Swimming lesson gripes

[Lollipop30]

I’m going to start teaching swimming and I would like to know all your biggest gripes with swimming lessons and what you’d change given the chance.
Here is a list of what I’d like to offer, please feel free to pick it apart (it is based only on my personal experience as a parent).

• Fully qualified, insured and DBS checked
• No more than 4 per class
• At least one Award achieved within 12months. (Be that Stage, Distance or Skill)
• Ability based not Age
• Games based learning but structured
• Half termly progress report. (To include skills achieved, working on and need progress)
• Available messenger system for any enquiries.

DD had swimming lessons from about 4-8 (and a spell of baby swimming). Swimming definitely has to be fun. DD's teacher seemed to come armed with inflatables and big floating mats for the last session of term so the children could just have fun. Intensive courses (so five sessions in a week) during holidays are also popular round here.

My biggest gripe would have been a combination of one or more of dirty/wet/cold changing rooms.

When the children were little (so feet couldn't touch the ground) I was also concerned about teacher to pupil ratios and having a lifeguard/helper/parents observing on side was a must for me (even if it is just one parent promising not to be engrossed in a book/phone as a rota).

I think a lot of schools have a system of "a badge/certificate per term" (three terms/year). If the children weren't ready to progress a stage they at least got a badge for distance in a particular stroke (even if it was just 10 metres), DD seemed to like that.

Another observation is/was that most children are pretty hopeless at translating instructions into technique when they are little. The number of times we watched children bobbing about in their own daydreams whilst the teacher thought they were explaining something (still happens at swim squad sometimes)! We asked the teacher to get DD out of the pool and move her arms/head/legs so that she understood what was required.

We had a variety of lessons starting with groups of 6-8 (but invariably a couple would be at parties/unwell), shrinking to 2 or 3 as well as some pricey private lessons where the instructor walked behind the pupil adjusting technique or ducked under water to watch a length/width. The latter were by far the most beneficial.

Good luck OP. It is such a useful life skill.

Thanks @madcats that’s really helpful.
Would you say awards termly then no matter how small?
Also I intend to do 4:1 classes with myself in the water as well as physically coaching on the side.

Start on time and finish on tile.

Sorry on time!

@blueuggs Noted 👍 cheers

- At least one Award achieved within 12months. (Be that Stage, Distance or Skill)

No way, completely the wrong idea, any suggestion that awards are anything but achievement based completely ruins the whole point of awards and would completely rule out the swim school.

It would be impossible to know if you'd given awards when they weren't really achieved, or you held back the awards to match the expected cadence.

Mind you, distance awards themselves seem like pretty silly things to me anyway, and I'm glad DD's doesn't give them.

@sirfredfredgeorge
The idea wouldn’t be to ever give an award that wasn’t achieved.

So for example as they work through the stages perhaps they get stuck on one stage for longer than 12months, the idea would then to be to award other aspects so they don’t become despondent.
Eg During stage3 they must swim 10m, however if they are struggling with another aspect they could achieve 10m distance in the meantime.

At least one award per 12months is not my concept but one recommended by SwimEngland.

Just popping back to say that of course DC need to have passed whatever it was for each stage/badge to get the certificate. I think it was at around stage 4 - 6 that some children plateaued/struggled to progress whereas others continued to whizz through.

We used to get a "tick-list" report for each ASA stage "working on"/"can do consistently" even if the child didn't pass the stage.

Are you using a private pool OP? If so, you might want to have a policy on changing rooms if they are communal. How long can Dads take their DDs in the boys changing rooms/ Mums their DSs in girls.

Brill thankyou all helpful 😁

Using one spa and one private so that’s definitely relevant thanks

We are in about our 7th different swimming school for DD - we have moved several times because of timings or because she isn't making progress. Usually the progress stops when the classes become huge - maximum of 4 sounds brilliant).

Apart from the 1:1 lessons (which were brilliant but we couldn't afford to keep them up) we have never really had any opportunity to actually talk to the teacher or get any kind of feedback, verbal or written. I know they are super busy but just a quick "she's doing well but just needs to work on her arms a bit more" or whatever, once a month would be helpful. She is now 8 so is able to understand and relay what has been said to her more but when she was younger she couldn't do that.

One school gave awards every term but just said level 2 or whatever and you had no idea what they had done to get that award. I suspected they gave them out as a matter of course whether they achieved them or not which made the whole thing meaningless. I do agree with the idea of at least one a year though as long as it is for something the child can actually do.

The other thing is actually teaching. She has had several teachers who just got the kids to take turns swimming up and down but didn't actually show them or tell them what to do. Some children make progress just with practise but unco-ordinated kid says like my DD need to actually be shown every step. Her current teacher is very good- will actually take her arm and show her what to do with it etc.

My 5 yr old is doing lessons on a Saturday and I really like the fact that this particular school don’t close for school holidays (unless it’s Christmas Day of course), they just run right through. Also we pay monthly rather than having to commit to a term at a time. It really suits us anyway.

Thanks both, really helpful.

@curlyfrizzball - your experience sounds much the same as my own so definitely intend to use those points.
@agent13 - would it put you off just being in term time? Mine will currently be just term time due to the actual venues

Lollipop30 it wouldn’t necessarily put me off if it was term time only but I must say I was really pleased to find it and discover they run all year round. I think DS is really going to benefit from going every/nearly every week. I know it wouldn’t suit everyone though with holidays etc but we don’t go away much so I like it when activities can continue!

I'm the other way re: term time lessons. We try to go away in the holidays and it's annoying to have to pay for lessons they're not attending.

What annoys me about some of the swimming lessons DD has had, is that the teachers didn't teach swimming technique. And that requires a teacher IN the water, at least some of the time, with a "hands-on" approach to correct strokes, leg position etc.

Swimming is a skill - in my book a pretty essential one. Honestly I think good teaching which leads to a competent and confident swimmer is more important than making it "fun".

I paid for 2:1 lessons for a week at Easter break once with Swimming Nature - DD learned more in those five days than she had for two and half years of our regular leisure centre classes. Unfortunately I couldn't afford to continue so had to finish the job myself.

DD stayed on level 3 for over two years before she gained it. She never got any badges for distances. The teacher wasn’t very helpful.

I would like to see badges gained for distance at every level, teachers in the water more, more feedback. More honesty so if the child isn’t progressing, stop taking the money and be honest with the parent.

@lollypop30 I’m an ex swimming teacher of ten years.

I think you should be aiming for an award per term. Parents and children like progress awards. If you are getting them of the ASA there should be loads you can use if a child isn’t reaching a specific target. Honestly I’d seriously be asking my teachers why the fuck a child in a class four hadn’t improved in 12 months. You will lose customers if you sent such a low slow progress target. Even my SN kids could work their way through a progress scheme in less time.

How much experience have you got ?? Have you ever taught before? Will you be also in charge or life guarding the pool?

Are you getting in the water with them

Why are your games not structured? Don’t waste a moment of that lesson. There is loads of books that teach learning through play and specific outcomes. You will get asked why the kids are just ‘playing’ at the end. And if you add that up (even five mins) over a term it can equate to a whole lesson of just ‘free play’

Most lessons are now rolling courses, what are you going to do over the six week holidays your going to lose a lot of money

Are you going to follow structures lesson plans which lead to progressive outcomes ?

Will you be doing ongoing training?

Honestly - rethink your business plan. You can’t just rock up and open a swimming school it’s much more complicated than that and it’s not fair to take money of customers when you haven’t got s sound lesson structure set up

Aiming for one skill award in 12 months 🙈🙈🙈 surely that must be a typo

lollypop apply to work at a local council/authority pool at get some experience and a feel for what is expected

I do agree with SirFred that I wouldn't be impressed with advertising that dc would be guaranteed an award per term or whatever. Awards need to be on merit and dc don't learn / progress in straight lines.

4:1 sounds nice, but also expensive.

I agree with the poster though that my biggest gripe over lessons over the years was the poor quality of changing facilities - be that cleanliness, temperature or lack of space. I'm guessing if you are in a private club that might not be the case.

Key things I'd like to see:

• Teacher clearly audible to children (some pools have very bad acoustics). Also vary your vocabulary to make sure each child understands.

• Teaching actual swimming technique rather than just pushing further and further distance.

• More focus on breast stroke - many lessons are overly focused on front crawl I think. We're not trying to get to the Olympics.

• Clear rules for other parents - when your children are either waiting to swim or done swimming, keep them away from the pool so they don't disturb someone else's £££ lesson.

• More clear rules: parents should not ask for a detailed debrief from the teacher when the next children's swimming time has started. Deal with that over email.

• Shower and ideally spacious changing facilities.

Good luck!

From personal experience:
Start on time, finish when you say not 5-10 min early for a half-hour lesson
Don't unexpectedly throw water in kids' faces and then say it's to make them more confident in the water - it does quite the opposite even on the ones who were still willing to continue the lesson
Don't act shocked that there are beginners aged over five. Lots of local swim schools will only let preschoolers in beginner lessons.
Consider what to do with kids with sensory issues who will not put faces in the water. Local centre refused to teach mine any more, ditto school lessons. Surely some heads-up breast stroke would be better than nothing?
Do you get in the water? That would be a big plus for me.

Ok so trying to answer all questions...

I’d be in the pool for the lessons, It would be only four children at a time and I’d only be responsible for them. kids aren’t the best at copying from the side so it’s easier I find to actually show/put them in correct positioning.

Not sure why the games would be unstructured? Obviously each lesson has a lesson plan. I personally have found that kids learn better whilst they’re enjoying themselves. For example rather than just asking them to swim a width with a woggle, get them to swim on a woggle whilst hitting a ball with their nose. They find it funny as but it’s getting them to put their chins in too (v beginners obv). I personally wouldn’t pay for a free play sesh if I was expecting my children to learn how to swim and technique so I wouldn’t expect others to.

With regards to awards. I think I’ll just not mention any ‘target’.
However yes they should get at least one badge per 12months whilst working through the stages. So that there’s never a period where no progress is seen. Progress reports will be given every half term anyway, but if a child’s taking longer to achieve a full ASA stage it can help keep confidence up.

Can’t remember what other questions there were. Yes I do have experience with it although I’ve had a break having children. My training will all be up to date again by the summer.

I've just moved classes and the main issues that caused me to move were lack of feedback for students (how anyone is meant to improve when there's no communication of what they're doing right and wrong I'll never know) and class size (grew to 12 from 7 when we joined ... utter chaos). Good luck! (You're not in the Shrewsbury area, are you? )

@missedith01
I absolutely understand your pain hence the progress reports every half term and me being in the pool to give feedback directly to the children.
And yes 20mins away 😉 classes start in September. As soon as my insurance/training goes through I’ll be opening the books