1 out of 4 children can’t swim when going into year 7.

[Quiethelper]

As the title says really. I was shocked to read over 1 out 4 children can’t swim 25m when going into year 7.

Secondary schools in our area don’t do lessons. Surly this needs to be addressed for the ones who couldn’t save themselves if they fell into water.

I would fully support and be happy for budget to be allocated for children to have essential swimming skills.

I feel really sad about this statistic.

In my area (Southwest) kids are taken swimming at primary school for a term in year 3.
All the council run local swimming pools do cheap swimming lessons too.

Didn't realise that this wasn't universal across the country as thought in particular the school swimming lessons were part of the curriculum.

Don't your council do lessons? We pay £30 each month for just the council lessons once per week and then you also get free entry to pool for family swim sessions

@vickylou78 12 lessons at year 3 don’t enable kids to be strong swimmers i think.
I find the assumption of so many parents that their kids are strong swimmers concerning to be honest. Swimming 25 m is a weak swimmer, swimming under pool conditions will never create a truly strong swimmer. But it will create dangerously overconfident swimmers.

Our council does the cheap swimming lessons - the problem is once you rejected an offered lesson because the time doesn’t suit, you go back to the end of the waiting list. Sounds fair?
Well, we were offered 3pm on a Wednesday for a 5 year old. Rejected (he’s at school, finishing at 3:30), then 2 years later 10am on a Friday. Still at school, so are still paying private.

I think I’m going against the grain here but where does the responsibility lie? Parents can quite easily take their children to a local pool and teach them to swim themselves.

It is not the Schools responsibility to teach your child to swim. I hate swimming and only reached my bronze badge in year 7. It gave me anxiety every week going to swimming lessons with my school. I could not wait for the lessons to end and we didn’t have to do it anymore. I still hate it and avoid swimming now.

In some people’s eyes it may be a ‘basic life skill’ but not everyone wants to learn. I’m in my 40s now and I’ve never been in a position where I’ve needed to remember how to swim. I wouldn’t put myself in that position in the first place.
My husband taught both my children how to swim and they’re both confident swimmers now in pools and the sea. They didn’t need expensive lessons to do that.

Unless your child is exposed to the potential issues water can pose daily, then what is the need for intensive lessons? If your child has to walk along a canal or around a lake or does water sports often, then so be it. But not every person is exposed to that. If they’re very young and in the bath, they should be supervised anyway. Pools/ponds at home should be covered etc… it all comes down to a parents responsibility, it should not fall on anyone else’s shoulders. It’s external factors that need addressing first.

If parents choose not to engage their children in lessons, so be it, it’s their responsibility to keep their children safe and teach them the risks when out in public.

A couple of years ago in my local area, a 17 year old boy died in a lake swimming with friends. He was a strong swimmer who swam for his school and the county and had advanced training. It turned out he had been drinking by the lake with his friends and thought he was invincible. It wasn’t his schools fault. It wasnt his swimming clubs fault. It was a silly mistake made by him that unfortunately cost him his life. But he had the skills and knowledge he’d learned from a very young age, to get himself out of it, he just couldn’t at that time. It was tragic and I can’t even imagine what his parents and family went through.

So, let’s shift the focus to teaching children about not putting themselves in those positions in the first place, not whether you can swim or not. That’s what is needed more in schools.

It also shows how useless primary school swimming lessons are?

I think it’s because the ability to swim 25m is a box to be ticked on lots of forms. I’d say my kids are all decent swimmers. No idea how far they can swim as lengths are boring so I get them to do 400m (20 lengths) then can play.

Something we do is at the start of open water activities every year is have them jump off paddle board/ canoe and practice getting back on and swimming to shore. Wearing wetsuits, buoyancy aids and supervised. I think being able to deal with the shock of cold water and not panic is hugely important.

Parents can't easily do that if they can't swim themselves or don't have a local pool or can't afford local pool prices or a single parent to 2 non swimmers with a local pool policy stating non swimmers and under 8's need to have 1:1 supervision.

Agree that a term of lessons isn't much but it's better than nothing which is what the op is describing. But I agree that more free lessons would be good, but I suppose the money has to come from somewhere doesn't it so they'd have to cut the education budget elsewhere.

I've been fortunate (though have gone without other things) to have been able to afford the £30 a month council lessons on top of the school term lessons so my children are excellent swimmers. I agree it's definitely a good life skill to have.

😂😂😂

Well you've answered your own question.

some people just can't afford it, no matter 'how affordable' it is, they're struggling to buy food/pay essential bills & some people don't prioritise the expense of it.

Plus some parents can't teach their own children to swim (if they can't. Or just can't 'teach them')

it's a shame just 'going to the baths' has become so expensive & unaffordable for many.

I grew up in the 70's (born 69) & one of my favourite things was my dad taking me, then us, to 'the baths' teaching me/us to swim/dive in/dive to the bottom & playing with us.

I never realised growing up, because of how my parents handled it & how it seemed much the same lifestyle for my friends, but money was very tight for my parents when I was little. So I'm not sure how affordable it was back then, compared to now, but probably less expensive compared to wages I'd guess. Sadly I can't ask my parents as my Dad has died 💔 & my Mum has dementia 💔

I swam like a fish all my life, loved being in/on the water until I had a a shoulder replaced & then a stroke, & now I don't have much ability/ stamina & swim in circles 😂. Not sure I'd get out the local small river if I fell in, so I stay well away from the edge!! & had to stop jumping in the sea off the boat as I can't climb the ladder back into the boat!!

it is the JOY of the water I think many kids miss out on 🥲

Well yes, and I don't think you'd find many teachers that would tell you otherwise. It takes most 6 year olds about 12 weeks to pass Stage 1 in private lessons; even if a slightly older child in school lessons could do the equivalent of Stages 1 and 2 in that same time, which would be good going, they will still barely be a swimmer. My child is in Stage 5 and I wouldn't call anyone in his swimming lesson group a strong swimmer. As ever, it comes down to funding.

I can remember having swimming lessons in the 90s. I had a birthday party at the swimming pool every year. I remember been sad that we didn't go swimming at secondary school. I know that it would have taken time out of the day. It is just that i couldn't have cared less about athletics and badminton.

I got most of my swimming practice on holiday in the sea-I only had 5m at that point as I quit lessons as soon as I'd learnt to swim age 6. I was absolutely fine. Then by the time it came to doing lessons at school they put me in the bottom class based on me only having a 5m badge. I was way ahead of the other kids, some of whom couldn't swim. Badges aren't everything-I've still only got 25m now, it doesn't mean that's all I can swim! I feel like unless you have some sort of strength or energy issue once you can swim you can swim any length? Exception being crazy lengths obviously but who but an olympic swimmer needs to do that?

Also going through this with my 6 year old. She’s been going for 4 months and still can’t do anything she couldn’t do at the very first session. Is it supposed to take this long?

If I was to go through swimming lessons with kids again. I wouldn't bother with Swim England group lessons again. I'd pay more per lesson for private lessons. I think it would work out much more economical in the end because you wouldnt be waiting for years for them to pass the bloody useless butterfly bits of each level!!

Does she have special needs perhaps? That’s very unusual.

It seems to take about 5 years if weekly lessons to get to end stage 5. So about a year per stage.
Around 33 lessons per year, times 5. Assuming a lesson price of £8to £9, that’s around £1500.
Not very accessible.

None whatsoever but I love that you’ve leaped to that conclusion!

The class is dull, repetitive and they don’t seem to be aiming for anything with each child. Everything they ask them to do is using a float.

@Nescafeneeded its not unusual at all. Classes are dead boring, so many kids give up around stage 4.
“swimming is a life skill”, so its very easy to get a lot if money for pretty much no involvement in decent teaching as parents are guild tripped into lessons.
Yes, swimming is a good skill, but many providers shamelessly make money from guild without providing a decent service (butterfly isn’t a survival skill)

My DS is in YEAR 9 and is still only in STAGE 5 swimming lessons after joing stage one when he was in SCHOOL RECEPTION.
So it has taken TEN YEARS of swimming lessons once a week every week to get him from stage 1 to stage 5.
This is with weekly swim lessons at the council pool. And I insist, and have spent 10 years insisting, that he goes every week, no matter what.
It's hopeless. I keep on seriously thinking about cancelling my standing order for the lessons and giving up, but then I feel guilty for giving up on him.
After 10 years of lessons, theres no chance my DS would be a strong enough swimmer to save himself in an emergency situation.
Some kids just cannot learn to swim.

My children’s (excellent) swimming teacher told me when they were 7 that they were never going to progress enough unless we took them swimming ourselves as well. We started doing that, going swimming for an hour at a time and noticed a difference.

I agree, OP. When I first moved to the UK, I was really shocked at the number of adults I met who couldn't swim. Since having a child, I understand it more. The weather in the UK isn't generally great for swimming outside and opportunities for free swimming are limited to those who live near (relatively) clean beaches/rivers; not all areas have swimming pools and not all pools are well maintained.

Swimming lessons at DS's school is once per week for a term. Apparently the 'lesson' itself is only half an hour and kids only get to swim across the pool (not lengthways) once before they're told to get out and get changed in order to get back to school in time. Totally pointless and DS says only 3 of them in the entire class can already swim. (He had private lessons when he was younger, before ill health stopped him going.)

When I was in primary (in another country), swimming lessons were part of the curriculum and the lesson itself was a full hour. We learnt water safety first, lifeguarding skills, CPR and actual swimming skills. A swimming carnival was held every year, as well as a sport carnival. All children were expected to participate/compete. This wasn't unusual; it was normal across all state schools. I now frequently read stories about British tourists abroad drowing because they don't have basic swimming skills.

That's not true. Not everyone will be an elite swimmer or be a long distance swimmer. Being able to save yourself in an emergency means giving yourself the best chance to stay alive long enough to be rescued. This can mean:

• knowing how to float properly, to give rescuers time to get to you.
• knowing how to tread water, for the above reason.
• know and be confident in some basic swimming strokes, like breaststroke and freestyle
• undestanding that, when wet, clothes become an anchor that drag you down. Having the skills to remain calm and take shoes and heavy clothes off while in the water.
• understanding that, when you're in trouble within distance of others, you hold your arm straight up in the air to indicate you're in trouble; you don't wave your arm, which looks like you're just waving hello
• have a basic understanding of water safety i.e. never jump into a body of water when you don't know how deep it is and you haven't first walked in, to test for depth and obstacles like hidden rocks
• never dive into open water first, as you can't see obstacles - go feet first, with one leg ahead, in a walking position
• understand how the tide works, why it's important
• understand about rips, how to recognise one, and how to get out of trouble if you get caught in one
• understand what to do if you get a muscle cramp while swimming
• understand how to recognise someone else in trouble and how to rescue them (this may mean getting more experienced help)

If your son knows the above, give him some credit and don't be disheartened. Knowing the above means he already has a better than average chance, and is more likely to be calmer and remember his training in an emergency. (Also, be aware than pool swimming is nothing like swimming in the ocean. Kids who have only ever swum in pools, should be watched when in the sea.)

If swimming lessons only give him some of the above (like knowing how to float or swim a few different styles), it's up to you to fill in the gaps.

This has already been posted up thread but Swim England changed it all a few years back and now they introduce stuff like Butterfly quite early on which is great for training future elite swimmers but in reality leads to a lot of kids getting stuck at the earlier stages because they can’t master what are completely useless skills for average recreational swimmer and then as a result they’re being held back from important stuff like learning to tread water or swimming longer distances. In your DS’s case I’d assume that’s what’s going on and would stop the lessons in favour of taking him regularly to just swim and build up stamina. If he’s in stage 5 he must manage an ok front crawl and backstroke which along with treading water are all you need really.