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!

Going back a bit here but my youngest also struggled with group classes - instructor never watched him and was too busy talking to her colleagues most of the time. In the end, he repeated to her what his dad had said to me about her being "a rubbish instructor" - oops - and we felt we had to leave anyway!

We took him somewhere else for 1:1 lessons as he got it much quicker. I think we saved money as he was done much sooner than he would have been. We stopped lessons for both of them as soon as they could confidently swim well enough to get themselves out of trouble (didn't bother with all the extras) and they gained confidence further by us taking them/going on holiday, etc.

What should I say on the call today? I want dd moved up immediately regardless of the skill passed, should i demand money back from the lessons too?

We found swimming lessons absolutely useless. Definitely agree with a PP that they try and keep the ‘stick’ on a level for as long as possible due to payment.
Eventually we removed them from lessons and joined a leisure club, where DH and I taught them ourselves. They’re now very competent swimmers and love the water

I didn't believe in lessons, never had them myself and learnt to swim and tried teaching my own children, as could see that swimming lessons seemed like money making con. However after a number of years of them refusing to listen to me and me realising I am not a swim teacher I have been forced to go to swimming lessons. They definitely do seem to be somewhat of a con, they move children up randomly it seems (whenever they need space to move someone else) and having to pay for lots of holiday lessons that nobody can make rather than giving everyone a summer break is annoying. We have tried a couple of different options and the latest one seems quite good. It doesn't have such narrow windows of levels, so you are being taught to your level within a wider band of skill but don't have to wait around to go up to next level. We are lucky to have several pools to choose from within driving distance so have been able to shop around. Hope things improve Op

I’d ask for some money back as you are not happy with instruction. But I would just pull your child out and get some private lessons. Sounds like a crap company. Even if they do get moved up how long will they get stuck in the next level?

Depends on the child. My oldest doesn't really listen to me but is great with a "teacher" - council lessons have got her from clinging like a baby monkey refusing to let go to splashing around and swimming under water quite happily.

She still doesn't float well (or swim on the surface) but she's very narrow and skinny so not built well for floating. To float she'd need perfect flat body position, head well back, which she doesn't do as she'd rather keep her ears dry.

I'll probably splash out for a private lesson or 2 in a holiday if she's still struggling with floating.

Ah mine must be in your few then. The oldest 2 are in secondary so already been with the school and was bored shitless doing stuff they have been doing years. I myself was swimming to the buoys and back at sea, in lakes and rivers by myself at 7. I also never had group lessons, my dad taught me. Guess the kids your referring to must have had shit guidance from their parents and just taught them doggy paddle, the basics etc.

I doubt they will move your DC up just because you demand it. Your child needs to be at 100% to pass that level. I would be more inclined to ask why the 12% hasn't been completed and maybe ask for a partial refund. It's all down to the managers discretion but i hope you get it sorted as it's very frustrating when they are stuck at a certain point for so long.

It's so rubbish that you're in this situation, because when swim classes are so few and far between, and it's so hard to get and keep a slot, I think it's really hard to bargain about things you are not happy with, because you can't go elsewhere, and if you did, there would be 20 other kids ready to jump into your slot. There is no incentive for them to do better for their customers really. Our swimming instruction for DD was always good at our local leisure centre (privately owned) but if it hadn't been, we would have been stuck with it anyway, because the waiting list was so long and there was nowhere else to go.

Dc1 started the same day as dd2 & moved to level 4 last month. She's flying & is now doing full lengths & 4 strokes.. There is literally nowhere else & even if there was waiting lists would be crazy.
They can't even do school lessons as there is no pool in the vicinity to bring them. They do water safety as a theory instead of a practical lesson.

That's it exactly! It's so frustrating, the one thing she needs to pass hasn't been covered or assessed since sept 27th... I'm pissed off with dh too as he brings the 3 of them & reads his book instead of keeping sketch 😡

Ask for an assessment. Do they mean just literally spinning in the water? (All I could find for vertical rotation)

How do you think she compares to Stage 3 skills?

@PuttingDownRoots I have 7 emails here that I've sent to them since the start of the summer asking for her to be assessed!

Our swimming lessons don’t allow parents to watch. It works out better as kids are concentrating and not looking at Mum or Dad all lesson. There’s an end of term “watching week”’. Also kids are only assessed once per term. I actually think that’s fair enough. It’s time consuming to be constantly assessing.

After a similar plateauing with lots of issues around the 30 minute lessons and related shenanigans we moved over to Crash Course lessons. 1 hr 5 days a week for every holiday we could manage sometimes 2 weeks one at the beginning and one at the end of the summer hols. Much better. With some family visits to play and practice in between but definitely NOT weekly or even fortnightly.

Private lessons can also be worth it, I have a friend who has done this (30 min with 2 kids), not all year round, progress better for same price.

We had this issue. Our swim school has a portal where we can watch progress. DD was 97% for 2 months with the skill she needed (drop in the water, push off the side and rotate onto back into backstroke) not having been assessed at all (they date it all) for 4 months.

When I asked other parents we discovered all but 2 of the children were on 97% with this skill missing and all for about the same amount of time (in a class of 12). I asked the teacher why this wasn't even being practised and she pointed to the two children who had only joined a couple of weeks previously and said that they would need to get to a certain level on other skills before they could do this. So they were holding 10 children back until these two had completed months worth of skills. I made the point that I wasn't paying for these children's lessons and she agreed to assess that skill - the 10 all passed and were put up.

It was particularly annoying as this was stage 6 and a number of parents were resolved to finish lessons after that stage, so they ended up paying for months more lessons than they needed to.

How would you suggest I teach my children to swim, if I myself am a poor swimmer?

How would you suggest the OP teach her own children when she is afraid of the water, hence ensuring her children are taught to swim by a professional?

I pay for my kids to have swimming lessons because I don't want to take them swimming 😆

All those fantastic parents saying "you don't need swimming lessons" are entirely missing the point.

OP is paying for swimming lessons and her child is not progressing, not because of lack of effort/talent but because of the coaches' disorganisation. She is not receiving the service she is paying for.

It was particularly annoying as this was stage 6 and a number of parents were resolved to finish lessons after that stage, so they ended up paying for months more lessons than they needed to.

Hmm, I wonder why they weren't assessing it then.

It does feel like some of this is a bit of con to keep children in lessons for longer.

Swimming lessons can be great. I don't understand why people don't see the value of them/ would you say the same about running clubs/ hockey clubs? I can do both but Im not an expert.

Yes I could teach my dd to swim but I can only do breast stroke so couldn't teach the others. My nieces and nephews can 'swim' but don't have the same technique my dc has.

My dc did swimming classes then lessons from age 6 months. Stopped due to covid and then we moved. After covid looked around and saw a swim club. Dc came in at the bronze level and stayed there for 2 weeks before moving to silver and a year later has moved to gold. Her squad swim (or can) up to 4 times per week and costs us £35 per month. One of those sessions is a skills sessions (diving etc). Great value for money. My dc competes now and is a fantastic swimmer. I couldn't have got her this far.

Op does your dc also feel they are ready to progress up the stages?

I'm another that pulled the DC out of group lessons. For us it was because DS1 wasn't progressing and once we decided to make the move, we wanted to give DS2 the same opportunity.
Like PPs, we could see the difference immediately. We kept them in 1:1 for 3 years and upon leaving DS1 went to swim competitively for an academy. DS2 has gone back into group lessons at his request, but honestly, the progress has slowed right down and I'm considering putting him back in 1:1.
We paid £18 per 30 minutes for 1:1. I'd say that £12 for 30 minutes in a group is quite expensive.

Might be controversial, but I find such swimming lessons a waste of time, plain and simple. I also find “levels” misleading and demotivating. My children learned more swimming during the holiday abroad than during the lessons I paid £££££ for. It’s either one to one lessons or regular visits to the pool with a parent.

We had similar. Moved her classes that also have squads and within a month she skipped ahead 3 stages and the intro to squad and has been competing ever since. 6 months later she moved to the 2nd squad level where she is just now.

My advice would be to move to lessons to a club with a squad, it's in their interest to progress swimmers and move them onto squad if they are good enough, if they aren't they will push them to progress to pass to then make space for new potential members.

Wow! When did swimming lessons get so expensive??? We used to pay about £6 for a 30 minute weekly group lesson, less than 10 years ago! We had 3 kids in them at the same time, so £18 for all 3 at their varying levels!

YANBU, OP. At those prices, you should be getting much better value than you are!