How would you interpret this...Is it me?

[YourNameGoesHere]

I have enquired at our local swimming pool about lessons and they got back to me today. Apparently I have misunderstood what the wording on the signage means.

Exact wording taken from the giant sign in the lobby of the pool is as follows:

Pre-school swimming lessons for children aged 3-5

A class for 3-5 year olds to gain water confidence and some initial experience of being in a class environment without a parent or carer. Emphasis is on the development of basic swimming skills and water confidence through fun and games.

So what would you expect from this class.

I might try one more email tomorrow and see what they say.

I know at the end of the day it's not a big issues but equally either the sign or the person is wrong. If it's the person they need more training and if it's the sign they really ought to remove it because it's very prominent and completely misleading as this thread has shown.

Will see if I get more clarity on the issue with an additional email but if not I think it's probably a lost cause although depending ont the response maybe the next best plan is to actually point it out in person next time I'm physically at the pool and see what they say.

At our local pool the baby classes had parents and instructor in the water, then Stage 1 and 2 (preschool age) were no parents but instructor in the water. So it does certainly happen as you were expecting sometimes

Certainly odd

It's all very odd indeed and I'm now even more confused than before. I've had another response from the email I sent this morning asking for clarity,on which I once again included a picture of the sign and they have replied with he following.

Thank you for your recent feedback on our classes. As per our literature the classes for children under 5 require an adult to always be present with their child for the duration of their lesson. Children can take part in our stages group or individual lessons once they are over 5 or are capable of safely swimming a length of the pool unaided.

All of which leaves me absolutely no wiser to what they actually offer. Surely you can be present with your child by being sat observing them rather than in the water and how can it be either a child is over 5 or when they are capable of swimming a length unaided??

I'd give up now Op - find somewhere that knows what they're doing and can teach properly as from what you've posted, they don't have a clue!

Jesus I'd leave it OP. You'll end up doing rock climbing and coming home with some other kid at this rate. They literally cannot formulate a sentence that makes sense can they?

I would have read it as you did @YourNameGoesHere. Generally the wording for a class where someone is required to go in the pool would be parent and child class in my experience. I attended a parent & child class with DD when she was little and she was a nightmare with me in the pool as just wanted to be independent (she was absolutely fine for the instructor). I counted down the weeks until she could go in a group class without me. I'm pretty sure she was 2 but at the very oldest she would have been was 3.

A class for 3-5 year olds to gain water confidence and some initial experience of being in a class environment without a parent or carer.

I can see how you got confused, but if you read the words in the sentence as they have been arranged it is perfectly clear that is a class for 3-5 year olds to gain confidence in being in the water, so that they can later be in the water without a parent or carer in a swimming class, that is with just an instructor.

I love this! It's probably exactly what would happen and should a parent dare to complain they would respond with shrugged shoulders a curt hand gesture towards the wall and an exasperated "well that's what the sign said."😂

I genuinely read the reply about 4 times trying to understand what the fluff they were trying to say and it's definitely starting to feel like they are almost deliberately making their responses into riddles.

Small side note but I got an email later in the day which was a generic feedback email asking for comments and to rate my experience etc and I'm so tempted to reply with, the person I dealt with needs to move jobs, their talents are clearly being wasted, their destiny obviously lies in writing terms and conditions. 😅

I've equired at a few more places fingers crossed I find something suitable, although even if they don't offer the kind of classes I'm after at least their replies will be more transparent.