So pissed off with child's swimming lessons

[Mammytothreelo]

My dc2 age 9 has been in group swimming lessons 18 months & has been on level 2 over a year. He has been at 88% progress only needing to pass one more stage to move up. He's been at tbis percentage for the oast 3 montgs! I went today to watch & ususl teacher missing. The group lessons are 12 pounds for 30 mins, the instructor started 5 minutes late. The area my son needs to pass wasn't covered. I am blue in the face from asking them to asses him to go to level 3. I said to the receptionist before class & she said oh can't be assessed today as usual teacher will only do assessments... New teacher had no interest just stood on side watching. I sent a very pissed off email demanding to know why we are paying 120 quid for a 10 week term & my child hasn't been assessed since sept 1st! Aibu to be ripping?!!! Today's lesson was a complete waste of time & money, teacher was hopeless.. Other teacher is misding more than is there. Dc1 age 10 progressing nicely in level 4 in same pool... The manager is going to call me tomorrow, any advice appreciated!

It will be that there's no space in level 3.

He's quite old to be in level 2 (DS age 5 is in level 3), can he swim 25m? have you thought about just asking him he can be skipped to level 4? At his age he should progress rapidly and there might be more space there. There's always a lot of young children sat in level 3 as at age 5/6 it can take longer to get through than level 1 & 2 so demand for spaces in level 3 will be sky high.

Look elsewhere, I pay £15 for 1:1 lessons of 30 mins and the kids fly through the levels as it’s so much more personalised, the cost isn’t very much more and also takes a lot less years to get through the levels. Worth a look around anyway.

Where you are sounds like the first place I took my eldest, took forever to move through the levels, I got sick of it by level 2. It’s appalling.

I do think that they, ahem, take their time with putting them up through the stages, because they want people to be paying for lessons for as long as possible!

Also at our pool they never move kids mid term because spaces rarely come up in the classes then and they are always full with waiting lists.

Whatever you do though, don't be tempted to pull him out entirely & refuse to pay until there's a space at level 3. Once out of the system they'll never find you one as he's not even blocking a space in a Level 2 group.

Group lessons are a complete waste of time IMO.

One on one lessons are far better value as you move through the levels far quicker.

I did the math and it was cheaper when on the first lesson a woman told me this was her 4th year doing lessons.🤯

I knew that I would absolutely lose my mind so booked one on one and after about 12 we had completed them and said child was flying up and down the pool.

I could see the progress onna weekly basis, it was that pronounced.

I've had similar frustrations, so share your annoyance! My 2 dc have also been at their levels 1 year. Ds 5 in stage 1 then had new little ones join his class which set the whole class back. He was doing no swimming, having previously been up to swimming a width with no floats. Dd 8 in stage 3 was also seemingly going backwards, different teacher every other week, always told she needed to work on one last thing and ' to be more consistent'. But how could she with a diff teacher every other week. In the end I didn't exactly complain but I did set out my concerns and referred to the swim England skills they needed to demonstrate to go up. They've both been moved up as of next week.

My DC was in stage 2 for over a year. It was so frustrating. Over the summer they had a week of 1-2-1 lessons and are now at stage 3. Apparently there is a big leap between stage 2 and 3. I didn't see it before but now DC is swimming much more proficiently I understand although still feel that the teaching was pretty poor in the group lessons for it to take so long with no progression

We had similar awful lessons and a carousel of useless teachers. I stuck it out because I knew it was temporary (post COVID and we were moving house soon) but I did read them the riot act over teachers being very late for class.

Small group sessions if you can't find 1-2-1 are so much better

@billy1966 ,how old was your dc when you did that, just out of interest?

In our area it is £30 for a 1-2-1 lesson so not sustainable for us on an ongoing basis. £15 is a real bargain

How many in the class?
If 6 for example, each child is getting 5 minute tuition max for £12.

Very poor.
The teacher being late is VERY.

Check the cost of the one one one.
Mine was £25 for 30 minutes, but were getting 3 times the one on one and they just flew through the levels.

Worth every penny to get it over and done with.

Yes, my son has been in stage 4 for over a year.

YANBU. When you get a call back, try to stay focused on the outcome you want (son has no opportunity currently to make progress and you want him to learn this area then get assessed) rather than the unreliable teacher.

Do you have a swimming club locally who do learn to swim?

They are generally better value. They teach to a higher technical standard usually because they are wanting children to get good enough to continue into the club and squads (business model!) and due to said business model they also want to keep parents on side to remain at the club so assess well and often.

They also tend to have much more in pool support (swim assistants) because many older swimmers do it to gain experience as they'll do on to teaching or volunteer as part of their D of E.

Ditched swimming lessons because of this.

That Becky adlington swim stars are absolutely bloody awful. Can't think of a company I've had worse customer service from.

Great tip for all of us in this boat, thanks!

Our stages were recategorised so no idea what level of ability your dc has but we put ours into swimming club as the council lessons were just hopeless.

The speed that they have progressed in club swimming compared to council lessons is staggering. I would definitely recommend as whilst it is slightly more expensive, they get far more swimming time and less hanging around.

We’re in the ‘been in a stage for a year’ club too. It’s driving me nuts but the worst thing about it is the slightly rubbish teacher taught my daughter a bad habit that the new teacher is trying to correct so she won’t be going anywhere until she’s unlearnt the past year of lessons. That was not welcome news!

Mine are learn to swim group lessons. Same issues, see my pp. But yeah they have the reputation here for being 'harder' in terms of their gradings, so presumably more exacting standards. Also they're good value £50 for a block of ten. Although some of the groups are large.

Unfortunately there's nowhere else around for lessons, dh takes them to the public pool 20 miles away about once a month. They started after the lockdown regulations lifted & there is huge waiting lists in the pool..

That's my other issue exactly! My friend has 2 dc at the pool & paid for 4 weeks during the summer term that they were on hols for as their spaces would be gone & there's nowhere else locally for lessons it's crazy!

See if they can change class - often a different teacher will see things differently.

I would definitely complain about a significantly late starting class though and ask for assessment next week. You'll probably find they will move up and be 'found a space if the swim manager is any good...

@Reluctantadult dc2 has been on 88% for the past 3 months, it's crazy isn't it! Noone taking responsibility or covering the 12% needed, one tiny area to get him to level 3. I think when the manager calls tomo I'll be demanding they just move him up..

Thats very slow progress. DS is also 9 and swimming weekly for 2 years and is on level 7. Maybe an alternative pool?

7 in the group class!