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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:
Mumof21972 · 23/09/2021 11:54

No idea if it's compulsory but my Yr4 daughter is doing it now, for this Term only. Swimming is a life skill, therefore my 2 have been attending swimming lessons since they were 4 (excl. Covid lockdows). I'm a single parent and the cost kills me but I feel it's so important. If I were you I'd invest in lessons 😉

Flatwhitetostayin · 23/09/2021 12:25

It's not rocket science.
You take your child to a pool with a float or arm bands, you get them comfortable in the water. You get them to kick, you get them to paddle their arms about, you hold them up until they can do it by themselves. Hey presto.

linsey2581 · 23/09/2021 12:41

It’s not compulsory for schools to offer swimming lessons. It also comes down to a schools budget, can they afford to hire the pool, lifeguard and the bus to the pool (if the pool is not onsite)??.
If you’re keen for them to learn to swim then contact your local pool and pay for lessons.

Mirw · 23/09/2021 12:59

Get along to your local pool and sign your kids up. Our parents taught us as they wanted us to be safe in the water... We learned in a river. And some of us were never out of the water after that. We were the only kids who could swim before going to school. And that was 50+ years ago.

FlorenceinSummer · 23/09/2021 13:00

My kids school only does a term of swimming (so 12 lessons) there isn't a chance they can learn much in that in my opinion, you are better off trying to sort out lessons for them privately. Lots of council pools have lessons. If that is too expensive take them to the pool when you can and teach them the basics.

Beautybunny · 23/09/2021 13:30

I think that you may be able to access swimming through a local charity. Often kids clubs have this if you are on a low income. My children went to private school and they didn't teach it either!

Snaketime · 23/09/2021 16:16

I had lessons for 1 term when I was at Primary school and at my DD's school they do lessons for 1 term in year 5. I work and we are classed as a low income family but I found the money for both of my children to have swimming lessons.
If you can't afford all at the same time send one for lessons, then when they can swim send the next spread the cost, or do it yourself.

Burgess67A · 23/09/2021 17:58

Can’t you just take them and teach them yourself ?

me109f · 23/09/2021 18:42

I never learned from the few school swimming lessons I had at Primary School.
My Dad's idea of teaching me to swim was to throw me into the deep end at a pool, or into the sea when I was out of my depth.

I was fed up with all this and I hated being unable to swim so I took myself off on my own and went to the big indoor pool at Cambridge (20 miles away) and steadily taught myself to swim. It only took me a few attempts. I was 11/12 years old. It sort of happened when I realised I could swim a width and breathe whilst afloat.
Since then I have met a number of adults who are too terrified of water to even try to learn, so it is really a good idea to learn when young. Don't depend on school, my kids swim much better than me but were taught by my wife who can swim miles, and were keen to teach them.

It is an important life skill. I would probably have drowned in my adventurous life if I couldn't, I have at times fallen into rivers or out of boats, and now I have loved rowing, dinghy racing, snorkelling and have a diving certificate.

Annie2245 · 23/09/2021 19:24

Private lessons ?

Skyla2005 · 23/09/2021 20:02

@tiredoldusername

To the people telling OP to go to the pool and teach them to swim herself (assuming she can swim), around here, an adult and three children would cost around £14.00 per session. That's £56.00 a month. Still unaffordable for the families of the 4.3 million children living in poverty. All children should have the opportunity to swim, whether at school or in council provided lessons, but sadly, many areas don't see it as a priority and in times like ours with budget cuts after budget cuts, you can see why. Like many have said, swimming is on the curriculum if your children don't go to an academy, so in an ideal world, schools should be supported to provide that aspect of the curriculum.
The sea is free
LST · 23/09/2021 20:06

It's not up to the school to teach your DC how to swim. We are fortunate that our school has a pool but if it didn't I'd expect it to be my job

Poppitt58 · 23/09/2021 20:09

It’s not compulsory for schools to offer swimming lessons

The thing is, it actually is. Quite shocked at the poor provision in some areas, but even schools that only offer 1 term are providing some swimming.

With a recent focus on the wider curriculum, if ofsted did a ‘deep dive’ on PE and the school didn’t offer any swimming whatsoever, they’d struggle to obtain a good judgement.

spanieleyes · 23/09/2021 20:27

But last year the curriculum was suspended so the school didn't have to ( and actually couldn't) meet its responsibility to provide swimming. This year is different and they should be.

2021Vision · 23/09/2021 20:46

I don' t think schools should provide swimming lessons, I never have. Frankly unless they are employing proper swimming teachers and grouping children by ability they are not teaching them to swim. For context I don''t believe a child being able to 'swim' 25m is able to swim. It always amazes me that parents take their children to their weekly lessons and do no other swimming with them and then moan they can't swim. You wouldn't do this with other sports, it's like learning to swim is a real chore whereas actually it is a skill that can be done from birth into old age.

We have moved and seem to be mover further away from parents taking any responsibility for doing anything for their children. Yes learning to swim is a life skill however it is not societies responsibility to teach the population to swim. Poor bloody schools with the constant pressure on budgets it's ridiculous.

hopeso · 23/09/2021 23:29

I didn't learn to swim at school, I learnt at Girl Guides. Schools can't even pay for enough staff, books or to fix leaky roofs, so I doubt that budgeting for swimming is a priority, whether it's in the curriculum or not. Point your ire at the government, not the school.

Letsgetquizzy · 23/09/2021 23:52

@linsey2581 It absolutely is compulsory for maintained schools to offer swimming and I am amazed at the number of people having a go at OP over this. They are also not allowed to charge, regardless of budget, other than for transport to the pool and even then, only a voluntary contribution may be requested.

OP, I am sorry you have had so much hostility over this. I have 4 DC and swimming pool adult/child ratios made it really difficult for me to take them when they were younger, as well as the whole
Changing room logistics (insufficient family cubicles, nowhere safe to place younger siblings so you can change...). There are tortuous post-covid systems in place to book family swims at our local pools
With the result that we haven't been swimming as a family for months.

We are very lucky in that the younger DCs school is offering swimming in Y5 to make up for the fact that they missed it in Y4. Whilst they are an academy, they also report the number of children who can swim 25 metres when they leave the school, in line with the requirements of the National Curriculum (and which they only know due to the lessons they provide....).

linsey2581 · 24/09/2021 06:49

@Letsgetquizzy In Scotland it’s not as there was a huge overhaul about it being taught in primary schools. Swimming lessons in primary 6/7 were cancelled due to budget cuts. Also I never mentioned parents getting charged I’m talking about schools being charged to hire a bus or pay for a lifeguard. This comes out of a school budget, the schools had to pay the council for these things. My kids who are now 17 and 18 had lessons at primary school they got 12 weeks each in primary 6 and that was it. I then got them on a waiting list for lessons through my local council, my daughter now swims for a club and swims 4 times a week and yes it can cost a small fortune (currently £30 per month plus 1x £50 every year for swimmers insurance). My issue with OP is that she seems to want things for free, to quote her ‘I have 3 kids I can’t afford that’. Pardon the pun but we are not exactly swimming in money but we make sure we put money aside and budget for the things that our kids or ourselves would like to do.

Emmylouisa · 24/09/2021 13:17

I sympathize with the OP. Chat with the school. Look on the swim England website. It says:
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.

tiredoldusername · 24/09/2021 17:03

@Skyla2005 And what if you don't live near the sea or aren't confident enough to swim in the sea? Not practical in the winter either, unless you have a wetsuit. Again, not affordable for many families.

Lokdok · 25/09/2021 15:06

How over entitled are you? Pay for lessons and take him swimming like the parents of kids who swim do.

Plumtree391 · 25/09/2021 15:35

Paying for lessons may be too expensive for the op. I agree with taking him swimming and trying to encourage him to swim.

However it's possible that next year swimming lessons will once again be on the curriculum.

crackedpott · 26/09/2021 08:06

@Jobseeker19 you are correct that it is compulsory for schools to teach swimming in key stage 1 or 2. There is also a requirement for them to report to the DfE on how many of their studrnts can swim by year 6. The target is 100%. Your school probably normally offers a term's worth of lessons in year 5, finds that most kids can swim (because they've had private lessons), and reports that number. Job done, from their perspective. If your son didn't get lessons in year 5 that was probably due to Covid, and the school will probably have some leeway on that. You could put in a formal complaint to your school, but it's unlikely to get you your swimming lessons. You could also complain to your local councillors - maybe your council has a free or cheap programme of lessons to cater for families who can't afford private lessons.

If your son had done his year 5 lessons, he would probably have found himself in a minority who couldn't swim, and that would have made him lose confidence. He probably wouldn't have learnt much in one term. It's naive to rely on state schools to teach swimming - they're not sufficiently well funded for it. That's why so many people pay for private lessons. But having 3 children is expensive unfortunately.

KaptainKaveman · 26/09/2021 08:24

@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?

they are chatting shit.

What a delightful turn of phrase you have OP.

If you knew anything at all about the education system you would be aware that it's very difficult to accommodate all the so called compulsory elements.

Take your own children swimming. It won't cost much.

Addicted2Sugar · 26/09/2021 08:42

Could you take it in turns with your children to do lessons rather than thinking you have to do all 3 at once?
Eldest for a few terms to gain the basics and then the next one after that?