Swimming lessons - how long until no arm bands?

[Whatisgoingonheredear]

DD started swimming lessons in September. Age 5. The lessons run in line with school terms, missed a couple due to illness, so has had about 13 lessons.
They are still using floatation discs (arm bands) and woggles. I don't know if I'm expecting too much but at this point I'd expect them not to be using so many floatation aids.

The children in her group age from ages 3 - 7. Most are around 5. She is one of the more proficient swimmers and has good co ordination but naturally using floatation discs and a woggle doesn't mean she learns natural positions for her arms and so on. There are a couple of children in her group who have not really progressed since starting (one of them would probably do better with 1:1 lessons and another one is a bit scared of the pool).
DD is very confident in the water too.
So far we have spent around £200 on lessons and I can't afford to keep at it for months and months...I'm not sure if the teacher is waiting for them all to be at the same stage before reducing the use of swimming aids.
7 children to a group.

There are only two swim schools here and the one we are with is the only one who actually replies to emails. Most people teach their own children but I work opposite schedules to DH so it would be hard.

Should swimming aids be reduced by now or are my expections too much?

Posting in AIBU for traffic.

They should not be using them at all!
Arm bands are counter productive - they cold the arms at an angle which does not encourage them to perfect the forward rotation needed for front crawl or backstroke. They should be using normal floats for leg kicks and pull buoys later on for arm isolation. And for heck’s sake they should teach them to swim!
Former professional swimmer here!

I'm agree with PP - apart from the odd use of a noodle to practice a stroke, DS(5) hasn't used any kind of floatation device since he started swimming lessons last year.

My DD started weekly swimming lessons aged three. After two years she still needed armbands. But after three years she could swim without them. Many of her peers made faster progress, possibly because they spent more time concentrating on the lesson and less time mucking about.

I think this depends on the swim school. Can you ask? My youngest is 2 and he doesn’t use arm bands in lessons (obviously he is supported by a parent) and is now starting to use a normal float and kick when parents let go. In the older classes where they swim by themselves they use floats but no armbands.

Agree with pp no armbands from the beginning.

Arm bands shouldn't be used by any one. They can be dangerous by creating a false sense of security, aren't a flotation device.
If they are the inflatable ones they also teach a poor swimming stroke as arms can't get close enough to the body.
I have never seen a swimming class use them and have been to many, over 4 children and the last 20 years, still attending now and all children have learnt to swim in deep end by 7.

Our swimming lessons have never involved arm bands, not even at preschool level

My children’s teacher used a woggle at times and some times boards but never arm bands. Are the following swim England?

Especially in the early stages it’s important to take them swimming for fun too it increase their confidence in the water.

What are you wanting out of the swimming lessons? I’m slightly worried you have too high expectations as you say you can’t afford to keep the lessons up for months and months. My kids have been learning to swim for years but I want them to be able to be strong swimmers with good technique.

but also as others have said our classes don’t use arm bands at all… just occasional noodles and floats. The teacher isn’t in the water post age 4 but the kids can touch the bottom of the pool.

To be able to move through water and not drown in calm water.
I'm a strong swimmer and when she is older/our schedules aren't as crap I don't mind teaching her myself. But for now I just need her to be able to get from A to B if she goes out of her depth, or know how to float.

In which case you may well be worth quitting the lessons and just taking her yourself weekly if possibly. Not sure why your husbands clashing schedule is an issue. Maybe just alternate?

plus I think all schools here (if you’re in England which it sounds like you might not be) must offer swimming in years 3 - 5 I think

Sorry I should have said. We have a young baby and I work evenings & weekends so taking her in ourselves is a bit of a challenge. We do the lessons after school while he is still working and before I start.

Mine never used armbands in lessons, they used noodles for the first few less then had moved on to holding flotes by half term, and short distances without by the end of first term (putting feet down as needed). The lessons mine went to were 5+, so that might make a difference

having ages from 3 years to 7 years old seems a very wide disparity in age and height, along with verbal instruction taking ability

To add, it does take years for them to be able to swim well, but our lessons were £80/term not £200

Ours are about £110 a term

My DS started lessons at 2, never used armbands and his instructors always recommended not to use them. He didnt actually "swim" properly til around 4 but could safely get in and out of the pool around 3 and could doggy paddle around the same age. I would look at another provider

I got a groupon voucher for 1:1 6 sessions for my water terrified 10 year old after having wasted hundreds of pounds on council lessons in addition to school. He could swim after the 2nd lesson, was happy to do a 25m length by the last one and could tread water happily. The teacher said that he would now need to build stamina and get good form. It was absolutely brilliant. Now as an adult he hates swimming, but is ironically a strong swimmer.

It takes quite a long time for them to be able to swim.

The standard that is often used (especially for if they do canoeing or kayaking or similar when older) is being able to swim 25 metres.

That'll take a while - years rather than months.

The noodles are standard and used pretty much everywhere. The arm bands are more controversial.

There's a curriculum that most swim schools follow:

www.swimming.org/swimengland/learn-to-swim-programme/

Move to a council leisure centre for lessons, you get a lot more lessons as most are 50 weeks a year, no floats as it's Swim England structure, very flexible, cheaper, usually includes free public swimming too for when you can fit that in and very easy to dip in and out if you need to stop/start lessons or move things around.

Thanks everyone. We have just paid for another 8 lessons but if the aids aren't off in the next few weeks I'll start looking at other swim providers. There aren't really many others which is one of the issues. The only other one thay I know of, everyone has huge problems speaking to, booking in with, they are late sending out dates etc.

I personally found a lot of lessons a waste of time and the quality of teaching quite different depending on school. My ds was going for a year at that age and made virtually no progress, also using flotation devices and waiting around a lot. I took him out and taught him myself with the occasional intensive during the holidays which were vastly better. He is a very good swimmer now, far better than me, and swims competitively so it worked for him. I would either swap to a different school or just take her yourself regularly.

But as others have said, it needs consistency at this age more than anything.

Another one who hasn’t had arm bands while progressing through the stages. The only exception was when my youngest was 3 she tried a class somewhere that had the set up of deep pool, arm bands and one lane for 6 or 7 kids. She hated it as she’d done water babies and had never used arm bands. Even though we’d paid for a term, we didn’t go to all the classes as we’d got a leisure centre place in the teaching pool and it was much better.

My youngest is 5 and in a stage 3 class in the big pool learning all of the strokes doing 5-10m. Granted she’s been swimming since she was a baby so you’d expect her to be ahead of yours but she was happily swimming without floatation devices at 3.

They will be using floats to help with technique though for a long time so floats doesn’t necessary = bad. They’ll use woggles to help with breaststroke legs and lots of float work for front/back crawl.

You’ll be at it for years unfortunately. I don’t think they’re any good until at least stage 5. I reckon my 5yo could get herself out of trouble in a swimming pool but I don’t think she’d have a chance in open water.

Yeah at my DDs pool they discourage armbands too (use floats and swim noodles).
She was quite nervous in the water and did an intensive 1:1 5 day course at age 5.5 and started in armbands but by the end of the week was swimming independently