanting to out her in her place. If she meekly obeys the teacher will not have reason to pick on her further. This really isn't important and you need to get your daughter to see that so that she can see that it isn't worth putting up a fuss over nothing.

[catkind]

If you actually have any say in the matter I'd ask for her to swim with the top group and never mind if she "fails" their unusually rigorous interpretation of NC. It's likely to be more fun. Leave the detail of technique to her proper swimming lessons.

[GraceMC]

Thanks for who replied. I went to the swimming lesson with her as a parent helper. The top group had half of the pool, the middle and bottom shared another half. She stood in the pool with the children just about can swim a few meters, it was quite upsetting. I have paid 72 pounds for 10 lessons. It ain't cheap. I think the lesson I learnt from is never make Payment in advance. It is wasting my money and her time.

[Whinberry]

School swimming is to ensure kids who don't have access to swimming lessons learn the basics. Everyone above that standard is just doing it for the exercise. My eldest was on the top group, my middle dc was better but put in a middle group because there where six swim squad swimmers in her class who all swam several times a week before school.

[Whinberry]

Why did you pay for school lessons?

[paddlingwhenIshouldbeworking]

I think you have a point re the cost. My children have all been very strong swimmers by the time they start school swimming - not least because we live a 5 minute walk from the swimming pool and its easy entertainment. So it does bother me we pay £60 per term for school swimming for 2 years as an NC requirement. They quite enjoy it though so I've gone with it. Might speak up with the next two though as they are twins and over the two years it will add up to over £700.

[paddlingwhenIshouldbeworking]

Lots of schools charge for school lessons. We have to pay for the coach to bring them almost back to our house to go to the pool in the next road to our house!

[Tilapia]

At our school the lessons don't cost much - it's the coach there and back which makes it expensive. If you refuse to pay, then the cost goes up for the other children (who may not be able to have lessons outside school).

[spanieleyes]

The costs for those who do pay cannot rise to cover the parents that don't pay, the school will have to subsidise them. This means that there will be less money for other much needed resources, reading books, pencils etc. Or the school will restrict swimming to one year group for a limited period.

[Scabbersley]

If the LE teacher knew anything about coaching swimming she'd be coaching professionals, not a seven year old school gym class. As such her opinion is of little value and your daughter has no reason to be upset by it.

Jesus
Do you realise what an idiot you sound?

[user789653241]

Scabber, but it's true though. There is no pass or fail in NC. The teacher is talking nonsense. Why do they need to value her opinion?

[sirfredfredgeorge]

A school is free to have pass or fail if it wants to, but the argument that because the teacher is not coaching professional swimmers that she knows nothing about swimming is extremely insulting.

[GraceMC]

Well, apparently, the PE teacher is a qualified swimming coach, so she didn't like being questioned.

[user789653241]

Oh, I don't know. So can school fail children if they want to?

[sirfredfredgeorge]

So can school fail children if they want to?

I believe a school is free to set any "pass/fail" requirements it wants, it obviously doesn't mean anything beyond the school, but they can do it.