Response from school re swimming.

[BefuddledAsAFish]

I don't trust the school so I don't know if my is over-reacting.

DS has ASD, dyspraxia, maybe adhd and is very socially behind his peers. He is desperate to have friends, no one wants to be friends with him. So when they were playing on a climbing frame during a PE lesson and a group of kids told him to jump down, he did. And hurt himself. It seems two of the sportier kids also jumped and did not hurt themselves. Of course DS was then upset as he was hurt and it didn't do anything towards making them friends with him...

Now we have the issue of school swimming lessons. 26 9-10 year olds will be going to the pool in the next town. There will be a proper swimming teacher and the class teacher (B).

DS cannot swim. He loves playing in the water, not afraid whatsoever, but does not have enough coordination to swim. I do not take both my Dc in the water alone as DS needs all my support (quite literally). He also panics when he is out of his depth.

His Ta will not be there are she is teaching in another class when they will go. I've asked what depth the pool will be but no one can tell me. There is a genuine reason for this as it's just been renovated and none of the teachers have been there yet.

The "head" class teacher A has just emailed me to say that DS should go along and decide with B and the swim teacher which parts he can join in with and where he should stay in the pool. She has also said that as B is there in a supervisory capacity he can keep a close eye on DS.

My initial reaction is along the lines of WTF but as I said, my opinion of the school is currently not the highest it's ever been.

I don’t get the problem to be honest. There are usually parent helpers to help with transport there. As someone else said above, ratios need to be adhered to. Plus there will be a lifeguard at the pool.

No there will not be. No request for help. The children will be walking there, no need for help with transport and I have had it confirmed that the only adults present will be the swim teacher and B. There is no lifeguard, it is a school pool not a public one.

The children will be walking there,

Walking? To a swimming pool in the next town

Please provide appropriate footwear for the walk there and back

So the one teacher supervises the whole class getting changed? Rather her than me! Our lessons have at least 2 members of staff/volunteers for boy/girl changing rooms, no adults in the pool, teacher supervises 1-to-1 from the side of the pool, as many swim teachers as necessary for the groups. Yours sounds a disaster waiting to happen.

He can do all of that. He just can't do it all at the same time to be able to swim

Me neither when I started. I learned, it just clicked one day. The day before I was useless, then it all worked. As you've said he panics when he's out of his depth, they will also work upon him actually obeying rather than hurling himself off at the deep end and teach him how to bounce himself to safety - which is another way of learning to move yourself in the water.

Yours sounds a disaster waiting to happen
Yes! That's what I think. And I'd think the same if it were just the other 25 without adding DS into the mix. I don't think it's fair on the teacher.

they will also work upon him actually obeying rather than hurling himself off at the deep end

Because I haven't been doing this since the day he could walk

DS2 took his first steps to gleefully hurl himself in the swimming pool. He's my neurotypical child... as far as I know...

We had class teacher, two parents plus two pool instructors.

I dont know where you are, but in a totally unregulated swimming pool environment, I sometimes used to miss time my swim, and end up with the school kids.
They had 25 kids, many of whom couldnt swim, in a pool where the shallow end was 2m (deep end was 2.3m!). Week swimmers had back fins. Medium swimmers had noodles. Strong swimmers had no aids. One PE teacher, and one class teacher or TA fully dressed on the side. No life guard.
Over 4 years, I never saw an issue. The PE teachers were uber strict tho.

Why not just refuse him permission to go?
It sounds as though you don’t want him there.

I think you are getting a panic for nothing op. The school is responsible for the safety of all of the children and would not take them in water if it was not safe. Shallow ends of pools children of 9 can stand up in with water around chest high. Swimming is such a useful skill to have and actually aids coordination.