How long to pass Stage 3 swimming?

[JaneLupin]

DC3 (9 yrs) has been in Stage 3 swimming lessons (on the Swim England framework) for 8 months.

I’m beginning to feel a bit discouraged at the lack of progress.

He’s been at 98% progress since the end of February, and the one competency that’s showing as incomplete hasn’t been updated on the online portal since the first week of October.

How long did it take everyone else’s children to progress through Stage 3 swimming?

I’m trying to figure out how normal it is for children to take 8 months in Stage 3, and whether it’d be inappropriate to ask his teacher which areas he needs more practice in when we take him swimming outside of lesson times.

It's not that standardised. When my DC moved swim schools he moved from stage 5 down to stage 3. By all means ask the teacher what skills he is still working on and practice out of lessons.

At my DC' original swim school they focussed on one stroke a week on rotation so they got 2-3 lessons a term working on each. If they didn't manage, eg, the butterfly test at the end they had to do the whole lot again for another term. It was hopelessly inefficient. If I had my time over I would pay the extra for 1:1 or 1:2 lessons because the progress is so much faster, I think it can work out cheaper overall.

In our experience in group lessons orf varying quality it's quite normal to spend 2 terms in a stage, sometimes even 3, especially if you are not practising in-between lessons. Half term intensives can be very useful.

That’s silly, how boring for your dc! what is your dc stuck on?

My dc goes to a very busy pool for his swim classes - usually 9 or 10 kids in a class. But at stage 3 there was still a second instructor (one on land, one in the pool) so for a kid on 98% they’d do some 1:1 to get that kid to pass - otherwise the classes block up and it stops other kids moving up. I noticed similarly in stage 4 they would split the class in two and add a spare teacher to get some of the kids to tip over the passing point - especially if the class had just taken in some new kids who hadn’t yet got the hang of the new techniques.

Another possibility is for you to bring him to the pool and get him to practice, if you can. A solid 15 mins on one technique can make a massive difference (I’ve seen this with my ds anyway).

Talk to the swim teacher and ask advice.

Also - can I recommend watching YouTube videos with your kid showing the technique? DS age 7 clicked with his front crawl once he saw a slow-mo video - you can get some excellent ones that pause and compare “good” and “bad” technique and show with a ⭕️ where your elbow should be, or what position your head should be in; and then a side-view underwater, a view from above and so on

DS has been in for a similar length of time but whizzed though 1 and 2 quickly. They don't like to move them up until they can consistently swim across the pool without stopping. The next level up is in deeper water so ds wouldn't be able to touch the floor so he needs to be more confident.
I would certainly ask if they can focus on the but missing. We have a partial also we can have a look at their assessment. We are missing water safety and a tuck rotate but the main thing is the consistency in swimming without stopping.

DS (7) went up from s3 to 4 recently, his old swim school were a nightmare and never seemed to assess and the lessons kept getting cancelled so we moved him when his instructor moved, the actual instructor is great especially with ND DC. So he'd been in s3 for about 6/7 months but he's gone up after 6 weeks with his new school because they assess every 6 weeks. Ask the school when the next assessment is due , every 6 months doesn't seem often enough.

What is he supposedly stuck on? Based on my kids, their friends, what I see at the leisure centre etc. etc. I’d say stage 3s are usually about 6 years old and stay on that stage for around 6 months. Unless he started lessons late, is very nervous, there’s additional needs or more going on that you haven’t mentioned then 8 months in stage 3 at 9 years old means either the lessons are crap or they’re holding him back on purpose because the lessons are over subscribed and stage 4 is full.

So to answer a few questions.

The incomplete competency is “Travel 5 metres on the front, perform a tuck to rotate onto the back and return on the back”
Everything else, including the water safety bits, are showing as complete.

The pool he goes to is about 18m wide, and he can consistently swim across that without stopping in front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke. Although obviously his technique still needs work, so that might be an issue here?
They’ve done some work on butterfly arms / legs but not a great deal compared to the other strokes. I’m not sure if he could do a length in that, or whether that’s needed for Stage 3?

He’s been having lessons for about 12 months. We were trying to teach him ourselves before that but it wasn’t working out. He’s not nervous in the water.

There’s definitely a couple of spaces available in Stage 4.

I’ll see if I can catch his teacher at his next lesson and ask her advice on what to practice with him outside lessons.
And thanks for the tip about watching the YouTube videos on technique with him, it sounds useful.

If he only started a year ago and is already most of the way through stage 3 then actually that isn’t awful. Chatting to the teacher about helping get over the last hump with the tuck and taking him swimming yourself between lessons to practice should hopefully do it.

Yes my son is stuck on the same thing. I don't even think they have taught it. Breaststroke and butterfly isn't covered at stage 3 so that's annoying but will allow him to be more confident at stage 4.
Take his and have a practice then at the next lesson say to the instructor, look he can do it and get your child to show off. That's what I usually do!

My daughter was in stage 2 until I called them and moved her lessons to stage 3. She’s going great in stage 3 - I just don’t think anyone thought to move her. Will do the same with stage 4 in a few more months.

So I managed to catch the swimming teacher and ask her advice.

It’s not needing to demonstrate that he can travel on his front, perform a tuck and then return on his back that’s got him stuck in Stage 3, despite that being the only thing not ticked off on the online portal.

It’s his breaststroke and butterfly. His teacher says he needs to improve at those before he can progress to Stage 4.

I’m feeling particularly discouraged about the butterfly. It’s unusual for them to do any butterfly more than once a month in the swimming lessons.
And also when I learnt to swim 30+ years ago, butterfly was taught right at the end of the advanced stages, so I never got the hang of it myself and I’m totally unequipped to help DS practice any butterfly when we go swimming outside his lessons. I mean, I can see that what he’s doing looks wrong.

At least with the breaststroke I can do it well enough myself to help him practice.

DS is going to be in Stage 3 for ages more at this rate.

What is it with the butterfly???

It's the most ridiculous stroke and seems completely useless, when all you want them to do is be able to swim confidently if they fall in.

It should be saved for those who have mastered the more useful strokes.

I reckon it's just Swim England wanting to make more money out of swimming lessons.

But as a previous poster said he doesn’t need to be able to do butterfly in stage 3. To pass stage 4 he only needs to be able to do the leg kick.

I don’t see any reason they couldn’t fix the problem with the butterfly at stage 4 rather than keeping him in stage 3.

The Swim England guidelines for Stage 3 that I’ve seen online (and on the swimming pool’s online portal) don’t specify that a child has to be able to do any part of butterfly to complete Stage 3.

But given that DS’s teacher has told me that he needs to improve his breaststroke and butterfly to progress, I can only guess that individual swimming pools must have room for how they interpret the targets for the different stages.

It’s really frustrating that they didn’t specify the actual targets they’re using on the online portal though. It’s not particularly helpful to have the portal tell me that DS is 98% there if there’s this whole unknown bit he also needs to master.

The only explanation for teaching butterfly so early that makes sense to me is that they’re trying to lay foundations for future competitive swimmers.

It’s not the most practical of swimming strokes to know outside of a competitive context.

My eldest did stage 3 in about 3 months but was so young in stage 4 ( he was still 6) that he was in stage 4 for over a year. He just didn't have the physical strength to do full lengths for ½hr straight. I think 6 to 8 months is a more usual timeframe my youngest (7) has done about 3 mths in Stage 3 so far and I'd estimate he'll do 6mths. Ime teachers will do an assessment if you query if your child is ready, a few of my friends have had to ask!

Oh god, my kids swim school keep them in each stage for about a year!! (Not just my kids either, before anyone asks!)