AIBU to question school swimming progress when DD still can’t swim a width?

Yabu
Some kids aren’t naturals or they need more lessons.

She needs regular lessons with a good instructor.

She’ll get there, but it takes time.

neither of my dc were natural swimmers and didn't progress much at all. in the end i gave up with group lessons and got them 1:1 for a year or so. this got them swimming a little and we went back to group (cheaper) lessons and they did then progress. i could watch all the lessons which was helpful. we got to stage 8 eventually and gave up thankfully. though 1 of them does enjoy swimming as an adult. it does sound like your kids are being asked to do quite difficult things before getting basics mastered op.

Its not the schools responsibility to teach your child to swim. Its yours.

My kids seemed to learn the best on holiday where it was relaxed and fun. They all had paid lessons but they didn’t seem to progress very quickly, but I saw a massive difference in their confidence and ability when we were playing etc. I think you should be taking her to more “fun” swimming type things. Hopefully she’ll relax and just pick it up

My DD5 started weekly lessons this September and I noticed that after a term she wasn’t really making progress and wasn’t letting go of the side even when holding onto a pool noodle/float. I took her swimming over the holidays and we practiced when she was out of her depth in the middle of the swimming pool where there was no side. I think me being with her in the pool gave her some additional confidence over her group lessons and she has really flown since then.

Obviously the level is quite different, but I wonder whether identifying one or two things she struggles with and practicing them with her one on one might help unblock things?

Depends on the distance of the width!

exit objective of stage 2 is 5m front and back.

I teach at one swim school where we also would expect them to breathe properly before passing stage 2. So not simply holding breath, pegging it across 5m, and standing up. (Like the ops dd, she would be stage 2)

I teach at another where you can do the last sentence and be in stage 3.

as a swim teacher, the first school is far superior. But ironically, and you can see from the responses on this thread, many parents believe the 2nd school to be superior as they believe their child has progressed faster. They haven’t.

every single time a parent gets involved and tries to tell me their kid should be in a higher stage, it is to the child’s detriment.

What do you expect. It takes years of consistent lessons to learn to swim and you haven't bothered. Not the schools job

At our local pool, you need to be able to swim five metres in the big pool unaided to be level three. I’m a bit confused if she’s level three she should already be able to swim a width unaided?

As a swim teacher - ‘self-rescue’ is spot on @Witknit.
i teach both school swimming and the stages, and for many of the things posters are talking about - wanting their kids to simply survive in water - the school swimming curriculum is far superior to Swim England stages.
I am surprised so many parents have such strong views and opinions of the quality of the lessons, when they’re surely not there to see the majority.
I think the curriculum makes absolute sense
25m anything
float on back
tread water 30 sec
climb out deep end
submerge no goggles
and that’s far more important than 10m butterfly or breaststroke with perfect technique.

in fact if I was in charge of swim England, after stage 3, I’d offer 2 pathways. The current SE one, and a ‘survival and stamina’ one which would be a bit like the school swimming curriculum, doing increasing distances and times of treading.

Agree with previous posters. School takes her swimming but the lessons arent always great - its about basic safety, I think the curriculum says "safe self rescue" after that the aim is to swim 25 metres but if all they learn to do is float then it better than not floating -anything else they learn is a bonus.
Its your responsibility to either teach her or pay for swimming lessons and very much your responsibility to ensure she practices regularly and improves in skill and confidence if that is what you want.
We cant expect our kids to be great at everything and to love everything we do, so if its not her thing then its just important that this child is able to remain safe should it unexpectedly end up in water.
It may sound harsh but you cant rely on other people - school teachers or swimming lessons- to just present you with a "fully trained" child.
If you want feedback ask for it and ask what you can do to help. Sounds like she not only needs the chance to build but to maintain her confidence in water

Agree with this. If your school takes her swimming its about basic safety, I think the curriculum says "safe self rescue" after that the aim is to swim 25 metres but if all they learn to do is float then it better than not floating -anything else they learn is a bonus.
Its your responsibility to either teach her or pay for swimming lessons and your responsibility to ensure she practices regularly and improves in skill and confidence if that is what you want

That's a lot of lessons to go a couple of body lengths. I would think stroke correctness is of little benefit if you do not have the strength and stamina to stay afloat. It's like saying that, unless a baby can run with perfect form, you're not going to teach them to walk. Confidence in water should be the first skill, then strength and stamina. Once they have those then hone in on stroke correctness. I'd suggest making swimming fun with pool toys to swim to or dive to, see who can swim under water the furtherest, float the longest etc

Do you want your child to be able to swim competitively (are they even interested in doing so?), or simply be comfortable enough not to worry about drowning?
If it is just the latter take them to the seaside - they will float much easier. They will have fun, be more confident about getting dunked.
I have always loved swimming and mucking about in water, but with the exception of pools with waterslides etc. I find swimming pools VERY boring.

You want your kids to learn to swim but make no effort to do it and then blame the school for it. She’s in the right group, she can’t swim.

I don't swim with my face in the water, although I can do it I'm not comfortable so I just keep my head out and I'm fine, or I swim more on my side so my head is naturally out of the water. Might not be conventional but it works for me and might work for your daughter if breathing is what she's worried about. Along with others I too think you should take her swimming and walk along beside her with the flat of your hand just touching her tummy so she gains confidence. She'll be swimming in no time, I'm sure!

Mine has had swimming lessons and started at 1b now 1a but not keen on being out of depth though swims ok. Paused lessons and taking him weekly myself to keep up his ability. He goes with school next year but I think they concentrate on non swimmers though may be totally wrong. He loves going with me though I don’t make him go out his depth but is happy jumping in and going under. I think he gets school lessons next year but probably they concentrate on non swimmers though might be talking rubbish. I feel it’s a non negotiable skill given the loss of life of children you hear about drowning each year so will continue with the visits.

I was told that the swimming lessons in Y4 are less about teaching kids to swim and more about teaching them to be safe in the water ie. Treading water, floating etc

Disclosure - I don’t know how true that is, but compared to the private lessons my son had, it seems that way

In terms of feedback from private lessons, our swim school has an area for parents to watch so you can see for yourself how they’re getting on and can (briefly) speak to the instructor afterwards, however if they have concerns of advice they approach you.

Based on what you've said I’d look at other swim schools but also be taking her to the pool more often to increase confidence - this is a big part of being able to swim.

My eldest is 40. I took her swimming every week from about 3 months old. She had some private lessons when she was about 5 to improve her stroke, but she could already swim and was very confident in the water. By the time she has school swimming sessions she was a club swimmer. My parents took us swimming as young kids, my children take their children swimming from being babies. Most of their friends do too.

I’m always surprised with the obsession with swimming.

Some people can’t play basketball.
Some people are no good at athletics.

Why do we think that all kids will be excellent swimmers?

I did swimming lessons for years at school and still can’t swim a length. I excelled at other sports. And that’s ok.

Before anyone jumps in with the safety aspect - I get it. You want to give your kids those skills. But you can still do that without expecting your kid to swim laps on end.

Maybe she just wants to have fun in the water and learn to swim to a basic level. Why don't you try take her to your local leisure centre and have some relaxed time together.

And maybe she just doesn't like swimming. Not all kids do.

Yes, from age five complete none swimmers. The club has realised that teaching them, correctly from scratch, results in better swimmers.

I think blaming the school and lessons is the wrong answer. A lot of blame goes with the children, they just dont listen and before you have a go at my answer i taught childrens swimming for years. She needs to go regularly to a pool and there is no point in swimming lengths and working towards badges until she has the basics. if she doesnt have the basics with the amount of lessons she has had then you need to look at your daughter instead. She is obviously not listening.

School swimming lessons are not great at all.
She's is getting older so you need to invest in regular 1-1 or 2-1 lessons - you might find teacher away from the sausage factory leisure centre lessons that will help her..we actually paid for twice a week lessons for my one DC when he wasn't making enough progress in group lessons and that did the trick - did that for about a year and now he is happy in group lessons. Swimming is a life skill - so so important to not just be able to swim but to be a strong swimmer as you never know what sea/current /pool could cause difficulty in the future.

Another one that thinks school lessons are a bit rubbish. Not necessarily because they are school ones as ours were at the leisure centre but because you get one maybe two terms of lessons.

When my daughter did it, they split the class into 3 groups of 10. The top group just did lengths, the middle group were in the main pool working on technique (probably stages 3 and 4) and then the rest were in the teaching pool learning the basics.

A year later when they did the next term, the top group expanded and had split into two lanes as the club swimmers were much better than the other good ones, the middle group were generally doing slow lengths and most of the people in the teaching pool a year earlier were still there. Basically the gap between the top and bottom had widened.

Sorry but I echo what others have said here, school swimming lessons ( particularly when farmed out to local council pools) are way too short ( much of lesson spent travelling and changing), overcrowded and chaotic. A good swimmer may get a little better , but a non swimmer or poir swimmer may regress as differing or confusing emphasis on different styles / methods. You do need to take your child yourself , or pay for 1:1 and monitor/ sit poolside.