Swimming lessons - Am I expecting too much?

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Our daughter is almost 5 and has been doing swimming lessons since Sept. I pay £40 per month for 30 min lessons every Sunday.
For the 10 months she has been in a beginners class where I am in the water with her and it is very much a fun class focused on building confidence rather than learning to swim. Most kids in the class are younger (2-3 years). I asked several times about moving up but was told she needs to get a bit more confident, however I was concerned she would never get that confidence if I was forever in the water with her. And never actually learn to swim either.

I finally got the call this week to say she can move up to the next class which is led by a different teacher. I was excited for her to finally actually learn to swim. We went today and I was so disappointed. The class was with 4 others of varying ages who had clearly been in the class for a while and she was just lagging behind the whole time and it was as though it was expected that she would be able to swim confidently. She just about kept up swimming on their fronts, but when they were swimming on their backs she was just sort of floating in the middle of the pool as she has never done it before. I’m fine with her not being best in class when she’s new but she was just left to it besides a few encouraging shouts. There was no actual tuition or explaining ‘how’ to swim on your back, she was even facing the wrong way at one point. I ended up kneeling at the side of the pool trying to explain to her, but surely that isn’t right? The teacher isn’t in the water by the way, which I think at this stage it would be better if she was.

I just felt gutted for her and really disheartened overall. Is this normal and am I being too sensitive?! Or do I need to find a different option?

That sounds like poor teaching. At that stage the teacher was in the pool with my dc. The class was much bigger too so less chance for 1 on 1 support but if the child clearly didn't understand they'd be shown what to do.

That said - you'd assume the teacher knows what they are doing if the other kids in the class have got to that stage. Maybe give them a chance?

It sounds absolutely diabolical.

But it is very cheap. We pay £28 a lesson!

I'd look into finding a better school/teacher. Or look up some YouTube videos and have a go yourself.

I would find somewhere else.
I pay £10 / lesson with the instructor in the water.

£28 a lesson???? For a group lesson or one to one?

Thanks for the replies!
I know what you mean about the other kids in the class being able to swim which is a good sign, but to be fair two of them looked around 7 years old and the Mum of the other younger looking child said they had been in the class for a quite a long time and she felt her daughter wasn’t progressing too much. She seemed to suggest it was more her daughter just not being ready to progress yet, rather than a criticism of the teaching.

I do think being in the water would make more sense, especially with my DD who needs a bit more encouragement. It is simple things too like my DD ended up being furthest away from the shallow edge where the teacher was, despite being the newest class member. So she could barely make out what the teacher was saying and was just too far away. If I was the teacher I would ensure my newcomers/beginners where closest so I could explain things better? Just didn’t seem to be any logic!

Small group, max of four but often less. Instructor in the water.

It is too expensive though. London. And there's a waiting list to get in too 🤦

Everyone banging on about how the op's lessons are cheap?!?! Might be geographical but I pay £25 a month for swimming lessons in the Midlands.

What were you expecting op? It takes time to learn to swim. You could pay for one on one lessons if you'd rather have someone in the water with her.

My youngest started lessons at 4.5 and is only just in stage 2 at 7. He struggled for a while but he seems to be getting it now. Little kids don't listen either. Maybe she isn't ready?

Sounds poor teacher to me

We pay £15 per 30m and in class of 5/6 tops

You being in the pool is pointless. Either take her yourself and save money or get proper lessons

The holiday ones are good as intensive so day after day after day and where May learn as it just clicks

I'm a swimming teacher op they should be in the water and supporting and correcting body position at that age. I'd change providers, I'm all for swimming independently however body positing is vital when learning, aswell as knowing how to stop.

I pay £27 a month in outer London for lessons through our local authority pool 😬

At that age and stage of teaching I'd expect the teacher to be in the pool with them. From observation and seeing my two through them, our lessons go from very beginner/getting used to the water, then to more confident but only just actually learning to swim (both with teachers in the pool), then into the bigger pool doing lots of practice on strokes (front and back) with floats, then practice with fewer floats/longer distance, etc etc.

Once my DC were big enough to engage with it, they raced through the lower levels, they picked it up really quickly. It doesn't sound like that's the case with your lessons - might be worth looking around elsewhere. We tried one set for about 6 months until I got irritated with the lack of progress (on the teacher's part, not my DC's!) and I moved them at which point they came on in leaps and bounds.

One extreme to another- you’ve essentially gone from baby swim to competent child swimming, completely missing the bit in the middle where they learn the basics with an instructor and not a parent in the water, usually about aged 3-4. The swim school sound shit and just after your money with no real teaching. Anywhere that does water confidence lessons with parents for a nearly 5YO is going to be useless because that’s only an appropriate level of class for under 2s.

based on your description I would probably give it another couple of lessons and then move if you aren’t happy. Agree with others that at this stage the teacher should be in the water at least some of the time. Ours (6yo, level 3 now) also spend a fair bit poolside each lesson looking at body shapes and hand/foot movements out of water where they can see properly.

that said, it does take ages to see progress. Some of it is age - it takes a while for whole body coordination to come together and some kids take longer than others. It is also partly due to accumulation of practice- 30 mins a week is not a lot. The kids we know who have really progressed (for 6yos) all spend summers somewhere with a pool where they spend multiple hours a day for weeks at a time. Not surprisingly mine made much better progress when we went to 2 lessons a week (one at school, one at a leisure centre) as well as the odd visit to the pool in addition. Depends on what you are looking to achieve - if you just want to ensure they can swim by the time they reach their teens / safe in water, etc. then weekly sessions are probably fine.

Would add that those early years sessions are not a waste, even if you see very little progress. Our were disrupted by covid, and coming back to swimming was much harder than I expected - despite having done lots of baby / toddler swim they were really nervous about it when we were able to restart at 5yo and the first 6 mos back was just getting them comfortable again with face in the water, floating, etc - skills that they were doing confidently at 2yo. I also see lots of kids starting at our pool for the first time at 6/7/8 and it is so much harder for them initially, though I think it evens out by 10-12yo for those idk to it.

I’d definitely expect the teacher in the pool for a beginners’ class. I get much better teaching than that for £26 a month and DD has flown through the levels. She’s 5 and working on Stage 4, and has only just moved to a class where the teacher is not in the water with them - now that it’s a class that uses the full length of the pool and they can all swim 25m+.

Thank you so much for everyone’s replies, it really helps to have some context and understanding of what is normal.

@PrimalOwl10 I’m glad you also think it makes sense to have teacher in the water for correct body positioning. This is how I imagined it would work.

@LBOCS2 That’s exactly how I imagined it going, I’m disappointed to have wasted so long with a swim school that does follow this logical process.

@FlounderingFruitcake Yes I totally agree, I get that a class move will always feel like a jump but it is like we’ve totally missed a step. I’m sure eventually she will get there but that isn’t the point, I am paying for a process and lessons so I don’t want her just to have to figure it out on her own.

@BelindaBears Thankntou for sharing. It is really good to know that actually happens in other places, I wasn’t sure if my expectations were just way too high and I didn’t understand how swimming lessons worked!

£23 quid a month with unlimited free swimming in any council pool up in sunny Scotland. Do you take your Dd swimming Op? I found my kids progressed fastest when we swim lots as a family. The teaching doesn’t sound great though. Although first lesson perhaps they were just seeing what she could do. I am amazed you are poolside, parents are considered a distraction and banished to the far side of a glass wall.

OP what swimming programme do the teachers follow? E.g. swim england? When you know that, google it and see what the different stages are and wht they need to be able to do to move up.

At my DDs leisure centre parents are only in the pool.up to pre school age, then from 4/5 they move into stage 1 where they focus on legs front and back, stagr 2 is introducing arms front anf back, and stage 3 onwards is focusing on technique (in big handfuls)

Our teacher is in the pool as well

I thought all teachers would be tbh while learning to swim or even as they get older and 8/10yrs

Terrible teaching OP. This is not how you teach a beginner to do anything. This is how you set them up for failure by failing to teach them the basics and expecting them to teach themself (often dressed up as "trial and error" which is code for not being taught at all) and then ever after they'll be too afraid to ask or know why they're doing very basic things slightly incorrectly.

I would just change swim schools.

The more I think about it the more I think how useless if teacher isn't in the water

Ours shows the kids what he means /wants them to do

If they are stuck /not doing it right he will go to them and show /position then /Tilt head back/ show arms etx

How many are in a class ?

We do private lessons so slightly more costly then typical town pool
Owns

But have 5/6 max and £15

It's practically 121 lessons as teacher spends time with each child

Think friend pays £10 a lesson and class of 10 at local pool

My dd has learn to swim
And strokes in a few months

My friends child same age has been doing lessons for two years and not swimming yet

Look up your local amateur swimming club. Ours is fantastic. They started in the baby pool with a teacher in the water with them. Parents not allowed poolside at all. Then as they progress they move them up and give pointers on technique.

I don't like the way you've described the classes she's attending.