Average age on a stage 1 swimming class?

[Ntsure]

My 9 year old has previously flatly refused swimming lessons, he cant swim at all or even tread water etc
hes agreed now that he'd like to do lessons which is great but is he going to be hugely older than the other kids and will that matter? His little brother will be in the same lesson so that's good atleast but he might feel a bit out of place.
(he's autistic which is why we never pushed the lessons because he'd have just kicked off and it would have been unsafe for everyone)

Can you get him a few 1-1 lessons?

From watching my own kids lessons, the Stage 1 lessons can have preschool children through to older primary though, but it does depend on the group. (More older ones recently though with the Covid backlog still working through)

When my 9 year old started out I would say stage 1 was largely 3-6 year olds. However now I'm seeing way more variation in stage 1 classes (I have a stage 1 6 year old) due to Covid. A lot of children didn't start, or stopped for a while so the stages have been really mixed up in terms of ages. I think 9 will still be upper end of scale but it could be more mixed in age than would have been true a few years ago

My 4yr old is in stage 1.
The kids are aged between 3 and 7 in his class.

Stage 1 at ours is all age 3 in the baby pool - I don't think that would be suitable for a 9 year old sorry. My pool also has a policy that age 7 and above automatically go into stage 2 just because physically they are so much bigger

I agree you'd be better having 1-2-1 lessons

I think he will feel incredibly self conscious in stage 1 and the pool will probably be too shallow for him. Speak to the swim school before enrolling him and take their advice. Also have a look around the swim school my son went to (he doesnt have autism but has a few similar issues) had specially trained instructors to help children with additional needs, they were absolutely fantastic. My DS now swims at National Level despite literally hyperventilating at the thought of getting in the pool when he first started.

I've tried to convince him to try 1:1 lessons but he won't, I think he'd find it too much attention on him from a stranger iyswim,
Fortunately there isn't a baby pool it's just in a school pool because it was one of the smaller class sizes I could find, the shallow end is still quite deep so he would have enough space still to try and swim rather than walk.
im a bit worried he'll notice all the other children are reception age and younger and then he'd be put off but there's not really any way around it!

We did this last August - my DS doesn’t easily get embarrassed but he was easily the oldest in Stage 1 and did find it weird. He has SEN too. But he whizzed through the stages and has been with the other kids his age in Stage 5 since March.

I’d agree some sessions with the a private instructor every other week and you taking them the other week would probably cost same as group lesson but you’d make more progress. My child is autistic and wouldn’t put their ears in the water took 2yrs to crack that feeling but then they raced through all the levels and now swims in a club.

Sorry, he was 9 when we started.

Stage 1 & 2 is about face in water and learn to float n kick, if they are older they can get past that v quickly with some help from you. Stage 3 is more focused on developing strokes - again an older stronger child with a good 1:1 instructor can pass that quickly. Then by S4 there would be kids of all ages in the groups they wouldn’t stand out at all. Lots of kids are out of age group due to covid impact (my teen now teaches the little ones)

Our pool is doing intensive one week sessions in holidays they can be great to move a child through lower levels as they swim every day for half hour.

The website says to progress from stage 1 to 2 they need to be able to swim 5 metres front and back unaided without floats, he seems a king king way off from that at the moment

If its ASA stages the requirements are:

Learn to Swim Stage 1 Outcomes
By completing the Learn to Swim Stage 1 Award, swimmers will be able to:

Enter the water safely.
Move forward for a distance of 5 metres, feet may be on or off the floor.
Move backwards for a distance of 5 metres, feet may be on or off the floor.
Move sideways for a distance of 5 metres, feet may be on or off the floor.
Scoop the water and wash the face.
Be comfortable with water showered from overhead.
Move from a flat floating position on the back and return to standing.
Move from a flat floating position on the front and return to standing.
Push and glide in a flat position on the front from a wall.
Push and glide in a flat position on the back from a wall.
Give examples of two pool rules.
Exit the water safely.

Definitely don't have to be able to swim 5 metres unaided

As an adult trying to find swimming lessons... let him try the class and if he doesn't like it, suggest 1:1. Anything to get him started. At the age of 30 I'm struggling to find adult lessons outside of working hours.

My 4 year old is 5 in September. She started stage one in Feb and then stage 2 in May. She is by far the youngest in stage 2, most are 6/7. Stage 1 had mainly reception and year one in.

But your son will have the advantage of age, height and strength and will fly through the stages.

Yes it sounds a lot for S1 & S2 but it really isn’t in practical terms, it’s about being water confident & floating on front and back with some kicking. Doing star fishes, putting face in water to blow bubbles these are all things you can do yourself with the children making it fun playing games.

My ds was similar at age 9yo.
I eventually bribed him into doing a 1-2-1 intensive course over a week.
I thought it might be a very expensive week sitting on the side.

He got in (reluctantly) the first lesson with the promise of McDonalds afterwards.
By day 2 he swam a few strokes independently. By the end of the week he could swim 10m and begged to be able to do another week, which he then did.

By the end of a fortnight he was swimming fairly well and very happy in the water, and he begged to do it again the next year (which he did).

Group lessons wouldn't have worked for him for a variety of reasons. Firstly his hearing is low, secondly his concentration isn't brilliant (ADHD) and also, exactly as you said, he'd have been the oldest in the class by miles and would probably have either refused to join in when he saw how much younger the others were, or played class clown and been a pain in the neck for all.

Op, your ds might be okay if he's with his brother. But I'd suggest going for 1-2-1 lessons at least to get him started. With ds they could spend the first 10 minutes of the first lesson persuading him into the water, and then get going. They can't do that in a group.

My DD(10) is autistic and was exactly the same. Couldn't cope with swimming lessons at a younger age. I finally managed to convince her it would be fun about a month ago. She initially refused, although now keen to learn to swim, as she didn't want to be in 'with babies'. I rang my local pool to ask their advice and found they have beginner lessons for older children only for just that reason. She adores it now (been 3 times) and is actually the youngest in the group. Might be worth asking if any local pools do similar?

Are you sure they'll let him in the normal stage 1 lessons?
At our pool, if they begin 7+ they have to go to a special class for older children.
Check with the pool. Most will be 4-6 at any pool I would think.

Could he and your younger son do a private lesson together, to reduce the attention on him? Or if one of them has a friend or two that could join in as well (or even you?) then it might make it easier on him.

or see if there is another pool, even further away, that does an older beginners class?

We didn't bother with lessons, just took them regularly ourselves and taught as we went. Could this be an option, if you pick a regular day and time and just all go together and have fun? Our kids were both the strongest swimmers (by a lot) when it came to their school swimming sessions

the kids will be reception ish age, what about stage 1 but an intensive week. My eldest did this- was 30mins every day for a wk in the holidays, to help him progress more quickly.

I'm not sure it says 4-12 so I'm assuming he's allowed to join

OP I could have written your post. My DS9 also ASD loves water but his co-ordination is terrible. I have not been able to find 1:1 classes that fit in with our schedule. I have booked him and his sister (just about to turn 3) on the same crash course. I think as there are only 4 in the lesson and half the class is our family he probably won't be bothered about the other attendees ages. With this private swim school for level 2 the child had to be able to swim 10m without aids whereas my DS can probably do 2.

Hope that it goes well