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?

It is in the curriculum but due to Covid it was missed and they do not have to make up for it. It is also not inspected as a part of the curriculum.
You shouldn't rely on the school to give your child a high standard of swimming as it's much higher numbers of children than in lessons. The lessons rely on parents to also take their children to get them stronger swimmers.

In some ways it's irrelevant whether it's on the curriculum or not, a lot of schools can barely afford to supply enough paper and other such necessities for the basics of academics, they don't have the funds to provide swimming lessons too! They also don't have enough teachers & TA's to spare to get a classful of children ready for the pool and back again, there's barely enough to staff classes and you need more to keep an eye on a classful of children at the pool!

I think most people would prefer their child to learn to read and write than be taken to the pool, where most won't learn anything anyway due to the nature of group swimming classes.

It would be lovely if they could, but it's just not feasible for many schools.

Also, and I know I'm being blunt, but if you struggle to find the time to take 2 children to one class and one to another, then what the heck are you going to do when they all want to do multiple extra-curriculum activities and / or go and visit friends as they get older?!

This isn’t a question of whether swimming should be taught at school - it should, and it’s part of the national curriculum. This year’s kids are undoubtedly getting swimming lessons as they’re supposed to. The issue is that last year’s kids missed their chance because of Covid and the school isn’t required to catch up on what they’ve missed.

Take it up with the Governors if the Head hasn't given you the info you need.
A local school to me took non swimmers for five lessons ..about 20 mins s each time
The logistics of staffing etc are possibly making it too expensive and the school budget needs to be used elsewhere .plus pools were closed for ages ....

There are 20 primary schools in my town, that’s not including those in neighbouring villages either. There is one swimming pool.

Sadly the maths just doesn’t add up for all primary age pupils to receive a high quality of lessons for long enough to make a difference. And that was pre covid it’s going to be even worse now and some children by the nature of it just won’t get it even with the best will in the world

I'm astonished at how harsh some posters are being. Yes the OP could buy her childrens swimming lessons. That isn't what she's asking though. (and they are really expensive - £9.50 a lesson where I live - we are on a decent income but with two kids thats a fairly whopping amount especially if the kids aren't natural swimmers) I also understand that its not as easy as 'taking your kids to the pool and teaching them to swim'. There's no way I could have taught mine. However getting them in the water gets them used to it, even if they just figure out how to doggy paddle to the side.

I do understand though that the school isn't providing it because of Covid. Obviously if your child missed it in Year 5 , the school are going to struggle to be able to give two sets of school years swimming lessons, for both Y6 and Y5, for lots of reasons. I also agree with posters that say its generally not enough anyway - however giving a child the basics is better than not giving them anything at all.
Try and get in touch with the board of governors. The least they can do is discuss it. Children missed so much during lockdown and whilst swimming lessons are far from the top of the list, they are still on the curriculum and the fact that a school year missed out on it should be addressed. You can only try.

Ha ha, when I was a teacher I was expected to teach my Y4 class to swim, having no clue whatsoever how to do it! Is this the kind of school swimming lessons you mean?

The school ones are crap - definitely look for local ones that you can book yourself.

I used to work in a primary school where part of my role involved accompanying children to swimming lessons. They were offered lessons for a term in each of years 3-5. So maybe 10 half-hour lessons a year for 3 years. 15 hours in total? That's just not enough to get a non-swimmer to the level of swimming 25m unaided.

The school had to find the money for the lessons (they weren't cheap), and also for a coach to get the children there and back. We could ask for contributions towards the cost of the transport, but not the lessons, and a lot of parents wouldn't pay anyway.

For children who could already swim (the majority) the lessons were useful practice maybe, and you could see some improvement in style. But for non-swimmers it just wasn't enough. The groups were big and they didn't get enough 1:1 coaching to get them started.

Really, the money would have been better spent on just taking the non-swimmers for more frequent lessons, but the parents of the other children wouldn't have stood for that.

By the time I left, the school had cut back to one term of lessons in year 4 only, to save money. Not the school's fault at all, the money just wasn't there.

In short, if you want your children to learn to swim, don't leave it to school to teach them. A week or two of intensive lessons in the holidays would probably get them started and then you could just take them swimming to practice.

My kid's school only did lessons for one term in P5.

I pay for lessons for my kids. Have been paying £26 a month per kid (so £52) for 4 years, with a break for 13 months because of covid.

That's just what you do when you have kids. It's one of the costs of raising them. And figuring out how to get them there is also part of raising them. You dont have to do it but if you want them to learn to swim then you find a way to afford it or you teach them yourself.

no local primaries round here teach kids to swim. 20 years ago i took my 3 after work and since all were in different classes we took dinner with us and their homework. Not the most fun of evenings.....but lets face it you arent always going to have fun as a parent.

the schools didnt have time or resource to teach the kids to swim and personally i'd prefer them to reach a decent academic level. There are lots of life skills not taught at school - arent parents supposed to provide some of these?

Our school have said its compulsory on the national curriculum for children in year 1-6.
We normally have a 10 week course. It was missed last year due to covid. This year we are getting a 2 week intensive course. So still 10 sessions. My year 5 daughter is on her 2nd day of it. She normally has lessons after school on a Monday so was moaning that she was bored yesterday in the little pool when she us used to swimming lengths. I've explained how some kids don't get to go swimming so will all be at different levels, she now understands and says she can help teach (heaven help them) i think the intensive course is a great idea, I know of at least 3 other primaries round here doing it this way.

Mine had swimming lessons at school but didn’t actually learn to swim there, as the lessons were 20 mins, weekly, tops, and there were 30 pupils, so totally useless for one teacher to teach 30 pupils how to swim in a weekly 20 minute slot. I used to take mine every couple of weeks, and that’s how they learnt. Sometimes, as parents, you have to step up, especially with something as important as swimming. It’s not hard to teach them yourself.

My DDs school changed swimming lessons from yr5 to yr2 as they found that the older children all knew how to swim by yr5. It was 1 term only but they ended up doing 2 because they merged yrs 2 & 3. It’s not ideal but I think it’s standard to be 1 term only these days due to costs etc.. Lessons were stoped pre covid due to issues with the swimming venue then stopped completely due to covid.

When I was at school (80s) we did very little swimming, I think we only did it for a year, if that.

Everyone I know either teaches their own children or pays for lessons.

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

People are being a bit harsh. Sadly more and more children are not learning to swim now schools are not teaching it, it’s a fairly important skill to have, one that can save lives yet barely any schools have a pool now and many no longer make use of local pools. Sadly not all of us can afford swimming lessons for our kids or even to take them swimming once a week, most pools only allow 2 non swimming children to one adult making it even harder for single parents with more than 2 kids.

So I agree that it’s a shame schools don’t offer lessons anymore. When I was a kid we swam several times a week during the summer, at high school we would go to a nearby pool once a week (but only if you chose too). It costs £4.50 per adult and £3.50 per child to go to the local pool, it might not seem much to some but for a hour in the pool if you have 3 kids it’s quite a lot? Swimming lessons cost even more.

The thing is, it is part of the curriculum, and it should have been offered to your child last year in Yr 5, but because of Covid, that didn't happen. Lots of things that should have happened last year didn't happen. It is what it is, and there isn't anything that can be done about it.

The good news is, that if your other children are younger, assuming we don't have another pandemic/lockdown, some other major national disaster, or a change of policy regarding teaching swimming in school, then your other children should get their lessons when they are in Y5. Just to warn you though, at our school, although the "swimming" component of the lessons was free, the transport to and from the pool was not, so you had the choice of paying to use the coach put on by the school (which worked out more expensive than taking a child swimming,) arranging to collect the child from school and taking them to the pool yourself, and then back to school again, or choosing to opt out of swimming lessons and stay at school doing another activity. This mostly meant that the children who most benefit from the free lessons could not access them due to cost. They were only offered for 1 term.

Take your own child yourself and teach them! School lessons don't actually teach them, they build on the stuff they already know.

My daughter learnt to swim at school.

@Poppitt58, she may have been taught how not to drown, but swimming takes hours and hours to master correctly. There's not enough time in the curriculum!

Can your children swim at all? Basic water safety is your responsibility as a parent.

I'm afraid a block of school lessons, even if they do happen, cannot teach a complete non-swimmer from scratch. Generally the groups are too big and the lessons too few.

Make a point of taking your children for a swim every week. Sounds like you can swim? You don't need to teach them to the level of becoming the next Michael Phelps. It's just about basics, being able to enjoy the water safely. If one of them has an interest in pursuing it further as a sport, you can pay for lessons at that point

@BoredZelda

Do fuck off luv. It IS a part of the curriculum, you don't know the financial circumstances so how dare you decide what is or isn't unaffordable?

OP said she took her children swimming. So clearly not unaffordable for her to do that.

Also, the vast majority of local councils have subsidised swimming prices for those on low incomes, often with kids going free or paying a small amount. Ours has a card you apply for and then swimming costs £1.

Really?

In my local authority the cheapest pool would be £12 for the OP to take three children, £10 if she qualified for the low income concessions. That requires you to have a local authority card (£5 and needs replacing every five mins because the cards are crap).

Then of course like most pools they have rules of max of 2 children per adult so its actually more adult tickets and someone to look after third child.
Then there are bus/train fares to get to the pool on top plus the time if you don't live in an urban area.

Both the neighbouring boroughs are more expensive.

All schools differ with swimming lessons my kids current school only gives them a couple of lessons in year 5 and 6, but their old school was brilliant they had them all the way through for longer periods of time.

We learnt to swim at school, due to the slow eradication of funding for schools you're fortunate to get any lessons.

My daughter had swimming lessons right through primary. Her kids don't. She has 3 so we go halves on lessons as I consider it a necessary life skill. We also do as much swimming as we can out of lessons too

Is there any one on your family that will help with the cost?

Its a parent's responsibility not the schools!

This isn’t true. It’s statutory, so if your child has a state education, learning to swim is part of their education.

From the National curriculum for England-

pupils should be taught to:

swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres

use a range of strokes effectively [for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke]

perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations

Ha ha, when I was a teacher I was expected to teach my Y4 class to swim, having no clue whatsoever how to do it! Is this the kind of school swimming lessons you mean?*

I’ve never ever come across this whilst teaching. I have no idea how your school managed to risk assess it and if the children couldn’t do the above you didn’t meet the statutory requirements required.

My kids have school swimming lessons, as do my nieces and nephews and every school I’ve worked in have provided them. It’s a very strange thread!