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?

@OnceMoreOnToTheBeach

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.

The point I was making was that you shouldn’t feel secure not being in deep water. You can easily drown in shallow water

Living near the coast in a popular holiday area, it is genuinely terrifying how many kids play in the sea and can't swim. Over the years I have seen many locals rush in to drag holidaying children out when they've got into trouble and have done it myself - please, if your children don't swim, don't ever let them in the sea without you being within grabbing distance.

For this reason, mine could swim by the time they went to primary. Kickstarted initially by a sunny holiday with a pool then supplemented by regular dips in local leisure pools/the sea, and then lessons as they got older. They're now at lifeguarding level.

Gets difficult for 1 adult with more than 2 dcs though - the limit is 1:2 in most pools here. I do have sympathy but not sure what can be done for the children who missed out last year. They could do with subsidising catch up sessions or allowing this year's 6 to opt in, potentially. So difficult with no funding.

@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?

Many schools are doing their beat to fit in lessons for all children who have missed the swimming lessons due to covid. Let me put this into perspective though- that is triple the amount of children in the country who need lessons. There is not the availability of pools to meet this need! Schools are doing their best! They are working under ridiculous expectations to get kids caught up in all areas! We as parents also need to step up and do our big!!!

Do our bit .... damn autocorrect!

The state of some of the comments on this post.

I was taught to swim in school, lessons from reception weekly. I pay £27 per month for each of my kids to go to swimming lessons at the local pool. This will be way out of reach for a lot of people. Some of you posting your righteous responses on here about OP needing to fund this herself need to have a long hard think about why that may not be possible for all parents.

Also - swimming is on the fucking curriculum.

In fairness, even if the pools and schools had been opened last year 12 half hour swimming lessons with 30 other kids would have been nigh on useless for teaching kids to swim.

Hmm, I understand your frustration but not all schools are able to take the children swimming, even pre pandemic. From my experience, children tend to go swimming with school around year 4, for half a term. I know swimming lessons are really expensive and time consuming but it isn't schools job to teach them.

It is part of the National Curriculum that all children should learn to swim 25m by the end of Year 6. Schools have consistently cutback on the offer due to cost. When I used to teach, all children went weekly during KS2. If it is a local authority school, I would contact the governors and if you feel very strongly about it, then the school improvement service in the LA. If it is an academy or a free school, then you will have to complain to the Department of Education!

[quote hellyannas]Since 1994, swimming and water safety has been a statutory element of the national curriculum for physical education in England.

This means that every 11-year old child should leave primary school with the skills to keep themselves safe while enjoying swimming with friends and family.
www.swimming.org/schools/swimming-national-curriculum/#:~:text=Swimming%20is%20the%20only%20sport%20to%20be%20included,lessons%20in%20either%20Key%20Stage%201%20or%202.[/quote]
That's very true.

The problem is that not all children are able to pick it up in the timescale and size of lesson available.

The same way all children get target maths - some will get a 9 and gcse and some have to retake.

It's unrealistic to think just because you teach it all children will grasp it.

I have a 7yo in my stage 1 group who really struggles but tries hard. And a 4yo in my stage 2 who is really good and I've already spoken to his mum about his potential to move to club swimming at the lower end of the age band. (If that's what he and she want)

I’m not sure why you’ve got some of the nasty comments either. It’s part of the curriculum the same as maths and English. What covid related reason are they not going specifically?bubbles etc aren’t required at the moment and swimming pools have re-opened I think?

It is in the curriculum. I'm a teacher. But most schools do it for one term of one school year. However we are in a pandemic, so some things aren't happening right now. When you risk assess taking a class out of school, onto public transport and to a public swimming pool while in a pandemic, it sounds like your children's school has made the wise decision to hold off until the world is more settled. Yes it is inconvenient, but then so is the pandemic.

It’s true that not all children can learn swimming in the amount of lessons available(same as any other subject) but this school haven’t even tried because they are providing zero lessons!

@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.

My mother made an effort.

We have a coach to take our children so they're not going on public transport. The school have asked for a donation of £15 to help fund the coach but the children will go whether we donate or not. Obviously not every school can organise or afford this

It’s your responsibility to teach your child basic life skills. School is for academics and enrichment. If you want your child to swim the. Pay for lessons yourself at the local pool!

My dc's primary did 10 weeks of lessons in years 3,4,5 and 6. It was better than nothing but really not enough to teach proper swimming, especially as there were up 42 weeks between sessions in year 3 and 4 and even more between 4 and 5. Swimming is a life skill and we have prioritised it over other more 'fun' hobbies but it isn't cheap to learn and even if the kid swims free after the lesson, you still have to pay for the accompanying adult and any siblings.
My local pool did crash course lessons in the holidays of 5 x half hour every day for £20 which I thought was good value.

Not all schools offer swimming lessons!!!

Pay for your child’s lessons yourself. Mine have been having lessons for 4 years on and off and only just becoming a strong enough swimmer to do full lengths. There’s that many pupils in the class they don’t progress very fast

@BlackberrySky

I think you are over estimating the quality of school swimming lessons. If your children cannot swim at all, the ones provided by the school would not leave them able to swim without supervision anyway. Most schools offer about two terms of lessons to each child (so about 20 lessons) , but they don't learn much each lesson.

This is rubbish. I taught school national curriculum swimming lessons for over ten years. The lessons ranged from basic learning how to float to life saving for advanced swimmers. All the teachers would have treated the kids exactly the same as if it was a private swimming lessons as there was a frame work to work from. I and hundreds of other swimming teachers across the UK have taught many school children how to swim. Its not just learning how to swim, water safety should also be discussed.

Learning how to swim is an essential life school that all schools should offer but the L.A started to slowly take the funding away from schools, with some schools opting to have the money towards the free school meals that were brought out - and who can blame them..

Yea cos life goes exactly how it’s meant to when we plan kids, nothing ever happens that could possibly change plans 🙄
Judgy much.

@NigellaSeed

I think you are being massively unrealistic. Swimming may be part of the curriculum - and i get your frustration that it hasn't been taught. But its not mandatory for schools to teach the children to actually swim.Most schools cant afford more than a term per child per year from year 3 upwards. There is no way a non swimmer will learn in one term of school lessons.
I work in a school and accompany the kids to swimming lessons. I also have three kids and have paid for lessons for all three. Yes, its not cheap but its a life skill. Also I juggle three different lessons at three different times round a full time job.

My youngest has had far more than a terms lessons and he still cant swim properly.
To add - i learnt to swim at school so i get your frustration but that was the eighties. And we had a pool on site. The budget and expectations for schools was very different back then.
I would also add that I can no way swim as well as my eldest two who have had private lessons. So it does pay off!! You need to stop grumbling about what the school is expected to do. Even if they had done ehat they are legally obliged to do it would not be enough to teach your children to swim.

@Jobseeker19

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

Plus I think the school is doing a disservice.

Why do parents think these days that they should get everything for their children's development free of charge. I was a single parent of 3 kids and paid for them to learn to swim from age 5 onwards. I didn't have much money but it was my responsibility to pay for this life saving skill. You are expecting far too much of the school system otherwise

Wow i would imagine it's quite likely that your child missed out on this during year 4 or 5 due to covid, school closures etc? You sound a bit of lazy and entitled nightmare parent.

Wow! So when you chose the number of children you had, you knew for certain that neither parent would die/lose their job/walk out etc? Sure the op, like myself, wasn't in possession of a crystal ball when deciding on having a family.

Parents have to pay for swimming lessons at our school. Same rate as normal swimming lessons.

Covid has meant no swimming lessons for the last 2 years, and now we're on catch up - year 6 and 5 have got one term summer. The following years will be year 5 and 4. Eventually we'll get back to just year 4.

Meanwhile, swimming is a life skill - that you haven't taught your child to swim and they are in year 6, means you've done a shit job of parenting.

You're welcome.

I recall the school swimming lessons being horrendous. Children frogmarched to the local secondary, changed, shouted at by sergeant major of a swimming instructor who undid all my daughter's diffident progress by making her take off her goggles and put her face in the water.

The confudent swimmers enjoyed it and showed off. The diffident ones hated it and the non swimmers didn't learn to swim.

Pointless exercise.