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Original poster

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

681 replies

Jobseeker19 · 21/09/2021 13:53

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?

OP posts:
gogohm · 22/09/2021 11:02

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I paid for my DD's school swimming lessons 10 years ago now, £1 a week. They were also rubbish so I paid for 2 blocks of lessons from the leisure centre, at the time they were approximately £5 per lesson

Rosesareyellow · 22/09/2021 12:39

@godmum56 schools can’t charge for lessons - they couldn’t 10 years ago either. They can ask for contributions towards transport though if the pool is not in walking distance.

BettySundaes · 22/09/2021 12:48

We're one of the luck ones it seems, kids get 1 term (1 hr a week) in yrs 3,4 and 5 - but a lot of this has been missed since Covid. Despite that I don't think any kid who was a non-swimmer and not had extra curricular lessons actually learnt to swim. It's a combination of not enough time, too many kids. I see kids at the pool and its really a national curriculum box ticking exercise.

Swimming is a life skill - get each child proper lessons - one at a time if finances are an issue.

stormyweather274 · 22/09/2021 12:49

My child learnt to swim because I take them swimming once a week after school on a Thursday.

OnceMoreOnToTheBeach · 22/09/2021 12:54

I had lessons at school, but that isn't how I learnt to swim. I just learned by my mum taking me to the pool. I had armbands until it just clicked. I did send mine to lessons before covid, but tbh, it's expensive and not enjoyable for any of us, for such a short lesson. It ends up being a stressful outing, which my younger one who isn't as experienced in the water picks up on and then it makes him nervous. I actually felt they were doing more harm than good. Decent lessons in decent facilities are non existent where we are. I'm just going to take them myself one at a time, every week now they're open and school has started up. That's how I learnt tbh and I'm a reasonably good swimmer. My sister is an amazing swimmer. She did have lessons, but not until she was a pre teen.

rhonddacynontaf · 22/09/2021 13:00

My sons school are shit not on teaching kids to swim, because 90% of the kids are autistic and kids with an autism spectrum disorder are 160 times more likely to die from drowning compared with the general pediatric population.

160 times. Just digest that for a minute.

TitoMojito · 22/09/2021 13:02

When I was in primary in the early 2000s, we got them for one term in a primary 5. Most children could already swim because they were taught as a child.

I agree that learning to swim is important, but it's not the school's responsibility.

godmum56 · 22/09/2021 13:03

[quote Rosesareyellow]@godmum56 schools can’t charge for lessons - they couldn’t 10 years ago either. They can ask for contributions towards transport though if the pool is not in walking distance.[/quote]
I didn't say anything about charging.

Bouledeneige · 22/09/2021 13:23

I taught my kids to swim by taking them swimming. They did have lessons in year 6 but by then it was just improving on their existing capabilities. It's an important life skill.

Fcuk38 · 22/09/2021 13:26

It’s really making me chuckle that he’s got to year 6 and you’ve only just realised that he can’t swim
And you haven’t done anything about it. Unless there is a real financial reason you haven’t done anything about it, or you have a disability then get off your arse and take him to the pool yourself.

sweetieqie · 22/09/2021 13:29

@Theriband

This is what's wrong with this country. Teach them yourself you numpty! Nobody owes you anything in life

Harsh words, but yeah, you really can't expect everything to be free, especially considering you had 3 kids and not just one. I say this as a student with two kids, who has claimed UC at one point.

And if you are so poor you can't afford internet as someone else suggested, maybe swimming lessons aren't an immediate priority.

PyjamaMamma · 22/09/2021 13:33

But your experience is not an universal experience, EllieNBeeb - I also live on the coast, semi-touristy village. Everyone gets on the water, water sports are incredibly popular, most children in the village are part of the local surf lifesaving clubs. My early teen DD’s friends all surf or paddle-board which I suspect is the reason why she’s finally decided to learn how to swim. Our local leisure centre is lovely too, I swim there several times a week myself, it’s my preferred choice of exercise. We’re all different, no need to be snarky.

Dauphinois · 22/09/2021 13:40

Op, you're correct, swimming is part of the National Curriculum and the school should be offering it. Fair enough, through COVID when pools were shut they couldn't, but now they ought to be.

If you want to lodge a complaint, look up their Complaints policy which should be published on their website and follow it to the letter.

QueenAnnesHat · 22/09/2021 13:43

Swimming is part of the curriculum and all primary school children should be able to swim 25m by the time they leave.
However, swimming lessons are as expensive for schools as they are for parents and, given the parlous state of school funding, many schools just can't afford to provide them to all year groups. Some will restrict lessons to just one or two year groups, others will concentrate on children who can't already swim. Either way they should be provided, but, as other posters say, I wouldn't rely on a child turning into a competent swimmer based on school lessons alone.

TheRebelle · 22/09/2021 13:59

Swimming is part of the curriculum the same way music is and I’d no more expect my child to be able to play the piano from their music lessons than I’d expect them to be a competent swimmer from school swimming lessons.

TheGrumpyGoat · 22/09/2021 14:06

@TheRebelle

Swimming is part of the curriculum the same way music is and I’d no more expect my child to be able to play the piano from their music lessons than I’d expect them to be a competent swimmer from school swimming lessons.
Hmm weird comparison. You can have music lessons without even going near a piano. If piano lessons were part of the curriculum, I’d expect them to be taught the basics of playing the piano, yes.
myheartskippedabeat · 22/09/2021 14:39

I pay for both mine to have lessons and go to swimming club on a Saturday morning at a local gym

You can rely on "school" to provide lessons for you if there isn't a facility to offer this or provision

If people moan they can't afford it what are they doing with child benefit snd more to the point why have children x 3 if you can't afford to give them what they need?

lilmishap · 22/09/2021 16:05

If people moan they can't afford it what are they doing with child benefit snd more to the point why have children x 3 if you can't afford to give them what they need?

Wow. Go home Mumsnet you're being an arse.

If Swimming was as freely accessible and affordable as some of you think they wouldn't offer it on the Curriculum.

With 3 kids you are not allowed in a lot of pools without a second adult, yet another reason why Schools stepped in.

But ignore those inconvenient truth when picking on people online for not being in your privileged shoes.

bunnybuggs · 22/09/2021 16:28

@TheGrumpyGoat
I like swimming. My kids like swimming. My in laws have a swimming pool… when we visit them, we spend most of the day in the pool. I go open water swimming. My children have been invited to swimming parties, we go to Center Parcs where the main attraction is the swimming pool. My toddler loves water so I take him to our local pool weekly (ours isn’t humid and disgusting), and none of us sit by the swimming pool on holiday. That’s why learning to swim (properly) was important to us as a family. Just because you don’t swim, doesn’t mean no one does!
just because you and your family swim a lot and have inlaws with a pool and holidaY TO places where the sea is warm (abroad) does not mean that all the rest of us do so (or are lucky enough to have the means)

To me, there are plenty of other things on the curriculum that are far more important such as ensuring that all pupils at primary school learn to read and write

OnceMoreOnToTheBeach · 22/09/2021 16:35

Good god that post quoted above about how swimming on the curriculum is important to Mumsnetter because she wants her kids to be able to use granny's private pool and go on holiday to centre parcs or overseas 😂😂. Classic Mumsnet.

"And just WHEN will the government get its priorities straight? What about Cressida and Aramintha not being able to do dressage? They'll be the laughing stock of the country club"!

Swimming classes are a middle class add-on unfortunately. It would be lovely if ever child could swim but as pps have said, some kids are leaving primary without being able to read and write properly, so I can definitely see why when schools are super stretched, they aren't bending over backwards to get them swimming. It is sad though. I'm lucky I can afford to take mine every week.

TheGrumpyGoat · 22/09/2021 16:40

@OnceMoreOnToTheBeach

Good god that post quoted above about how swimming on the curriculum is important to Mumsnetter because she wants her kids to be able to use granny's private pool and go on holiday to centre parcs or overseas 😂😂. Classic Mumsnet.

"And just WHEN will the government get its priorities straight? What about Cressida and Aramintha not being able to do dressage? They'll be the laughing stock of the country club"!

Swimming classes are a middle class add-on unfortunately. It would be lovely if ever child could swim but as pps have said, some kids are leaving primary without being able to read and write properly, so I can definitely see why when schools are super stretched, they aren't bending over backwards to get them swimming. It is sad though. I'm lucky I can afford to take mine every week.

That actually wasn’t my point. I pay for my children’s swimming lessons, have done since they were 3. And their grandparents have a swimming pool because they live in a country (born and bred there) where the vast majority of people have swimming pools as it’s really fucking hot. My post was just in response to a PP saying no one in the U.K. swims once they get to adulthood. I was saying we do. But go ahead and mock without the context 👍
OnceMoreOnToTheBeach · 22/09/2021 16:41

Oh don't get your knickers in a twist. It was just hilariously Mumsnet!

LovePoppy · 22/09/2021 16:56

@Gorkys

Just skimmed the thread, and I had no clue people thought of knowing how to swim as such a crucial life skill! I can't swim, and it hasn't impacted my life that much (granted, I don't spend a lot of time near bodies of water I could drown in)
You can drown in less than 2 inches.
OnceMoreOnToTheBeach · 22/09/2021 16:58

You can drown in less than 2 inches.

But you also can't swim in less than 2 inches. If you're in a position where you are going to drown in that little water, swimming probably won't help.

itsgettingwierd · 22/09/2021 17:01

@Jobseeker19

How did I learn to swim then at school if they they were so shit?

Everyone i know learnt how ro swim from school. I never had lessons outside of school.

But the lessons have changed now.

There was a lot more funding for these things when we went but it doesn't exist nowadays.

As also mentioned non swimmers often do not learn in the term or whatever school offers lessons. Especially if the cannot even swim at all when they start.

They will learn water confidence, holding a noodle and/or float and kicking on front and back.

Those who have some ability can often grasp the basics of front and back crawl.

And those who can swim usually just get left to swim up and down!

The teach them safety and some ability to keep themselves safe. They aren't the same as learn to swim or club swimming where they are taught completely efficient stroke and technique and tumble turns. There just didn't enough time for complete beginners.

My suggestion would be to book intense swimming courses for each child. If you do it over different holidays it will spread the cost for you.