To feel a bit embarrassed my nearly four year old is in a class with two year olds!

Ah OP… try not to care. My eldest was on a bike at 4, but couldn’t swim until he was 8.
My younger two couldn’t ride without training wheels until 8/9, both were swimming at 5.
Swings and roundabouts.
They get there when they get there and once they do, everyone is pretty much on the same level.

All 3 of my kids are keen cyclists and excellent swimmers.
Your DS won’t even remember being with the 2 year olds!
The most important thing is that you’re happy with the quality of the lessons and the price..

In all honesty, I would look for a different swim school - some are better than others, and yours is maybe just one of the less good ones.

After almost 4 years, I would expect a child to be able to swim independently, even if not very well. Absolutely, this doesn't mean there is something 'wrong' with your son, just that perhaps this swim school isn't great.

My son started lessons at 3 at the local pool. 18 months later, although he could sort of swim independently, he wasn't progressing at all and there was no recognised stroke.

I moved him to a private swim school and the progress in the first half hour lesson was astonishing! He's 10 now, has his gold award and is a club swimmer. He never would have made it that far with the local pool.

I admit the swim school I chose wasn't cheap but it was worth it.

I'd look around for alternatives.

Swimming is one of those things where they do seem to get stuck at certain stages then leap. This happens at different ages depending on the child. He's still only 3 - very few 3 year olds can swim (though you'll get plenty on here saying theirs were swimming lengths im sure). It takes a certain level of strength and coordination that takes time

My dgc struggled with getting his legs up enough to swim.
My nieces who are brilliant swimmers, put the armbands on his legs and he was swimming almost independently within a fortnight.

You don’t say how big your child is? My daughter was very thin at that age and we were advised to wait a while til she had put weight on as she was basically not buoyant enough to learn to swim. Once she was big enough we tried again and she got it in no time.
do you have a Better leisure centre near you? Their swim programme is quite good and their normal swimming seems much cheaper than what you are looking at.

Find a different class. My child swam in the first lesson with a different swim school. Some instructors/ schools are just not that good/ don’t suit your child.

Is this a private pool?

Per term probably? We pay quite a bit more than that for 2:1 at a private pool because keen to get the 3YO swimming and they’re the only ones that will teach him properly without me getting in! We’ll swap to the council pool when he’s 4 though as the earliest their lessons start from.

Just a note of comfort - I was you, 20 years ago, stuck in the 'baby' swimming class with my ever-older child. Now she swims like a porpoise, always seeking out a local pool wherever she goes, and was swimming in the sea the last couple of days. She even does triathlons and iron man triathlons. She was very slow to walk, too, but she ended up doing gymnastics competitively for some time. They all take their own time to develop, but in the end it often evens out.

It took my kids 4yrs to learn to swim, didn’t start until 4. I ended up paying for 1-1 and wish I’d done that from the start

I was in exactly the same situation as you - did baby swimming from 8 weeks old with DS. He loved it but wasn’t swimming independently like the others in his group by the time he was 3/4.
Switched to regular classes at local leisure centre aged 4 and he got it within a term. I didn’t want to go back to armbands but they weren’t the big inflatable ones, just the ring-style ones and he needed only one on each arm while new swimmers had 3. And he had the water confidence they didn’t so was happily jumping in while other children had be coaxed in.
So the baby swimming gave him a good groundwork in the end. But by 4 he needed a more structured teaching without me in with there with him - less fun and more like school.

My son is 2 and has never been to a swimming lesson so you're doing better than me OP 😂. I suppose it's the schools fault for not breaking it down a bit better. Surely they'd be able to do things a bit differently for four year olds who can't swim and 2 year olds just starting.

It’s very normal for 4YOs not to be able to swim. It’s the usual age to start proper lessons. Unless you can get in with a private swim school that does from 3. They physically can’t swim properly before around age 3 anyway because the muscles aren’t strong enough. Baby/toddler swim classes are mostly a social activity with the added benefit of water confidence and maybe if it’s a good one teaching them to float on their backs should they fall in. And then they’d normally go into stage 1, no different from the kids that never did baby. Just go to a different swim school. Even your local leisure centre will have beginner stage 1 for his age but private places will have smaller groups if that’s something you want and are happy to pay extra for.

@notaswimmer where are you that it would cost £300 to go swimming?!

If it’s a private swim school like water babies where you go in with him then I’d take him out of it now. Where are you, England?

if so move him to your local leisure centre now and he’ll be in the stage 1 / preschool class where they go in alone. He’ll be off swimming before you know it.

If it was a nine year old in with five years olds I could understand feeling embarrassed (and this is sometimes the case at my grandchildren’s swim club) but at 4 I wouldn’t worry.

Hi Op - I'm a swim teacher and have a few thoughts. Firstly children do all develop at different rates. Nevertheless after a good number of lessons you would generally expect noticeable progress. If your DC is very thin, cautious or generally anxious it will prohibit quick progress. He might need a boost of 1-1 and someone getting in with him. What is the rest of his physical development like? Can you do some social swimming with him in between lessons? The end result is what's important not the speed of progress - glad he enjoys it 👍

Most of us used armbands as children and we all learned to swim without them in the end.

My DS is 3 and a half and we've taken him swimming regularly since he was a baby. He did two years of baby swimming which was really just splashing around with toys and in the end we decided it was a waste of money and just took him (and then his baby sister) to the pool ourselves.

He went through a very long phase of wanting to cling to us like a koala and not let go, unless he was just splashing around in the shallows where he could walk.

A few months ago we put one of those life jacket type flotation devices on both our kids. DD aged 18 months started swimming around independently almost immediately, but he still wouldn't. We realised that he'd got used to being able to keep his feet on the ground and regretted not trying one with him before he got big enough to stand on the bottom.

Just recently we tried armbands and suddenly it was like a lightbulb moment and he is now happily swimming with armbands.

So in your position I would relax, put armbands on him, and maybe pause the lessons for a bit and just take him to the pool yourself.

Whilst you're comparing him to all these future Olympian two year olds swimming without armbands you're forgetting that most children aren't going swimming at all at that age. He's not behind. He will learn to swim.

Just stop the lessons at that age and take him more fun swimming yourself. Sounds like a waste of money what you are currently doing

He won't need armbands if you take him yourself and some of those floaty little things

Are there family sessions at your local pool where they put floats etc out ? Those are good to just stay at the shallow end and mess about together practising swimming /playing

How is his co-ordination in other areas. He's 4 so is he in school Reception or just turned 4? Can he dress himself? Put shoes on? Is it literally just swimming where he's 'behind' or might it be an indication of co ordination or focus difficulties?

Whichever, I would personally take him out as it's not fun to be stuck and won't do his self esteem much good to be with the babies (especially if he's struggling in school too) and to see everyone moving on. 4 year olds are quite aware of things like this even if he doesn't say it. Just have a break and put him in lessons in a year or so. If he still doesn't progress then I would move to 1:1 to protect his self esteem.