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?

I think OP has a point. It's on the national curriculum so it's not unreasonable to expect it to be provided.

@purplemunkey

God people are awful. So many posters on MN cannot seem to imagine people living in circumstanced other than their own. Not everyone can afford to pay for activities outside school. And yes, it is on the curriculum.

Wholeheartedly agree. Swimming should indeed be part of the National Curriculum. Private lessons cost a fortune. If everyone who insisted on putting their children into private school, would just insist on paying a little bit more tax instead - then we would have a society for everyone. Which would benefit everyone.

I 100% support you and as an ex governor believe the school are making cheap cuts! Find out who, on the board of governors, covers swimming and ask them to account for why the school has chosen to cut back on swimming (a key life skill in my opinion) rather than elsewhere?

@Mangofandangoo

Here's an idea OP, you can arrange and pay for your child's swimming lessons like everyone else 😬

Jesssuuuus.

@sarralim I completely agree. We could then afford to give all children the life skills they deserve, regardless of their circumstances.

@PileOfBooks

What do you think you can do about it? You can take your child swimming or pay for lessons.

It's very unusual for schools to do regular swimming.

I dont think it is unusual. Its a part of the curriculum, isnt it?

^IrishCharm
Can you swim?
Could you not have taken them yourself from a young age?^

The OP doesn't wish to spend her own time doing this

Poor kids!

Mangofandangoo Durrrrhhhh I have just pointed out round here we don't pay for swimming lessons 🤔

yanbu I think, my son’s school is offering swimming since reception. they are asking for contribution though, but still all their class is taking it. why one primary school cannot offer it while others can? it sounds unfair.

Why should the school teach your son to swim? If you can’t afford lessons take him to the swimming baths and teach him yourself! Jeeez take some responsibility

@Jobseeker19 my local council pool offers £1 lessons by trainee teachers, maybe yours too? They go quite quick so worth enquiring in advance.

The only thing that can save their life and non negotiable for me. Children and husband caught in a rip tide once abroad and that day I was so glad of the money spent , husband was rescued by lifeguards, children swam to safety and knew what to do, priceless.

@Jobseeker19

Just finished work.

Yes, I was rude and entitled in the first post but in my defence I had just gotten off the phone with the school and was just shocked that I had missed the opportunity.

I'm looking at the swimming lesson in the Borough and it looks really confusing and has different ages and grade groups. I dont know where to start.

Those people that are saying i shouldn't have had 3 children if I couldn't afford swimming?! What kind of crap is that?

There are threads right now with people saying how can they cut corners because of fuel and food rises, are you on there telling them they shouldn't have had children because now they are scared of struggling?

Do you say it on threads where people are talking about getting better subsidised childcare?

I really thought that every primary school taught children how to swim and I was just waiting for the school to start doing it and then I would've carried on with them.

I have asked them in the past and they said they were thinking about next term. But not once did I ever think that they would never do it.

You are absolutely right, OP. I've asked myself the same thing, many times. Swimming is on the NC, and it should in fact be given a more prominent status. Great Britain is far behind the rest of Europe. Pay more tax, and you will get a society that caters for everyone - not just the wealthy. It's not just the "poor" who benefit from everyone paying more tax - it's the whole of society. Subsidised childcare is the perfect illustration of this.

You don’t have to pay for all 3 to have lessons at the same time as I agree that would be expensive. However this is a vital life skill that could save their life! You can’t say that about some other hobbies can you so please prioritise it for your eldest and then so on as they progress. They don’t have to be at Olympic standard before they hand over to the next sibling. Besides half an hour/45 minutes lesson in school for 6-12 weeks isn’t going to get your child sufficiently ready so you’re best cutting back on other things and prioritising getting lessons yourself from experience

It must have been in imagination that when I was a teacher from around 2000 till 2015 I had to take children swimming every bloody week One wee village school I worked at took the whole school every week and as a supply teacher in year 4 I took them every week. I was PE coordinator and know that every child should be able to swim 25 metres unaided at the end of year 6. We even entered swimming competitions against local schools which were huge events. A lot of the best swimmers went to swimming clubs of course. The government put a lot of money into school sport at that time. It must be different now I suppose. Along with bloody Covid.

My kids' school don't teach music or art, nor have they ever unlocked the doors of the school library. Nor do they take them swimming. Or on school trips.

Some schools are just a bit shit.

It's on the curriculum yes, but only for a limited period. DS1 did swimming with school in Year 5. There were only 2-3 children that couldn't swim at all in a class of 30 the rest had lessons paid for by their parents

DS2 is Y5 now and hopefully he will get to go, but it's a 20 min drive to the nearest Pool, so it takes up a lot of time for not a lot.

The school lessons supported DS1 and pushed him as he was effectively having 2 lessons per week, but there is no way that even a full school year of lessons would teach a non-swimmer to swim.

The fact your son is 11 and cannot swim a stroke is frankly on you, not the school. It's about £4.50 per lesson here. If you had started when he was younger, it wouldn't matter you had another 2 kids as he would be a swimmer by now.

It's always been the case you went in Y4/5, it was when I went school swimming 40 years ago!!

I refuse to believe they are only at 4pm. Our Local authority do swimming at different pools from 4-6 ish every night and weekends and there are various options for each stage.

I actually had a pool at my secondary school I also lived in a seaside village, but I cannot swim , but I made sure my children learnt and payed for lessons, my granddaughter had 4 lessons in yr 6 she can't swim loves the water I booked her lessons over the summer she didn't want them so her sister 6 had them instead 1to 1 but they are so booked up so have to wait she is on the waiting list she loved it and can't wait to go back

@Jobseeker19 - I’ve had a quick look at YouTube, and there are videos there, showing how to teach a child to swim - that might be helpful for you.

Our local council pool has been closed as the repair bill was huge and the place closed down and the local schools used it

I never assumed one term would make my children Olympic swimmers 🏊‍♀️

I don't get why people assume this is a given

If your that bothered pay for it yourself
If you can't afford it then perhaps cut back on something else but you should really have thought about these expenses before having kids

Unfortunately it was out of the hands of the school as swimming pools had to remain shut. My now year 6 child did manage to do some swimming lessons with his year 5 class but with lockdowns and isolations, they will have been lucky if they got 6 weeks in. I am fortunate that mine attend swimming lessons outside of school but understand it can be costly.

I know our local swimming pool that the school use would not have the availability for 2 school year groups to use their facility. The only thing I can think you could do is speak to your children's school to see if they have thought about changing the swimming lessons to year 6 children, but then they may counter that year 6 children have a lot going on with sats. Worth a try 🤷‍♀️

swimming should be covered at school. My daughters primary does one term of weekly lessons every year in the juniors. She also had private lessons but they are expensive so I’m glad the school does it too. Legally they need to, it’s in the national curriculum

Your child, your responsibility. Teach him yourself.

It’s true, schools are not allowed to take children on school trips or swimming lessons due to Covid. You need to book your own swimming lessons for your child.

Pay for him to have swim lessons! How have you let him get to y6 without being able to swim?? I took my daughter swimming from a few weeks old and she started lessons and could swim unaided by about 2.5. It’s not schools job to teach your son. With a class of 30ish how on earth do you expect them to accomplish what you haven’t?