Should DC go on the school residential when he can't swim?

This, but apparently because I can't quite articulate this, I'm middle class in a bubble.

But we're not talking about poverty stricken families here, are we. Obviously I am not blind to the poor, but that isn't the norm. OP keeps saying she's happy to throw money at it. I'm speaking in context of just regular people, not children in care etc. You're being deliberately rude towards to me and I'm not sure why.

That is expensive. We used to go to a £1 after school hour though that was 10 years ago now.

People who can't afford swimming lessons (particularly from babyhood): unfortunate for them but reasonable. Spending over two years looking for swimming lessons and not just taking the child swimming yourself during that time: really quite mad.

Our local pool costs £8 per person, and doesn’t actually have a proper lane swimming facility that is accessible…. just a splash zone and a play pool.
To access the lane swimming part, you need to be members if the swimming club (need to be able to swim for that!), ir take swimming lessons (waiting lists a bit over 2 years for evening/weekend slots).

So join a gym. A 13 yo that can't swim and is missing out on school activities is a priority really.

This is a fantastic initiative to make swimming more accessible for all school children. Makes it more possible to teach all year groups and not just some lessons for one year group at the public pool. Can sometimes be funded through PTA etc or something like Jack Petchey Foundation.

https://www.eliteswimming.co.uk/pools-to-schools

Some people really , really don’t have that extra couple of quid, especially not on regular basis. Or were you unable to imagine that as well?

Genuinely having no idea IS being in a middle class bubble. Kids living in poverty, or in toxic/chaotic households, or abusive homes , or being young carers are just a few of the circumstances where swimming is not a priority or even an option.

“And they get massively judgy if your 6 year old joins at beginner level. “

Who cares if they’re judgy? You need to get your big girl pants on and show some resilience. “I let my child drown because someone was judgy when I tried to take them to swim lessons” ?????

Our local pool offers free swim lessons for those on benefits. All swim clubs will have a hardship fund for those in need.

If you can’t access any swim lessons then write to your MP and ask for help/support. It is too important to just let this go.

Only on mumsnet are 7 year olds competent swimmers to advanced for swimming lessons….

• Toddler swimming lessons around here are at 10 or 11 in the morning, so only accessible for SAHP with an only child/access to childcare and money to pay for it (£50 a month).
• Actual swimming lessons give priority to kids who have done toddler lessons - so again for SAHP. For everyone else waiting lists are years long, and they get annoyed if you can’t do the 2pm slot on a weekday for a 5 year old….
• There are less places for actual swimming lessons than toddler splash, making the situation worse.

Neither of those around here, in fact the only private options are pools in schools, which have limited opening times. No private gyms with pools at all.

of course school lessons are not ideal but it’s not a reality for so many children.

My daughter is in year 6 and I’m just thinking of the children in her year. One girl keeps bouncing from her mum’s care to foster care, twins whose mum has bipolar and has left them and their 3 young siblings with their dad and they haven’t seen her for months, one boy’s family were evicted from their flat and it was being emptied while all the kids walked past after school, one girl cares for her mum with MS, her dad is publicly struggling.

These are a few examples of why swimming isn’t a priority. In almost all schools there will be children going through similar. This is a school in a south west village.

I agree completely. We started with mum and baby sessions in swim nappies at the local council pool which wasn't expensive and went ourselves in between lessons.

I'm sorry, I do believe that swimming is incredibly important and I hadn't considered that people just would rely on the school lessons. Sorry if this offends anyone that I had no idea people did that!

Our local council swimming pool costs a couple of quid.

I'm not in a middle class bubble. I didn't know people that waited for school for the swimming lessons. They're not enough for kids to actually properly learn to swim, surely? I'm not being middle class, I genuinely had no idea.

The OP isn’t poor though. She’s said she will throw as much money at it as is needed and that she is willing to travel any distance that she can do there and back in a day for swimming lessons.

Had you not heard of poor people before?

You need to post on every local Facebook page to find a 1:1 swimming instructor.
It seems such a shame that he’s having to miss out and it will do nothing for your guilt levels.

You could join a David Lloyd (if one is local and a pricey option) or look for hotels with pools.

this option would take effort but sometimes desperate times…

So you’ve been back in the UK for 2.5 years?

How many times have you taken him to a pool in that time?

I get the issues around lessons and being abroad etc. But he needs to be going to pools frequently to understand swimming and floating and safety.

forget the residential. Get him swimming at local pool with you. There’s no reason why he can’t go on the residential if you actually expose him to swimming before then.

You must know enough people to know that many do private lessons and start them early but lots of people don’t. Unless you live in a middle class bubble.

my son is year 3 and about 50% of the children in his class couldn’t swim during swimming lessons.

I think the whole thing is bullshit anyway.

A Year 8 residential which will take place within the next 7 weeks of the school year yet the OP hasn’t signed up/ paid deposit? Rubbish!

And she’s at pains to say how conscientious she is as a parent but as has been said, why didn’t she organise swim lessons way before Covid? He’d have been 7 or 8 by then.

no response when people asked what general area she lives in so they could try to help.

no response when I asked about all the other Year 8s who would have had the same covid restrictions and the same 2 year wait lists for private lessons!

And quite frankly if her son almost drowned and needed resuscitation then she’s being highly irresponsible as a parent to even think he could manage a water based residential with surfing and boogie boarding

Every day? Round here council pools are wall-to-wall swimming lessons from 3.30 to 6, and then into lane swimming, women only swimming, 60+ swimming etc.