Swimming lessons, stage 1 or 2 for y1 child?

[Suzi7979]

Hi, I am trying to book swimming lessons for my y1 child. The website gives me choice of stage 1 and 2. Which stage is better to do?

Thanks in advance.

How confident are they in the water? My 4yo is just going into stage 2 but is confident to do widths with floats, can float well, jump in etc. If they’re a total beginner I’d put them in stage 1.

How much can your child swim already?

Puddle ducks have videos on YouTube explaining what is expected at each stage. Watch them and see where your child is. Basically if DC is nervous of the water and isn't happy being splashed or putting their face under do stage 1 otherwise stage 2.

www.swimming.org/learntoswim/learn-to-swim-stage-1-award/

Here is a link to the description of each stage for Swim England. It doesn't matter what age they are, put them in the group that best suits their ability so they aren't too daunted. If unsure put them in the lower group & they will be soon moved up if needed.

Its a total beginner so will do stage 1. Thank you for the replies.

Check carefully whether the place you're going has its own scheme. Ours did, and I put my child in "beginners" which turned out to assume they could already swim a certain amount. As it happened, that particular half-term course was very undersubscribed, and so they were able to cope with having a couple of complete beginners alongside a couple who were a bit further on. She then went elsewhere and worked through 6 levels of their scheme before transferring back to the first place, where she was about ready for "deep beginners".