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!

That’s exactly what we’re slung right now and I’m delighted with my son’s progress.

Would I be within my rights to demand a refund for the past term seeing as they left her stagnate? She has only been doing the skills she has already passed & the one skill she needed wasn't covered. Still so fucking pissed off & want to be ready with my list of demands for the gym manager tomo!

I had similar and went ballistic at them. They suspended fees until my kid passed to the next level.

Sorry, it's rubbish. Swimming provision in this country is terrible.

What skill is your child missing to progress to the next stage? If something big like breaststroke kick, then it may take months, as it's a difficult skill to master.

As some mention, a private swim school may be better than a council leisure centre, as they can be more focused on individual childrens needs. Swim clubs are a bit different - they tend not to follow the stages so rigidly, and will introduce foundations for competitive swimming at an earlier stage. Some have a learn to swim programme, others only take from stage 5.

If you're not happy, you should look to move.

Hmmmm. I had swimming lessons as a kid. Never went further than 100m badge and I can't front crawl or butterfly for toffee. But I love to swim, and go twice a week for exercise and social contact.

My kids only had a term of lessons at school because they were already beyond the curriculum as I took them to the pool every week since they were tiny - water confidence initially to widths to lengths.

We swim for pleasure now, either locally or when we go on holiday. I've never needed to front crawl or butterfly, I'm very happy to plod along with breast stroke or back crawl.

My cousins were competitive swimmers as kids, and now they're up before 5am 6 days a week to take their kids training. Which is great for them but neither I nor my kids have time or the inclination for that.

If I'd spent let's say £12 a week for a year on my kid's swimming lessons - over £600 - and was seeing no progress, I'd be kicking up quite a stink, never mind for lessons reduced by 5 minutes!

If you're not happy, you should look to move.

OP has said there are no other options. I live rurally, the council has shut out only local swimming pool. Kids have a 20-30 minute drive to the next nearest council pool and unsurprisingly lessons are over subscribed.

OP is paying for a service (coaching) not an activity for her DC and should be treated as such.

I understand we have had similar. They didn't assess my son for ages and then passed two stages in same day! I do believe it's more about managing the groups and money than the child progressing. If there is another group close by perhaps put his name on wait list and continue to push for assessment at this group.

£15 is unheard of. It’s £36 where I live.

OP your son is very old to be in stage 2. Do you take him swimming aside from the weekly lessons?

Also, I don’t agree with other people who say they don’t get moved up mid term. They get moved up all the time to make space in the lower stages. There’s always a waiting list.

Join a swimming club. There will be some as they are all over the country. You get a lot better for your money and the kids make lots of friends.

Not all swimming clubs can run a learn to swim programme. I used to run one for our club but the Council decided to take it over - together with all our staff and clients. No choice as we were stuck using Council pools for both club training sessions and lesson teaching time.

It is a juggling act to move kids up, especially when you’re trying to accommodate siblings in different levels at the same time. 7 in a class isn’t too bad (I’ve seen much bigger classes in group lessons).

What skill has your DC not been assessed on?

Our nearest leisure centre is quite a drive and swimming lessons are ££ so we never had the money for lessons.

Earlier this year, we went on holiday to somewhere with a pool for the first time ever and 10yr old ds absolutely loved it. We looked into lessons but still couldn't find the money for the petrol, parking and fees. Randomly, I met a woman who has a private pool at her house and hires it out for £20 an hour for a private family swim. One swim a week, 6 months later and DS can confidently do front crawl, back crawl, breaststroke, a length and a half under water and is getting there with butterfly. Definitely worth asking around locally as the place we use doesn't advertise.

I agree with another poster, group lessons are dreadful. If you can afford 1/1 watch how your ds improves. Or do a batch of daily lessons in holidays if your area provide that option. Good luck!

I found that the most pushy parent was the one that had the child fly through the levels. That’s not me unfortunately.

You have the same issue @Dreikanter as we do. It doesn't benefit the children at all either.

This is exactly what happened with my DS I asked around for recommendations and moved to another swim school. He's made vast improvements and skips up a level each term. Look for a more nurturing model where they really watch and record each child's progress. The indicator for me on lesson 1 was that the teacher knew DS's name straight away. Not sure the previous teacher knew it after 2 years!

My two tend to average out as a swimming level corresponding with their school year. I've got a y5 recently in stage 5 and a (dyspraxic) y7 in the upper end of stage 6. Both tend to fly through the first 50% slow down until 90% then get hung up on something specific for a few months. Both lost 6 months of swimming time then were blocked from moving up for 3m post-Covid even though they'd been passed. It took 11 months to actually move DS1 up into a space from being passed in 2020 as he was already waiting for a space by March 2020.

They often do get stuck on refining a skill to standard. I have gently asked the teachers what they need to do to move on if they've been stuck a while and get a sensible answer about their technique. If it's a more random skill that's checked less frequently it's usually coming up shortly. (The same also happens to my two for grading in martial arts) In the early years, DS1 benefited from occasional booster lessons in the holidays (DS2 didn't need them)

We're in group lessons of 12 at about £24pm each. If I took them weekly myself for practice, there would be little difference in cost and when they are stuck I remind myself that they are also benefiting from regular swimming practice. Their progress hasn't been spectacular, but their peers who were pushed through quicker in smaller, more expensive private providers largely stopped lessons around y4 when school swimming started, and tend not to keep the practice of technique and stamina up so don't necessarily maintain the advantage of the head start. The benefit we have is establishing swimming as a regular habit (and appropriate casual slots are scarce)

In a market where demand outstrips supply, there's no advantage in to strategically eeking out the stages trying to keep people in and risking losing them due to poor progress at points like stage 2 when there's an abundant demand for Foundation/ Stage 1.

I didn’t buy in to the whole group swimming lesson thing. Standing on the side for years whilst they waited their turn to swim half a length.
We did no ‘levels’.

We did a few intensive courses over holidays. Quite a few 1-2-1s. Joined a local triathlon club. Both are very strong swimmers now and have been since about age 9/10. (They could swim much earlier). They can swim a mile across a lake. Maybe their butterfly isn’t great but that’s not my priority.

I can't swim myself, petrified of water. I had a near drowning experience so avoid at all costs which is why I'm obsessive with dc becoming very competent.
This isn't a council pool, it's a pool in a private gym.
Dh takes the dc to a council pool 20 miles away about once a month.

I know several parents who claimed to have taught their child to swim themselves, on holiday, or at weekends, around age 5-6. Then school swimming lessons started mid-juniors and those kids were the ones put in the bottom group because although yes they could swim a few m they didn't have the technique/stamina/breathing technique to do full lengths of the pool, plus they didn't know the different strokes. Few kids learn to swim properly with good technique across all 4 strokes without proper lessons.

Push and pull the water to complete one vertical rotation, face fully submerged.

This is the skill she's stuck at, wasn't a assessed until Sept 26th & hasn't been covered since!! She's just been doing the sruff shes passed already.. So pissed off as an op said tgis isn't a fun activity it's a skill we're paying for her to be taught.
The stand in teacher yesterday, 5 mins late didn't bother asking names, just next, you next etc... No instruction, she just stood at the side watching... So angry. As I said above this is the only one for miles, we're rural & lessons completely oversuscribed...

I wish I’d paid privately much earlier than I did for 1-1 sessions. My DD progressed so much faster so saved money overall and my time!

We also complained about the classes starting late. 5 mins late for a 30 min sessions really eats into the lesson. It did make a difference

Long term - you save money with private lessons, they progress much quicker and it’s a better experience all round.

I clocked very early on in group lessons they really aren’t getting much swimming time whilst they wait their turn.

Wow swimming classes are really doing a good job in persuading parents they have to shell out for weekly lessons for years and years because it's "a life skill". My kids never had lessons except the school ones but we just took them swimming a lot when they were little and they just gradually learned. The most they ever gained in confidence and strength was on holiday messing around in the pool every day.
Aged 12 my daughter had about 8 private half hour lessons to get some better technique. She could already swim a length. She came out with a bunch of certificates because she had completed all the "stages" in no time.
While water confidence, being able to float, tread water and swim enough to enjoy the water safely are useful life skills, your child only needs to learn butterfly and all the other higher level stuff f they want to compete, or work in swimming!
Stop being conned by swimming lesson providers! Get off the bandwagon!

Completely agree @savehannah - how parents are being duped. So much wasted time and money!