8 months of swimming lessons and very little progress

[StripytopandJordans]

My DS started swimming lessons in October at level 1. He has made virtually no progress. Should we have seen a bit more progress by now or is it just that maybe he isn’t a natural swimmer and after a while it might all click?

He is 12 by the way.

Is the instructors in the water with him, if not I would consider moving schools to ones that are on the water or potential private lessons.

How often does he go, do they have swim camps on the summer which can boost his swimming ability

I can’t answer your question but I can sympathise. My DD seems to make incredibly slow progress in swimming lessons. She is fit and strong, plays several other sports, enjoys swimming and pays attention but it seems to to take her around two years to pass each stage. Recently she was stuck on 92% for about three months. I couldn’t understand how she wasn’t making even 1% progress. She was getting disheartened because she couldn’t see what more she could do. I e-mailed the leisure centre, the swimming teacher spoke to us (it’s very difficult to speak to her normally) and my daughter was put up to the next level. I wonder how long it would have taken if I hadn’t asked?

Is he out of his depth? Once they have the basics it helps to be forced to swim!

My son was younger (I think 7/8) but he had lessons for a year and still couldn’t swim and refused to jump into the water.
We switched to a different leisure centre so he could try a different teacher and he was swimming and jumping in within a month

No the teacher isn’t in the pool, she stands by the edge and tells them what to do. Every lesson feels exactly the same.

Also he is in a shallow learner pool and it’s not really helping I don’t think!

I was the same. I went to lessons for about a year before it finally clicked.

Find a better swimming place.

He's 12. So long as he hasn't got SEN issues too, sounds like the instructor is no good.

I would also suck it up and pay for private lessons so he can progress quickly. You can wait when they're 5/6. He's 12 , you don't have time on your side !

Is he swimming often enough in between lessons as well? My dd stalled so I upped our family swims and tried to copy what she was learning in her swim class. Her issue was going under and jumping in so that's what we concentrated on and she soon gained confidence and started moving up the levels.

I would have expected to see some progress. My younger grandchildren all did Level 1 as crash courses in school holidays (4×45min lessons) and 3 out of the 4 passed in the week and moved straight on to level 2. The 4th was much less confident and duento lockdown had had much less opportunity to go swimming before getting a place on lessons and needed a bit longer.
I would have a discussion with the swimming teacher to get a better understanding of what is going on and any suggestions.
Are they in the learner pool? This could make it more difficult of the water is shallow.
Is he in a group with similar age children or are they all much younger? Could be demotivating.
Are you managing to go swimming in between lessons? Improves water confidence and can have fun aswell as practice.
Maybe a couple of one to one lessons might get him going.

I think at 12 I'd try and get him 121 lessons. And get in the pool at least one other time in a week.

Really can't be good for his confidence to be 12 and in level 1, with probably much younger children.

My LO (5) is making very slow progress in level 1 but seeing a huge difference in his confidence recently getting in the pool twice a week.

As an ex-swim instructor (gave it up when we started trying for a family), 12 is very late to be starting swimming lessons. Kids over the age of 8 usually do take a looonnngg time to get the confidence and figure it out. I'd never take a anyone over the age of 7 into level 1 unless it was 121 lessons.
I'd recommend talking to his instructor about 121 lessons, and maybe trying a deeper pool, the temptation to put their feet down if they can touch the bottom is a battle that will 9 times out of 10 be lost.

Call me cynical but I reckon some leisure centres deliberately suppress progress to keep you paying for longer. Every time I queried why my DC wasn’t making progress, they miraculously got progressed and moved up. In the end, I got so fed up I moved them to 1-2-1 lessons with a private provider. They flew through the stages after that.

I’d look to do the same if I were you.

I'd second looking for private lessons. My children attended private lessons and they were in groups of 2-5 others and the instructor was in the pool with them. I also found that just going swimming also helps.

If he's on the Swim England levels he should be passing through about 3 levels a year, according to their website.
What needs to be achieved at each level is brilliantly explained on their site, have a look here and see how much of this he has mastered - if he can do it all easily, ask the teacher if he might be ready to move up, or if they haven't even worked on some of it in that time find a different swim school
www.swimming.org/learntoswim/swim-england-learn-to-swim-awards-1-7/

I'd look at private lessons. A local private pool here offer 5 1 to 1 sessions for about £100 you could ask your current teacher for areas they need to work on. Swim England have a website and app which tells you what they need to achieve in order to pass stage 1.

My girls are a lot younger at 5 and 6. We did a week long crash course over summer last year and they both moved up to the next stage very quickly. They've now been in stage 1 and 2 for nearly a year, when every I watch they don't seem to have made much progress. However I only pay £6 a lesson which is 8-10 children in the water with 1 teacher and 1 or 2 assistants all in the water.

12 is late to be starting swimming lessons so it would take longer. I'd stick with it. Is he enjoying it?

I take my 6 year old to the baths on a Sunday and teach her myself and she's almost got it. Try that, sounds like these lessons aren't that great, and they cost the earth.

Id definitely get 1:1 lessons if you can afford it. My 4YO got level 1 in a term and she’s definitely not what you’d call a natural swimmer and isn’t particularly great at listening either!

I have the opposite experience to pps. My son, albeit younger than yours, made very little progress when he was in a gentle little class in a small pool. When I moved him to classes at the big municipal pool he loved it and came on in leaps and bounds. I think actually being thrown in at the deep end made all the difference 😁

That's not to say it would suit all children, especially if they're nervous of the water.

Is he with the little kids? That won't help.

Theres no quality control on lessons even between the same pool. It can be very frustrating. But I would be expecting an older child in the starter stages to be getting some explanation of whats not working.

Have you taken him to the pool and played ball with him? Practiced swimming with sinkers? How have you coped on holiday with a non swimmer? unless he has major sen?

level one - surely he’s just with toddlers / young children? He must be highly embarrassed.

you need intensive 1 on 1 / holiday club swimming every day 30 mins

it’s a life skill swimming

DS was like this. We watched week after week as others were moved up.
One day the head instructor happened to be covering the class right next to DS’s. Within 5 minutes he had gestured him out of his class and put him the next group up. He never looked back.

He is with similar aged kids but it’s just not working out.

im phoning round to try and get 1-1 lessons now.