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

School swimming lessons are fairly useless ime. They are too short with too many kids. Unfortunately we found the only way was private or small group lessons. We were lucky there was a fairly decent swim school nearby (the leisure centre was also rubbish), but it was fairly costly. They did learn quite quickly though and progressed to a swim club.

If you want her to learn effectively op, I would look into lessons. Private or small group if you can afford it.

I am 66 and I can't swim either. We had regular swimming lessons in the last year of primary school and I went a few times at senior school, but then got a persistent verruca which wouldn't resolve. Both DP were disabled so they couldn't take me. I just don't like the water at all.

My 81 year old friend is also a non-swimmer. Her DM wouldn't let her go to the outdoor pools during the summer months as that's where many children caught polio. No vaccine in those days.

Has she a swimming hat and goggles? As an ex swim coach I was always amazed how many girls used to turn up to swim with long hair all over the place and no goggles. If the hair isn’t out of the way and they don’t have goggles then they can’t put their faces in the water. Without putting their faces in the water they never learn to breathe or swim properly.

Our primary school has its own pool and they still dont teach kids to swim very effectively. DS had sporadic lessons for years and made limited progress despite high level of confidence lol. I bit the bullet and started taking him regularly and doing intensive courses and now he's excellent. Absolutely nothing to do with his school.

My old dad used to do a bit of part time work at the local leisure centre where he also gave private swimming lessons ( he was a qualified bronze medallion life saver). His first lesson for clients involved no swimming whatsoever . Instead he concentrated on getting them to lark about amd have fun in the water just so they grew confident in the pool. It worked and most people progressed very quickly after that first " lesson" ...no forced ducking heads under the water ,just making sure he was near so they felt safe and weren't about to get a lungful if they went under.

I’m in my thirties and have younger siblings. None of us did 1:1 lessons or had our parents taking us on top of group lessons on a Saturday. We are all very good swimmers.
My daughter is now doing swimming lessons and isn’t progressing as quickly as I and my siblings did . It does feel these new standards focus on so much when not focusing on basic swimming .

Kindly, your child is never going to progress quickly in school group lessons. For safety reasons, they have to take non-swimmers one by one or at most 2 at a time so she'll never get much actual swimming time in the lesson. If you're concerned, you need to do 121 lessons with a private teacher. And reinforce technique by going swimming regularly yourself. Most parents couldn't hope to teach the correct technique that she would get from a qualified swim teacher, and those techniques will be learnt for life. Yes, it does involve face in the water from the start, and speaking as someone who never learnt properly and still swims with her head out, that is the best way to learn water confidence.

You teach your kids to swim prior to going to school, school lessons are there to build on what they already know and confidence. I took mine swimming since they were babies and we taught them ourselves. Both have swam in galas and done sea and lake swimming sessions. This is on you, not the school.

This is taught my son to swim myself and im not the greatest swimmer but if he ever got in trouble he knows what to do tread water roll on back ect... and can swim really well

I swam with a club as a child and became very proficient and could easily swim a mile or two during a training session age 11.

This is not a brag, because I was actually one of the 'worst' ones there! I was slower to progress than my peers and I didn't have any natural aptitude for swimming (I never won any races!) but the regular lessons over 5 years ensured my progress. I was never going to be an Olympian 😂 but I could out swim all my school classmates and most people I know even now.

Maybe see if you can find a serious swimming club for her to join where they will aim to help her genuinely improve rather than ignoring her and allowing kids to muck about. She doesn't have to win any trophies (lord knows I never won a thing!) but she will grow in confidence, stamina and skill under the right coach!

I agree with you that the swimming framework nowadays is about making money! I also just want my children to be able to swim a length safely, tread water, etc... I couldn't care less if they can swim butterfly!

I have three children. The big two have each had some private lessons. The eldest can swim competently but lacks technique and stamina. The middle one can swim a bit but again, lacks technique at stamina.

The youngest taught herself to swim on holiday but can only do it from standing.

They are all having lessons at the moment and I'm impressed with the teacher but I don't want them swimming beautiful butterfly. I wasn't safety. By far they've made the most progress on holiday with access to a pool
or sea every day.

We do 1-1 lessons. I wouldn’t rely on the school for anything, that can’t even teach them the basics these days.

My son is still doing swimming lessons at y10, he's doing the water skills one which sits between the later stages. He started at around 5/6. We've taken him weekly. My daughter progressed and finished all the badges quicker at around y7. I think swimming is a great thing to just master over time - whats the rush? Let them perfect the different strokes, breathing and stamina. My DS really struggled with stamina for a while as he is asthmatic - it is only in the last year where theyve done more stamina training that he is better. I think weekly swimming lessons is something parents have to commit to if it is something you value. We accepted that some instructors would be better than others - some are shouty, some just let the kids swim lengths up and down without much input, some get the kids out of the pool so they can demonstrate technique poolside, you just take the good with the average.

Absolutely agree. Took DD once a week from when she was a few months old. Then swimming in classes then 1-2-1. She’s an excellent swimmer. You have to get to the confident and enjoying the water bit.

I am in my 40s and remember my school swimming lessons. Once a week for a term for about 30 mins in Year 3. There were three groups. The ones who’d never set foot in a pool at the start of term were using a float by the end. The top group made lots of progress as they could already swim. The ones in the middle it was 50/50. Some learnt to swim (badly) and some didn’t.

Ive also accompanied a class of Y4 children recently on their swimming lessons and it was like watching those videos of people coming from third world countries experiencing escalators for the first time. There was not a chance anyone in that class who couldn’t swim at the start of the year would actually learn how to swim in those lessons. We had to have extra adults ready to jump in to stop the children from drowning!

When I was at school it was get down the pool any old how to get the distance badge as long as you didn't touch the floor or stop at the ends. Not ideal from a technique perspective but at least you could move yourself. I had to start to learn properly again as an adult but did get a 400m and personal survival award at school.

I agree with pp's that butterfly is a waste of time and should be added at later stages - or only done for fun at the earlier stages to get a bit of a feel for it.

In your shoes I'd start her private lessons again. Sometimes a change of teacher can make all the difference. Everyone should carry on until at least stage 5 and ideally stage 7.

I completely agree, OP, even the private lessons seem to be about perfecting the technique instead of first making sure they can swim a length unaided in basic strokes.

No child is going to learn to swim with only school swimming lessons. Mine only gets 6 lessons a year with school. They'd be better focusing them on learning to float and general life saving water safety instead of trying to improve stroke technique really.

I put both mine in swimming lessons until they've completed stage 3/can swim 100m.

We go semi-regularly just for fun but not often enough really but I do also encourage practicing actual swimming when we go - having races with them or seeing if they can swim under my legs and silly things to make sure its not all just standing up and splashing around they can actually still swim too.

You need to either take her yourself much more frequently or sign her up for lessons and make sure she sees it through. School swimming lessons achieve basic water safety and nothing else. The kids that can't already swim are at a massive disadvantage. Our kids school has a pool, they go in it most days in the summer term (it's outdoor so too cold before then) and tbh I don't think either of mine have actually learned anything from those sessions. They have a great time but that's about it.

Fwiw I've worked as a swimming teacher in the past but wasn't able to teach my own kids (see also, piano playing, ice skating, climbing) because they don't listen to a word I say. I've had to outsource the lot. 🤦‍♀️

I stopped paying for swimming lessons at Xmas. Neither of them are going to be swimmers so I didn’t see the point of them learning butterfly and paying £72 a month for them to barely swim. What I want is Thor them to be able to swim at least 25m and be safe in and around water, which was going to take at least another 2 years of lessons! Both improved dramatically on a holiday spent by the pool so I’m now taking them swimming at least once a month and they’ve chosen to do a martial art instead. If I had more money/time with them we’d go more often but I’m a single parent and only get half the weekends with them so it’s harder.

I had school swimming lessons for years. Never learned to swim until I was an adult, and paid for lessons myself. My kids don't get lessons through school, but one of our local pools does summer camps, and that's how they learned - 5 days of proper one-hour lessons in the morning, with instructors in the water with them, followed by a hour of freetime in the water in the afternoon. A couple of these camps, and they were sorted. The intense period and instructors in the water with them makes all the difference.

Swimming lessons can really be a waste of time and money. Years of those group lessons with not much change. When DD was about 7 we hired a Spanish villa for 2 weeks with a giant swimming pool all to ourselves. The kids were in there constantly and she almost naturally started swimming properly.

I was taught to swim by my parents. We went swimming at school for a few terms but it’s not school’s responsibility to teach your child how to swim. It’s yours. Most schools don’t have the means to take children swimming! I mean this in the nicest way. It’s like teaching your child how to ride a bike. It’s not part of the curriculum. It’s a life skill that is mainly taught by parents and some schools are just incredibly lucky to get the funding/have accessibility to leisure centres.

I would just take her swimming/book her in swimming regularly with friends. I attribute learning to swim to going pretty much every weekend with my cousins, going on the giant float things they had and having little races 😂

She’ll be fine 🙂 It’s just practise and making it fun. Is there anyone who can go with her on a regular basis? My mum hated swimming so was always my dad who took us

I have to agree re butterfly. Pointless and exhausting! To me it certainly shouldn’t be on any young learner children’s swimming curriculum. If they’re very good/keen and want to learn it later, that’s another matter.

If I were you, OP, I’d start taking your dd swimming yourself. To a nice warm shallow pool where she can practise - and I would hope, enjoy it!

i have 4 kids of varying ages. 1 is ASD. The eldest 2 learnt to swim by going to the swimming pool with us, I don’t even remember much beyond saying ‘kick your legs like this’ and they were both strong swimmers by age 7/8. Youngest 2 - Jesus Christ I’ve spent hundreds on lessons, swimming with school for 12 weeks etc and the ASD one still can’t swim! The other one can but I would say that she mainly got confident in holiday with us last year because she was in the pool with us so much.The difference is I don’t take them swimming (unless I’m in a scorching hot country) because I would rather be burned at the stake I don’t have the time. I genuinely think nothing beats going with your adults regularly. I think swimming lessons are designed to make money and very much like teachers the instructors are battling bad behaviour and therefore the teaching bit is harder.