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Original poster

Paying school for swimming lessons

116 replies

ISpeakBecauseICan · 25/03/2019 23:55

We have received a letter from school advising us that swimming is on the curriculum (year 3) and the children will be having swimming lessons in the school pool in the summer. Each family must contribute £25 per child.

My 8 year old Dd has been having swimming lessons at the leisure centre since she was 4 and is a competent swimmer so I don’t really see the point of paying for the school lessons.

Also the non-swimmers in the class will receive extra swimming lessons- so effectively we will be subsidising the kids who can’t yet swim Hmm

Is it a bit cheeky to expect parents to pay for something that is on the curriculum or is that standard?

FTR the school seem to be constantly asking for money and contributions for cake sales, Christmas fair, mufti days, various charity collections, school disco, raffle tickets, special visitors... and the list goes on. Though I will probably end up sending the money in so she doesn’t feel left out.

OP posts:
Myheartbelongsto · 26/03/2019 00:12

I feel your pain op. My 4 have swimming every year although they can swim but i still pay as also don't want them to be left out and well it's a life skill and could save their life one day so I'm happy for them to continue going.

Lat week I had to pay €20 so my 2 daughters could do a skipping thing at school. I almost lost the plot on Friday morning when my daughter reminded me as had just had my son'd confirmation the day before which was another huge waste of money but that's another thread!

x2boys · 26/03/2019 00:14

How odd my son had swimming lessons in year 3 and six we didn't have to pay a penny he's in year7 so this was only last year.

BackforGood · 26/03/2019 00:24

This does come up quite regularly on MN, so it must be quite common now. It is an expensive thing (much more so if they need to be bussed to the baths). My dc are much older, and it was all free, but, like you, I would have resented paying for them to have their time wasted at school swimming lessons when I'd already paid out for all their lessons prior to them going with school.
I don't know what the answer is.

BringOnTheScience · 26/03/2019 00:31

They cannot charge you for the lessons, but they can charge for transport. You're not subsidising any non-swimmers.

DeathyMcDeathStarFace · 26/03/2019 00:42

Ds4 (8 yrs old) is in year 3 and had swimming lessons for the first term of this school year and we had to pay for them. Have done with his three older brothers too. Unfortunately the pool in our town closed during the summer holidays so they had to use a pool further away so had to also pay for a coach for transport, paid about £4.50 a week I think, so over £50 for the term. (Were joint year 3 and 4 lessons and only 30 places available - one coach full - between about 120 pupils, done on a first come first served basis and entirely optional. The 90 pupils who didn't go had a second PE lesson at the same time.)

Thirty-something years ago I remember taking my 20 pence in on a Monday morning to pay for my swimming lessons in school too.

I thought it was standard to pay for school swimming lessons, but seems it is not necessarily the case according to some PPs.

AnemoneAnenome · 26/03/2019 00:48

Coaches would probably cost more.

Chalk this one up as a nice problem to have. We can afford swimming lessons for our children, and we can afford £25 as a one-off on top. If it means subsidising children who haven't had the privilege of 4 years of swimming lessons and are having to scrape by with a tiny fraction of that, frankly I'm ok with that.

School swimming lessons are there so that no child goes through school without some semblance of learning to swim. They're like child benefit used to be - deliberately applied universally to ensure no child misses out. They've been cut to the bone and are more lip service now really, but I think those of us who can afford private lessons should just suck this one up.

The money to maintain the pool or run the coaches has to come from somewhere, and schools can barely scrape enough together for gluesticks and whiteboard pens at the moment, let alone enough TAs.

modgepodge · 26/03/2019 03:25

Schools are legally required to offer swimming lessons during KS2 (no idea how the PP’s school only offering 1/4 of the kids lessons on a first come first served basis is getting round that piece of legislation). I believe they cannot charge for swimming, but can charge for transport - which believe it or not can be extremely expensive even if it’s only a few miles down the road. Coaches don’t come cheap.

I expect it’s a voluntary donation though, like all school trips, and if you don’t pay the school will still have to take your child.

Schools don’t like asking for money for these things you know...they are so badly funded. A colleague of mine is a headteacher and she is literally having to cut almost every TA next year, and teach 2 days herself, so that she can afford to pay enough teachers for the number of kids she has.

brizzlemint · 26/03/2019 03:28

We had to pay at one school because they got a coach there, at the next school it was free because they could walk - the charge is for the transport not the lessons.

Seniorschoolmum · 26/03/2019 03:41

That’s normal at our school for years 3 & 4 too & The extra practice will be useful for your daughter. Making sure all the children in the class can swim is important.

We have regular cake sales & raffles as well. The money pays for extra play equipment, supports the school teams and pays towards a trip to the pantomime each year. I think that’s fairly normal

FrowningFlamingo · 26/03/2019 06:16

I remember my mum having to pay for my school swimming lessons in the early 90s so it's def not a new thing.

icelollycraving · 26/03/2019 06:21

£25 Shock Ours were nearly £70. As fair as I remember, if you don’t pay it, the school has to as the lessons are compulsory. Schools are under funded so struggle to do so.
Also, at our school, if you could prove swimming to a certain standard (certificates etc) the child didn’t have to go. You aren’t subsidising the ones who are less able yet.

user1493413286 · 26/03/2019 06:28

Unfortunately the funding for schools has been reduced so much this is their only choice to be able to offer everything they used to. I’d feel irritated too as I imagine you’ve paid a lot over the years for swimming lessons; you could say they don’t need the lessons but for the sake of £25 I’d pay it so your child isn’t different from their friends

froggybiby · 26/03/2019 06:29

My daughter is in year 5 & has swimming lesson for a term this year. Her last lesson is tomorrow. They go by coach. The school didn't ask for any payment. I guess we must be lucky. She is also in level 5 in her weekly classes.

Babyornotbaby · 26/03/2019 06:30

I think your contributing to the transport not the lessons.

Questionsmorequestions · 26/03/2019 06:35

Schools receive Sports premium funding which they can use to give extra swimming lessons to ensure that all children meet the standards by the end of ks2. They can’t use this for curriculum swimming. I expect the weaker swimmers are subsidised by this and not by you.

BeanBag7 · 26/03/2019 06:35

How much have you spent on swimming lessons over the last 4 years? £25 Is probably a drop in the ocean, so I would just pay it.
However there are some families for whom £25 Is a large amount of money so I'm surprised this is a compulsory charge. Usually the schools have a find for those who can't afford this sort of thing.

Bouncebacker · 26/03/2019 06:39

I agree with AnemoneAnenome - the school swimming lessons may be the only lessons some children in the class get - I would happily subsidise that - in the case of an accident it could actually be lifesaving to have a basic understanding of how to float, and not to panic.

We are in Scotland, where 24% of children live in poverty and I will do anything within my (limited) power to make things more equal for children.

And just a note - it’s likely that the funds for bake sales and the summer fair etc are used to pay for swimming lessons, school trips etc for children who wouldnt otherwise be able to go.

Monty27 · 26/03/2019 06:40

In my DC's case it was the bus that had to be paid for.
However OP has said it's the school pool. So. I don't get that. Unless it's a public school? Who knows.
School budgets have become rather complex.

SnapesGreasyHair · 26/03/2019 06:42

I refused to pay for either of my children to go. I had also paid for private lessons and they were already very competent swimmers. I too contributed to every single money raising event but with this l didn't pay. I would have prefered my children to have stayed behind and given tuition in an area they were lacking rather then waste a whole morning once a week being "taught" how to swim incorrectly by the school teacher.

TheSerenDipitY · 26/03/2019 06:44

we pay even in NZ,
we pay $30 twice a year for them to go on a bus to a large sports complex for specialist lessons, thats in addition to the usual lessons they have in school time,
they also say tough shit if you already pay for lessons, its part of the learn to swim agreement schools have so its compulsory and we have to pay

Arowana · 26/03/2019 06:44

£25 sounds cheap to me! It was a lot more for my DC, but as others have said this was due to transport to the pool.

MsTSwift · 26/03/2019 06:46

I helped with ours. 80% of the kids could swim and just did lengths up and down. A small group who could not swim had a lesson. I will leave you to guess the demographic of the groups. There is no money in the budget sadly we are reduced to decorating the school ourselves with paint donated by local businesses so paying for this no surprise

FamilyOfAliens · 26/03/2019 06:48

We don’t like asking for payment for this. In fact, if parents don’t pay, we don’t chase it.

However the money will ultimately come from somewhere else in the school budget.

As PP said, maybe consider yourself lucky you’re financially comfortable enough to have paid for regular lessons for your DC over several years. But if you really resent contributing, just don’t.

Pharlapwasthebest · 26/03/2019 06:48

The money wil" be going towards maintaining the pool.
Your child is lucky to have that facility, and as it's on the curriculum, you prob pay more if there wasn't a school pool as you'd have to pay for transport too.

ginnybag · 26/03/2019 06:51

I'd pay for DD's school not to take her. She's going at the moment and it's a colossal pain in the arse.

She's been in swimming lessons for 5 years, so she's already met all the curriculum requirements, along with about 7 or 8 others in her class, so her 'lesson' seems to consist of getting in the water fir 30 mins and playing tig.

To do this, they cut her lunch break to 15 mins, so she barely eats and lose most of an afternoon's teaching. It also creates a massive time crunch for us on a friday night, because we have to get her home at 3.15, shower her and wash her hair (they 'rinse' after the lesson but understandably can't have 30 kids having a full shower) feed her, and be back out the door at 3.50.

Its also really affecting her eczema, because she's not able to wash and moisturise after coming out of the pool.