Is it 'alright' to stop swimming lessons

[Monvelo]

At this point? DD is just turned 10, she's in stage 6 of the swim England scheme. She's had 6yrs of swimming lessons, give or take. She's had either 30 or even 40 lessons at stage 6. I don't know if she'll pass this time or not, find out later today. She doesn't want to go anymore so it's a struggle of nagging and arguments to get her there, although she's generally fine when she's there. If I 'let' her stop now, she's got lessons with the school in the spring and I will see about doing the lifeguard skills courses starting with bronze in the summer. Is this 'enough'?! I'm looking for validation to stop flogging this! DH wants her to keep it up. But he doesn't take her.

That’s what I mean - just doing the one term a year, not lessons every week.

Mine stopped when they got their stage 8 badges and then did an extra life saving course. They were both around ten years old, probably year 5.

I appreciate not all kids take to swimming (I didn’t!) but they should be able to swim at least 100 metres. Swimming to save your life in the sea or a river is in no way the same as doing a couple of lengths in the pool.

No she's in year 5. She passed stage 6 last night so that's great! She's currently 'thinking' about whether to do stage 7.

It sounds reasonable. DS has recently stopped age 10. Think around equivalent of stage 6. It's been a challenge for years as he hates swimming but not something I was prepared to compromise on. We agreed when he could swim a few lengths and keep himself safe we'd stop. And that's what we did. He's just moved to an independent school too though where they do a full term of swimming each year which is 2 times a week in the pool so I knew he'd carry on there.
DD is 7 and probably not far off the same stage (but loves swimming which probably explains why she's more advanced) but we'll keep her going as long as she's happy swimming.

Mine are stopping at Stage 4 (in Wales but pretty sure it follows the same patterns). I just wanted them to be able to swim and float a bit and then we'll take them on weekends for stamina. We're not near a beach or big into swimming/water sports, otherwise I might feel a bit differently.

Yes of course. Both DDs stopped long before ten as they wanted to do other things.

At 30-40 Lessons I'd be contacting the swimming school and asking them what's the problem. This happened to my DD at grade 7. The school had an app which recorded their progress and she was stuck at 93% for 6 weeks. I sent an email and got a groveling apology - they hadn't been teaching new stuff because so many new people had started (that's fine but I'm not paying for her to 'literally' tread water). Needless to say, they tested her the following week and she reached 100% and passed - she then stopped immediately.

Your DD can swim well enough for safety reasons or a splash about with her mates on holiday. She's not aiming for the Olympics so I'd let her stop. My DS stopped after stage 5 because he was so bored with it all. He can swim fine.

Most children who die / get into difficulties in the sea can ‘swim’ but not swim 100m in one go or panic when their face gets wet. There is a link between being able to swim 100m non-stop in a pool, being able to tolerate water on your face in a pool & sea survival.

Having grown up in South Africa, I was quite surprised when I first moved here to discover how many people are not that comfortable in water. To be fair, I think it's relatively easy to avoid tricky water situations here - when I was at school things like school or hobby residential trips often involved being near pools/rivers/lakes/sea and it was just assumed we'd all spend a lot of time swimming - but in my 20s I did loads of travelling and being able to swim confidently was definitely a plus while in places like the Mediterranean etc. So yes, @CocoDC articulates well what I meant by my original list of things they must do. Those skills, even years later, can prevent someone from panicking in an unexpected situation.