School offering zero swimming lessons, son is now in year 6 and cant swim

[Jobseeker19]

Is it compulsory for a school to do swimming lessons?

My son has never had them and is now in year 6.

When I was a child we did it every year.

I asked them today and was told that they are not doing it because of covid, when I told them my child is in year 6 and never had them they told me they only do it in year 5 for one term thats it and thats how all primary schools do it.

They are chatting shit as I have had an older child through there who also never had lessons.

What can I do about it?

@Yogsgirl School swimming lessons are just about learning how not to drown!

Well yes and if school don't provide this then some children will never be taught water safety.

All schools in our area do swim lessons and yes all kids actually learn to swim a length. It's a vital life skill. Scary if they can't swim. Not everyone can afford lessons. It's core curriculum

I'm going to go against the grain here as I agree with you - swimming is an essential life saving skill and actually very expensive to learn privately. I learnt in my late 30s after no school lessons and it costs me £250 per term. It's wrong that these are seen as an optional extra curricular activity when we live on an island that's covered in rivers, lakes and canals.

School don't anymore really anyway, pee covid. 2 lesson time establish that most of them could, and then only the ones who couldn't/ struggling get lessons.

We did do swimming at primary school - absolute faff, long coach trip to manky pool and took the whole morning. I think we went in Y5&6.

But the lessons that we did were not like the lessons my children do. They were not about learning to swim per se, they were personal survival lessons - so about treading water, getting out after you fall in, and the like. There is no way that a programme of lessons at age 10 will be enough to teach kids to swim. Mine have both been going since they were preschool age, and my 7yo is a halfway decent swimmer now but has quite a long way to go before he is doing lengths.

Swimming is not something that can be left to school alone.

I consider swimming something parents should take responsibility for.

@Jobseeker19

I have 3 children I can't afford swimming lessons for all.

Plus I think the school is doing a disservice.

Actually, the cost of swimming lessons is prohibitive for some families, as is the cost of taking the children swimming yourself. At our local pool it would cost well over £20 to take 3 children swimming, and there would need to be 2 adults depending on their ages. Your school are wrong. There is a legal duty for all children in primary school to be taught to swim - it’s on the PE curriculum. But it costs so lots of schools struggle. My last school took all of KS2 swimming for 1) days per class last term. My current school has lessons for Y5 and y6 this term - every child will have 14 lessons.

Swimming lessons are expensive but obviously it is important that all children learn.

It might be helpful if the government issued some sort of scheme where children from low income families/single parents/or families with three or more children were given free admission to leisure centres and lessons.

Op.Maybe explain you have three children to the head. You never know, they might be able to help financially even if they can't provide the actual lesson.

You are not entitled because three kids are expensive

School swimming provision is rubbish and not enough to teach them to swim if they don't have a basic grasp.
My mum managed to take me swimming as a child, despite being on an incredibly low income and needing a several mile walk and a bus journey to get there. I didn't have lessons, but picked up the basics so by the time I had the school lessons I was able to grasp the strokes etc.

I took mine to swimming lessons as toddlers, it was a half hour drive away and cost more than we could comfortably afford at the time, but it was a necessary thing and we cut back elsewhere.

However, some people really cannot afford it or can't get to a pool (where I live now, you need a car to get to a swimming pool, nearest one is several bus rides away and would take hours). School provision should be better, it should be a bigger part of the curriculum and should continue in secondary school. My secondary had a pool, but neither of my DC's schools do.

Swimming is part of the national curriculum for either KS1 or KS2, but academies are not obliged to follow the national curriculum in the same way as maintained schools. So unless there is a caveat about swimming that forces academies to do this, then they are not doing anything wrong by not providing them if they are an academy.

I agree that swimming is a key life skill and is important but unfortunately we are living through a pandemic and schools need many pupils to make up for the time they have lost. In primary schools this may be skills as simple as reading and writing. Agree with it or not, schools and therefore the teachers are not judged on whether their pupils can or can’t swim, they are judged on academic skills and so this will inevitably be the focus for the vast majority of schools.

I teach in secondary schools but frequently visit primaries as part of my role and I honestly despair at the effects the lack of funding is having in so many settings and in so many areas and unfortunately the cutbacks are so ingrained that they are not going to be easy to fix. I only envisage this getting worse. I am in the fortunate position to be able to provide swimming lessons at the weekend for my 10 month old. This is a cost I am happy to incur as I have very little faith that many schools will provide swimming lessons in the next few years (I hope I’m wrong on this). I understand that this isn’t financially viable for all but I would strongly urge you to look into alternative options if it is a skill you really value.

My dad taught me to swim, he was brilliant. He took me to the municipal pool each and every Sunday, it was our treat. The bowl of chips after being an extra treat in itself.
He had taught himself to swim in the river by his farmhouse. Simpler times.

Just to add, I think it’s wrong that it’s so low down on the list of priorities in schools and I hope the government provide a scheme or more funding specifically for swimming in the very near future!

Actually, the cost of swimming lessons is prohibitive for some families, as is the cost of taking the children swimming yourself

Again, if the cost is prohibitive, the vast majority of councils have low cost, subsidised options for those who can't afford it. At our local pool, the cost of a family of 5 to swim, if you are on any form of income support benefit is £5.

I wonder how many people commenting negatively here would tell OP to fund it herself if PE was taken away as a lesson? Football, netball, hockey etc all need equipment compared to running yet for some reason there is a squeamishness about mandatory swimming lessons in this country, its baffling.

I think swimming is a very important life skill to be taught but I think it’s very entities to be annoyed at a school for not providing it. Schools have a budget and ultimately providing for the subjects that will provide a grade is more important than other things.

I also think first aid should be taught in schools too but it’s my responsibility to teach my child what schools don’t.

Let’s add it to the long list of things parents don’t want to do/pay for for their own kids. Why don’t teachers take a few of their students home every night and do a 24 hours, 7 day service?

Both my DD's had swimming in primary 5 but they were not lessons. These small blocks of swimming aren't long enough to actually teach kids enough to keep safe and be able to swim. Most of the time the non swimmers were given arms bands and they had to join in using these which from what my DD told me, the non swimmer kids hated and were really embarrassed.
Both my 2 could swim before they went to this with school, nearly all of the kids in their class could apart from 1 or 2. I was lucky enough that I could take them swimming and get them lessons myself though. I don't think you can rely on the school providing these.

DDs primary school do a short half terms course in Year 4, every one goes to the first lesson then after that its only those who can't swim 10m. Once they can swim 10m they no longer go and have PE at school instead.

Majority of us pay for out DC to have lessons outside of school as 6 weeks isn't enough.

Swimming lessons at school were for a few weeks a year and we took ours to lessons ourselves as did the majority of parents. Not everything can fall to the school. Swimming is a life skill so down to parents to ensure that happens imo.

@EarPlugAfficionado

Let’s add it to the long list of things parents don’t want to do/pay for for their own kids. Why don’t teachers take a few of their students home every night and do a 24 hours, 7 day service?

And that would be a perfectly valid point… if it wasn’t actually on the national curriculum. If they can’t provide it that’s fine, but then it should be taken off the national curriculum. I pay for lessons for mine but it is expensive and tricky logistically with 3 of them. I can see why it is beyond the reach of others.

Yes it is on the curriculum and schools are required to report the number of children who can swim 25m each year (OFSTED pulled us up on this- yes, really). It costs us around £1000 a term to provide them and we offer 3 terms in normal circumstances. We can’t offer that now and some children will only get 1 term before they leave.
However, your school does offer it- in Yr5. The fact that a child has missed it due to Covid is far from ideal, but children have all missed out on things the schools would usually provide: some cannot be replicated by parents (exams, work-experience, educational trips) and some that can: sports, time with friends etc.
You wouldn’t need to pay for all your children to have swimming lessons, just the one who won’t get them at school.

Started my kids swimming as babies and now they're little fish. Why would you wait until year 6 when they could've fallen into water any time in the past ten years

Check with your local area. Some LA do free lessons for children.
I never learned to swim at school. All my children didn’t either. The most they have ever done a school is a term and that cost us parents a fortune to pay for a coach to take them. !

Check you centres too.

Can you not afford swimming lessons? My understanding is that the British national curriculum is for 1 term in year 4 and 1 term in year 6. Maybe you should teach your child yourself 🤷‍♀️

Schools budgets are so tight that they will only offer the bare minimum they have to. Many schools will only offer a term for one year group to cover the requirements of the National Curriculum. Primary Schools do get a Sports Premium from the Government, unfortunately this can't be used against the NC swimming lessons, although it can be used if the school offer additional lessons.