Paying school for swimming lessons

[ISpeakBecauseICan]

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

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.

Tunnocks - if they want experience before teacher training they should volunteer rather than draining school funds.

Don’t be so daft. The school has a vacancy for a TA, a degree-educated candidate applies with an interest in teaching - why would they not give them the job? You’d prefer it went to someone else, or you’d prefer that TAs weren’t a thing?

Just pay the money. If your child can already swim good for them, but won’t they enjoy swimming with their school friends? Would you really want them to stay in the classroom and do extra Maths or something while their friends are having fun?

I was part of the local Swimming Club and regularly swimming in competitions but still had school swimming lessons. They do differentiate - the more advanced swimmers did life saving, diving down for bricks etc. Your Child is privileged, not all children have private lessons.

Tunnocks - if they must have TAs then they should employ ones with TA qualifications not someone who fancies teaching. Having a degree doesn't mean they know how to help kids with their learning.

The OP says it's the school pool so wouldn't be for transport. I don't think they're allowed to charge for lessons. If it's an academy I wonder if they have to provide swimming at all, as I don't think they have to follow the National Curriculum?

My DCs primary has its own pool. School is one of the few to not have budget issues but the pool is frequently closed with ongoing maintenance issues etc and it's definitely an expense the Academy would rather not have.

@Fazackerley - why? ds loved helping the less confident swimmers and it was really good for him.

I should have been a bit clearer .

Because, in this instance, the kids who needed help were the disruptive, difficult, ones who had no interest in being helped. And I was paying for the privilege. I would have had no problem if she was enjoying it.

Her class was a very odd mix of really lovely kids and a smaller number of really disruptive ones whose behaviour meant the class, as a whole, was very difficult to manage.

She generally does enjoy helping others. She is a qualified swim teacher now and, for an 18 year old, makes very good money. Actually, she makes very good money, full-stop, with private lessons.

Our village primary it is £25 and my youngest has learnt to swim this way so i have no problem paying it .They have to be bussed to the pool like others have said transport is not cheap .School budgets are tight and it lovely a school , so i am more than happy to pay so the budget can be used elsewhere.

it is

Kathy if they don’t have TAs then can’t have inclusion. TAs here don’t have qualifications specified or available for their role, perhaps different for you. It’s a low wage job and about the same pay as a library assistant. You are trained on the job.

My DD will be in year 3 in sept and doing swimming lessons next year. At her school there is a nominal cost for the dc to be bussed to the pool which is at the other end of town. The school make it clear that no child will be excluded from the lessons if their parents don’t pay, but if not enough do they will have to find the money elsewhere in the school budget to cover transport costs so ultimately something else will suffer.
DD does have lessons outside school, but the school ones I will view as extra practice and for those whose parents can’t afford the private lessons it will be an opportunity that they won’t otherwise get.

We have just been asked to contribute to transport costs to get our twins to a careers fair....year 5.
They are 10 and going to a NHS careers fair.
I'd prefer to send them swimming again tbh.

Tunocks - Untrained staff are a liability in schools and teachers don't have time to train them.

Interesting. Ours are in the region of 35£ and the school has its own bus. PLUS the PP is going towàrd an extra teacher so they can have three groups of ten. Actually it is usually 5, 15, 10 .

And the school chase constantly!!

This happened at out school when my daughter was year 3. She’s always had a fear of water and still cannot swim, but it was compulsory and I had to pay £30 a term. During the last few weeks she felt braver in the water but would only put her feet in so it was a waste of money. I really resented it and think it should be an optional after school club if parents so wish. It’s good the choice is there of course, but it isn’t for everyone and no one should be forced to go or pay that kind of money not everyone can afford.

I have four children, all of whom were competetent swimmers by Y3 or 4 when school swimming lessons were compulsory. We don't get a choice of a 'donation' - we are asked to pay, and it is irritating when you are already paying for lessons, but I get why they do it.

They walk to the local pool and it's something like £26 per child for four consecutive weeks of two lessons (ie 8 in total), where as far as I can tell, they spend about 20 minutes walking to the pool, 20 minutes in the water, 20 changing and then walk back.....so I'm not sure that it does anything other than give the school a tick in the box! However, for those children who haven't swum before or who may only get to go to school swimming lessons, I can see it may help them learn something and so I fork out the money, knowing that if I didn't, other children may not get to do something which mine take for granted.....

Kathy my final comment as it’s nothing to do with the thread really - TAs receive training in what to do from the support for learning department. In common with office staff and canteen workers and janitors, there is no prior specialist training required, but obviously the more skills you bring the more chance you have of being successful. 95% of the TAs I’ve worked with as a teacher have been excellent and a vital support in the classroom for students.