To expect some swimming at swimming lessons?

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I’m not sure if I’m just wildly expecting to much, but how long did your average swimmers take to complete stages 1 and 2 from starting Reception kind of age?

These are council lessons and are 30 minutes once a week. How long were your kids actually being taught for the 30 minute lesson?

Hardly at all spent most of time waiting for others so they could go. I found a great private teacher and he learned twice as quick as my older boys who learned via council lessons. Was 3/4 in group and they had the whole pool so was really good - more expensive but relative as he could swim so much faster

I'm a swimming teacher, each child is completely different. It depends on a child's confidence, getting their face in, blowing bubbles, correct body position. If you want faster progress either pay 121 or go private with smaller groups. What I will advise is its only 30 minutes once a week are you taking your child yourself to practice? I find parents who practice with their children progress faster.

How many in the class? My DS learns with a private swim school which only has max 5 children in a class. He started lessons in reception (though didn’t get a whole year of lessons due to covid) and it felt like quite a slow start but I think he had completed stage 2 by the end of year 1. He’d completed stage 4 by the end of year 2 and now he’s in year 3 and is on stage 5.

My son started reception this year. He started 2-2-1 lessons 12 months ago (30 mins lessons) and he’s half way through stage 4. If he was in a larger class he wouldn’t have progressed as he has. It’s helped taking him swimming and being able to go on holiday in summer he really found his confidence and could “swim” of sorts

It took my DD a term (council run pool). She was Yr1. It was in the aftermath of the pandemic and I had to get in the pool with her, so she and the other DC were on the go constantly with their parents. When she went into Stage 2 she was in the pool without me and that took her 2 terms . Apparently each stage tends to take longer.

I have today switched to private 1-1 as can’t stand another session watching his stood on the side waiting for other kids to take their turn.

Today he was in the water for less than half the lesson. When he had his turn (10m kick drill) the teacher wasn’t even watching.

We swim twice a week additionally (I am a swimmer and we do lots of water sports so very water confident). He can swim 5m front and back without a float but is making zero progress having not had anything ticked off since early September.

I’ve sorted it now with the private lessons but just wondered if this was the norm for council pool lessons?

There were 8 in the class today and the last 5 minutes are playing in the toddler area with tiny slide.

I did him a crash courses over the summer holidays. It was stage 1 (after almost a year of lessons) and he passed immediately and moved to stage 2 the first day. He got to about 60% through stage 2 in that week and then has gone back to normal lessons, where he has not progressed at all on paper.

It will be interesting to see how what happens when he has his first private lesson next week

We have council run lessons but they’re in the water all of the time. There is a bit of waiting around for others to take their turn. DD started lessons in Jan and is in stage 2 now. I don’t think she was particularly quick to progress.

I imagine that DD would progress a lot quicker on 1-2-1 lessons but they cost 4x as much as the council lessons, and we’re in an area of council cuts and closing leisure centres so I’m hanging on whilst they’re still available. We struggled finding Stage 2 places when she passed stage 1 and it’s only going to get worse when they shut 50% of the remaining pools so stage 3 might be the point when we move over to smaller classes or 1-2-1.

My eldest was in stage 1 and 2 for almost 2 years. Also council run pool but admittedly some lockdowns in the middle but I found stage 1 and 2 soul destroyingly slow and frustrating to watch. Always some kids messing about always some clearly with medical issues disrupting lessons and as many as 12 in a lesson. I took matters in my own hands in the end - after watching 2 years of stage 1/2 lessons and also u tube videos I took my eldest for an hour per week and within a month had them out of armbands and swimming recognisable lengths - they then passed grades 3 4 and 5 in less than a year - I didn't put up with any tears or messing about from them though either - I didn't take them for an hour to have fun - it was solely for the purpose of teaching them to swim.

I don't know about stages, both DC could do 25m unaided by age 5 or 6. They only ever had group lessons, but they went every week from around 4m. By 3 they were swimming confidently with aids ( toogle or bands) and as I say we ditched the aids around the end of reception.

We had council run lessons. Lots of time in the water and plenty of attention. To be honest if I was a confident swimmer as you seem to describe yourself I would be teaching him to swim myself.

I have absolutely no patience to teach him myself 😂 plus I wouldn’t know where to start. I’ll teach him when he’s at about stage 4 and can properly swim 😂😂.

He did the 4 duckling stages before reception, has never worn any aids for swimming in a pool either so was just expecting more I guess.

First private lesson is Tuesday so will report back then

My dc had lessons with a private franchise (Becky Addlington Swim Stars. The teachers did "tick box" assessments to move them up ever half term, so that all moving happened together.

DD is not a keen or natural swimmer, and progressed much slower than DS who was a much more confident, talented swimmer from the start.

My kids are in council lessons. Progress depends on the teacher they have. I've had to move their lessons around to get better teachers that actually update their progress on machines. Most of their progress was after family holidays or family swim really. Recently they have increased the class size from 8 to 10 so it's now ridiculous. Hardly anytime for them to do any swimming! Only keeping them in lessons as they get to use the pool anytime for no extra cost. So we can take them swimming weekly as a family and my husband takes my oldest a few times a week for a swim.

What happened to taking your kids swimming until they could swim if thrown in water? What is stage 4? What does that even mean? Unless your child wants to swim competitively surely it’s just, child can swim, yay!

Yeah the council lessons are pretty rubbish. 10 mins max of actual swimming, a revolving door of 'teachers' who were totally disinterested kids in their late teens/early 20s who spent most of the lessons just farting about on their little plastic covered ipads....we gave up in the end

Sounds like I’m not being unreasonable then :)

My two had council sessions but that was a long time ago when the stages were different - the later stages were 1 hour lessons! They were absolutely in the water and on the go the entire time, and both could swim 300m and more by age 7 or 8 at multiple strokes, could dive, tread water, swim under water, scull and do a basic tumble turn. Very low teacher turnover too. Clearly times have changed, though to be fair people booked in to our local council lessons from other areas so perhaps they were just particularly good.

How have you managed to convince yourself that swimming lessons are a new phenomenon?

Council lessons vary enormously depending on the teacher and class size. The teachers in ds current class are very hit and miss about updating their assessments but he does a lot more swimming and he is clearly learning a lot. In his previous pool he spent way more time waiting his turn so learnt less but the assessments were up to date.

Depends on the Council. Son just started YR2 and in Stage 5. He didn't really start until reception at all because of COVID. He's quite a sporty / confident kid though.

Even in Council lessons, numbers are 7-8 to a lesson.

Have noticed that depends on teacher though. DD took 18 months to pass stage 5 because she had a teacher who was thorough. Providing they are actually enjoying, becoming more confident and developing / keeping fit, I don't care what level they are.

Pretty much all of the time - there was a teacher poolside and an assistant in the water and the class sizes were between 3 and 6 (private lessons though).

We pay for a private lessons. 4 in a class for half an hour. That still means they only get 7.5 minutes of swimming a week as they take it in turns and spend the rest of the time sitting whilst the others have a go. £40 a month for that pleasure.

I’ve sorted it now with the private lessons but just wondered if this was the norm for council pool lessons?

Agree with others saying it completely depends on the teacher. DCs had council lessons. The first sessions were at the new fancy aquatics centre taught by (I assume) students who weren't the best at dealing with younger children and I got fed up watching DS walk up and down the pool blowing bubbles for months.

We moved to the older run down pool in another part of town because we heard good things about the teacher there. She was amazing - very encouraging but took no nonsense and just had a really good approach. DS was swimming in no time and both DCs ended up as strong swimmers who really enjoy it. I am forever grateful for this lady teaching my DCs such an important life skill.

Don't know if this answers your questions I but wouldn't write off council lessons - ask around about the teachers.

I wonder if you live in my area OP as there is a massive snobbishness about "council" lessons (even though very few centres are now council-run, they are run by companies and ours is no exception). The teachers are well qualified and do a good job. However, the groups can be a bit too big at times.

I think the important factor is the teacher.