Everyone active swimming lessons

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Is this normal? DD 4 went to waterbabies swimming lessons since she was 2, and they don’t use armbands to support swimming so she can float and swim on her front and back a short distance, she’s very confident in the water and will swim under water

We’ve moved so had to enroll in our local leisure centre. When I phoned up I was told she’d need to join state 1 (fair enough) and wear arm bands so they could see her ability

She’s had 4 lessons now with the stage 1 group, they just swim back and forth using their armbands and a woggle, a lot of children just flapping, floating or going round in circles while the teacher tries to push them in the right direction. My daughter will swim over and be stood for over 5 minutes waiting for 6 other kids to make their way. This is obviously fine as they are total beginners, however when I spoke to them about moving her up, they reeled off lots of things she couldn’t do well, meaning she won’t move up.

For example she can’t float well on her back wearing armbands, however she can float and swim without the armbands. They said she doesn’t understand water safety well as she doesn’t always listen at the lessons and will go underwater etc, but it’s because she’s bored

They’re are the only swimming lessons in our area, so it’s very frustrating.

Has anyone else experienced similar? They aren’t expensive but expensive enough when she’s learning nothing

My kids went to a swim school which followed the swim England stages and they never used anything other than a woggle for support.

My children do everyone active swimming lessons from stage one and never used arm bands. They did use noodles and the small boards sometimes but no arm bands

Hmm, I wonder if it depends on the leisure centre then? They said arm bands are a requirement, but most of them wear armbands and have a woggle round their waist.

That’s very strange that they use armbands. I’m d be changing to a different place.

Maybe ask to speak to reception and explain the situation? Say that she's done the equivalent of stage 1 already in your previous area.
My local is swim England and when I moced here they just asked if my son was confident going underwater and having water on his face - I said yes - they put him into stage 2 at age 4ish and then he progressed quick onto stage 3

My dc have always done swim lessons but have never used armbands. Usually they start with woggles in the tiny pool, floats and one once used a backpack/chest float device thing. Armbands are terrible for learning to swim

Maybe look on your local Facebook to see if there's anyone else who does lessons. Some private teachers use the school swimming pools here or leisure centres. Obvs more pricey usually

I wouldn't be happy! Stage 1 is really quite young and inexperienced and it's a lot of money to waste
You could just take her yourself every Sunday morning and swim for fun unaided until you get it sorted.

We use everyone active and I’ve never seen anyone wear arm bands in stage 1, they just use floats or wiggles at our centre. They’ve always seemed quite good at moving kids up who come in and are clearly above stage 1. Sounds like an issue with your teacher maybe?

How strange, I presumed arm bands were the norm for lessons where it was 1 teacher to multiple kids just for the safety aspect. I’ll definitely phone up and speak to them again, it really does feel like we’re back tracking massively when we put so much effort into getting her swimming independently

We don’t do armbands, but I have the same criticism that there’s a lot of floating and waiting around… my son has made some progress but we’ve been going since August and it’s been SLOW.

Cross posted. It’s just one teacher with ours too, up to 8 children. There is a lifeguard, too. They use floats sometimes but otherwise the swim teacher helps the non swimmers… goggles are allowed but nothing else.

Yeah it’s a lot of waiting considering they only get a half an hour lesson. I counted today that my daughter was left holding onto the side for just over 5 minutes while she waited for more instructions. No wonder she’s bored and was shivering

do you swim with everyone active too?

Is this David Lloyd’s?
I know they started using armbands a year or two ago. I heard (from another mum) that a child had drowned, and that’s why they require them now. It was not in a lesson, but I think they just do it now as a precaution. I don’t know which club it was at though.

you can get around it there by doing one on one lessons, although you have to ask for them.

This is very similar to my experience - arm bands (the floats rather than blow up ones) up and down a few times and no real teaching. It was the Swim England program. I felt my child actually got worse and lost a lot of confidence while he was in their lessons. I’d get her out asap.

No it’s not David Lloyd, but that’s really sad. I do understand the safety aspect, I suppose it wouldn’t be an issue if she couldn’t swim and did rely on support in the water but it’s the fact she can swim/keep afloat and is still required to wear them. I don’t get how she will progress

I've never seen the teachers use armbands at our leisure centre which was Everyone Active. They do use woggles and floats.
They also don't sell armbands at the shop in our leisure centre either.
I think I'd be looking for another swim school to be honest.

Another parent whose kids are in Everyone Active lessons and hasn’t seen kids wearing armbands. Our pool has a part that can have the depth changed so I think they’re in less than a metre of water in stages 1 and 2. Definitely look into lessons elsewhere.

We did switch to one on one lessons, as we were in a similar situation and felt armbands would have set dd back (switching to armbands after already being able to swim quite well).
She swims well now though.

Mine do leisure centre classes and never had armbands in stage 1. They did have a pool noodle and some floats. Is the pool yours go to quite deep? Ours was very shallow.

Yeah I think it’s 1m so it is deep for the shallow end I suppose

Mine is a different leisure centre brand but is our local council run swimming centre. The early classes can be painfully slow progress as the children hang around waiting for the teacher to help them do their turn A LOT. However they aren't allowed arm bands at all. Some newbies try to bring them and they are removed straight away.

I would get the syllabus for the stage and work on them when you take your DC in your own time and you can probably skip to the next stage quite quickly. As soon as your DC can do it ask them to assess them.

That may be why then

The rest sounds quite normal to me. I saw so many parents arguing with the teachers and receptionists saying their child should be moved up! I think sometimes they were correct and the admin was just slow to go through.

If the teachers are saying she cannot do x, y or z though, they probably have their reasons for keeping her in stage 1 for now. I don't think there's a huge amount of difference Between stage 1 and stage 2 (in our centre anyway), so I wouldn't worry too much about it. We actually asked for our little one to stay in stage 1 as it was a very unpopular time, so he had 1-to-2 teaching almost every week as only two in the class. The teacher agreed and only moved him up when she had to!

So I’ve looked through the criteria of stage 1 and I’m confident she can do it all. Like I said above she can’t float with armbands, but can without, she just isn’t given the chance to show them 🤷🏼‍♀️ it’s also things like swimming 5 metres with an aid, being able to climb out the pool, having water sprinkled onto their face, all very basic stuff

As a swimming teacher I can tell you that the relevant bit of your op is ‘she doesn’t understand water safety well as she doesn’t always listen’.
for any teacher, and company, the most important thing is safety. It doesn’t matter if your dd moves underwater if a parent is right there with her; that is a totally different thing to a stage 2 class (where you want her to be) where there are 7 other children and the teacher is likely out of the water. At EA it isn’t safe for a non-listening, non- safety conscious 4 yo to be in the water without a teacher (stage 2) or a parent if she could get out of her depth, and that’s why at EA 4 year olds aren’t allowed in stage 2, well - depending on specific pool.

No child should be wearing arm bands they are toys

I don’t think it sounds normal a child who can swim is to be kept with kids who are total beginners. What’s the point?

4yo’s aren’t allowed to move onto stage 2? My point is she is left to hold onto the side of the pool for 5+ minutes while the teacher supports other kids, I’m sure all 4 yo’s will get bored and start faffing on. We never once had an issue at her previous lessons and I can’t blame her tbh

I have had kids doing lessons at 2 different EA centres in different parts of England and they have never had arm bands. That's Ducklings > Stage 1 right through to Stage 7.

I wouldn't use any teacher who required arm bands. IMO they impede learning properly.