School won’t teach non-swimmers!

[Platypuslover]

I don’t think I’m unreasonable just considering how far I may need to take this. Year 6 now lost out on swimming lessons because school is useless head was suspended last year and never returned and this has been a pattern for her from previous school. Not sure why other than incompetence but the grapevine said possibly to do with money. So kids didn’t get swimming lesson as no one thought to arrange them once lock down was relaxed the pools reopened.

They waited until end of year to do 2 session to asses swimming. Told we’d get an email if she can’t swim and will have further session.

No email arrived and I called today. So then was told they don’t take non-swimmers only the children that are confident and can almost swim independently and we have to pay for our own swimming lesson.

So I am expected to pay for someone else’s kids to learn to swim with my very hard earned taxes amidst a cost of living crisis and us barely being able to afford basics and we can not afford the extortionate private lessons.

Bet the letter they said they’d send us to give details to book those lessons are with the same company they use to take them swimming now. This reeks of an extortion ring to me why else would you not take the children that need it most!

I understand where you're coming from OP, it does seem ridiculous to arrange swimming lessons then exclude those who need the lessons most. At the same time, I remember at primary school 20 years the non-swimmers just splashed about in the shallow end with very little teaching. Everyone else who's parents had organised their own lessons or taught them themselves enjoyed swimming, diving for bricks and lifesaving in pyjamas. My son is still a baby but I was under the impression swimming was taught outside of school and the school lessons were just for fun.
It obviously is extremely difficult if someone genuinely can't afford private lessons at the local leisure centre but your post reads as though you didn't even realise this was your responsibility to organise. You're blaming the staffing problems at the school and wondering why they've left it so late when really it's you who has dropped the ball on this.

This is a bit like schools putting in sats intervention groups for those just below where they should be but not those a long way below. Its all about improving data. Crazy. However, I do believe that teaching your child to swim is a parental responsibility - you wouldn't expect someone else to teach your child to walk. It is neglectful not to.

You still need to pay for the lessons at my DC school so they are not going to be free.
Personally I think it is a parents responsibility to teach your children to swim, whether this is via lessons or taking your kids to a pool and doing it yourself. In our area kids can swim for free at the council run pools, so you only need to pay for yourself to go.

This sounds like an end of year treat? Rather than classes?

OP I understand you’re incredibly stressed but it’s not up to the school to teach your child to swim. It’s something that you were meant to do yourself across the last eight years. It didn’t need expensive lessons it just needed regular trips to your local pool alongside yourself or other family members.

If this is an end of year treat and they are year 6 they probably missed the swimming during the pandemic. Our schools haven't done swimming catch up I don't think so I imagine that's what has happened at yours too. I'm afraid both the school and yourself have let your child down here.

I couldn't swim till the grand age of 34. Paid for lessons myself at that point.
I blame my parents solely for the fact I couldn't swim even though i had lessons through the school at times.

We have a local pool that we pay membership for to take the kids swimming. Works out at less than a quid a day. Is there anything similar in your area? Mine have come on much better at swimming just going regularly to play in the pool.

This.

Unfortunately by the time you get to year 6, you've already missed the best window to learn to swim. You are extremely unlikely to be able to learn enough in the timeframe allocated in school to swimming too. Its just not viable.

The kids in the class who CAN swim will have spent a considerable length of time going to lessons. They didn't just do it in a term.

School can help improve swimming, but they simply don't do enough to be able to teach them from nothing to 25metres. And its unrealistic to expect them to.

Parents HAVE to acknowledge this, and be aware that part of the responsibility of learning to swim lies with them.

As for the target on the National Curriculum, you have to also be aware this is a target that the school MUST aim for. They don't have a responsibility to teach more than that. They have a target they MUST demonstrate they have made efforts to attain. But lots of children won't achieve that target and a school won't be penalised for failing to achieve the target with all children. And so it almost become meaningless in practice, given the amount of time that its possible for schools to timetable (plus there literally isn't enough pools in England to give all primary pupils enough time during school time to learn to this standard - there is a massive issue with a lack of facilities and swimming teachers).

If you genuinely wanted your child to learn to swim, you needed to find a way to help facilitate it yourself - either with lessons or by trying to do it yourself in someway. This DOES mean that many kids from deprieved households will never learn. Thats not good, but its also a distinct reality - schools don't have enough time to teach it even if the resources were available to fund lessons and there were enough facilities.

It's one learning objective in a sea of hundreds. Would you be this angry if your child has missed the geography objective of reading ordinance survey maps? Probably not because in the grand scheme of things swimming is probably more of a life skill which probably means you should have done some swimming with them too.

By all means talk to the school but at this point in the year so you really think they'll be able to get things sorted given there's 4/5 weeks left?

This is ridiculous. We (and it was the same for DDs only a few years ago) had swimming lessons from Y4. there were three different groups according to ability, including non-swimmers and beginners. It didn't help DDs much as they could already swim, but I'd never had lessons and certainly by Y6 I became really strong at breaststroke, and well, if ever a brick falls in the pool and needs rescuing and I'm wearing my pyjamas at the time, I'm your woman.

I agree it seems ridiculous to be focussing on those who already can swim. BUT having spent hours and £££s at swimming pools I don't understand why anyone would leave it to the school to teach their child to swim. It's an essential life skill.

Our school has zero lessons for anyone. Never as as far as I know. No budget for it apparently.

State school swimming lessons are a waste of money and time. Us parents have to pay and no one who can't swim can swim afterwards anyway. What do you expect from lessons with 30+ kids of very disparate abilities? DC1 did it pre-covid. Most of her class can swim, and some can do all 4 strokes. DC1 is ok but not amazing. She said only two people can't swim and they were left in the shallow teaching pool. The swimmers just swim lengths without any actual teaching.

It's better to just get rid of it.

As an ex primary teacher I totally agree. It's impossible to teach around 30 people how to swim at the same time. Even if split into 3 groups there are far too many people in a group to do it well. Plus nobody learns a new skill by doing 30 minutes a week for 6 weeks.

If you're middle class and fairly well off and go swimming regularly at a posh gym, leisure centre and go on holidays involving swimming pools and boats it's an essential life skill. For those adults who can't swim themselves or afford to pay for lessons for themselves or their kids or afford to go swimming, or go on holidays which involve swimming, it isn't. It should be up to the school to teach swimming.

State education is supposed to help everyone including, and especially less well off children. It might not be the school's fault (though in this case it sounds like it is at least partly) but the fault of a Conservative government gradually reducing public services and funding, but it should be something that schools are doing.

Our school are giving yr 6 children 4 swimming lessons starting this week. My son can swim as he's been having lessons at the not very local, council run swimming pool since he was 3. Approximately £4 for a group lesson. The non swimmers will not learn to swim in 4 lessons. After that they won't be the school's responsibility.

So I am expected to pay for someone else’s kids to learn to swim with my very hard earned taxes amidst a cost of living crisis

I don't have kids and my very hard earned taxes also go to teach other people's children how to swim. Should I join you on the angry bench?

It's so hard as so many parents don't/can't pay and the schools can't afford to keep that going forever. They've sucked the cost up for a long time but the budgets are beyond tight now.

Surely learning to swim is a parent responsibility. School have enough on their plates. Any year 6 child who can’t swim isn’t going to learn properly in a few school lessons. Poor kids how embarrassing to not be able to swim after about the age of 7

This. Take your own child swimming!

It does seem a shame if that's the schools' approach. Non swimmers should be a priority really as they're the most at risk in open water. Plus, its never the child's fault they cant swim.

We did find lessons in our local area very expensive post covid and with 2 children it was more than we could really afford. We bought a book 'how to teach your child to swim' and go to the council pool quite early in the morning on a weekend when the free swim sessions are very quiet. If you talk to the reception staff there are often deals to make it quite affordable for families. When we explained that we were trying to teach them to swim they went out of their way to help us financially with it. I can't lie...I absolutely hate it, it's the most boring part of my weekend and the last thing I want to do (!) but the aim is just to ensure they can both swim enough to feel safe and to not feel self-conscious when school lessons start.

Maybe you could just have taught your 11 year old to swim like any half decent parent, rather than waiting for the school to do it…

If your child can't swim, they will be put in the shallow-end with other non-swimmer and essentially left to just play.

What i'm saying is that even if they're allowed to do it by the school, they still won't be taught to swim fyi.

To be honest if your children have had no swimming lessons at all by this point in year 6, they were never going to be taught to swim by the school.

I doubt you'd say this to someone's face as it's so unkind. There's ways to say things aren't there.