Swimming lessons - Scottish framework (council) or private company?

[Nahgiem]

Hi, I wondered if anyone had any insight. My DC (6) has been going to swimming lessons for over a year with a national company and loves it. I had also put our names on the waiting list for council run lessons at a high school and it looks like we're now top of the list and I will get to decide this week if we take a place or not.

The council ones are cheaper and follow the national framework, whereas the current ones don't, from what I can tell. Those are the two main benefits of moving. The drawback is I'd have to drive a bit (20+ minutes each way) in rush hour, whereas we can walk to our current one, and I'm worried DC won't enjoy it as much or something. I'll also lose a little money in the notice period paying for both, but if we stayed with the council ones long term then I'd still save money.

Is it worth being on the national framework? It sounds like it might cover more things than the current lessons but I'm not sure. Also, in case it becomes a more serious hobby when older I suppose, maybe that's best?

It depends what you're aiming for. Some people keep their children at swimming lessons for years until they've completed all the levels. If you want this then you'd probably be better with the national framework.
Others, like me, send them until they can swim a couple of lengths in breast stroke and crawl and then stop lessons and just go swimming as a family thereafter. That also gave mine the time to move onto another after school hobby.

Thanks, I don't know which we'll do to be honest. I was going to just play it by ear but didn't know if it was better to switch in case it becomes a proper hobby at some stage, but maybe I could wait and switch at 8 or 9 if that was the case?

The current classes are quite small, and whilst progress hasn't been anything amazing, it's still progress, and enjoyable, so I'm nervous of the risk in case the new lessons have loads more people or are too stern and not fun. But also wary of passing up the opportunity if they would be better..!

You might find they're a bit behind joining the national framework now. My eldest ds finished it by 6.5 and my youngest by 7.5 (he had a year out for COVID). They both had classes since birth but joined the structured lessons age 3. They'll quickly catch up but it's something to consider, if they might feel out of place in a class of you get kids.

If you think they might progress onto club swimming I'd go with the national framework.

Younger* not you get

Wow, I had no idea they could finish all the levels so young! Yes, maybe that would be an issue then. DC is nearly 7, the best in their small class of 4 but still at low levels as they only started swimming a year ago. On the framework, they'd be going in at level 1 (what they've covered so far supposedly equates to fundamentals plus a little bit of level 1).

Speak to the swimming coordinator at the pool and see what they think. They'll asses their ability and place them in a suitable class. My Ds's went to West Lothian pools and level 1 would have been mostly 4 year olds, level 2 and 3 would be P1/P2 age mostly. You don't want to dent their confidence by putting them in class of mostly preschoolers. Neighboring friends kids in Falkirk, seem to progress the levels much slower due to waiting list issues, teacher absence etc.

But bearing in mind my children are older so COVID will have meant a delayed start to swimming for some, this may have changed slightly in recent years. And some kids will progress through the levels quicker than others.

I did find the framework really useful as you could track progress via the app and see what skills had been assessed and what they needed from develop on before moving up. Both of mine stayed at the 'club ready' stage for a while as they can't start clubs until 8yrs old but at that point decided swimming was not their sport. Although neither have had formal lessons for a couple of years both are still very strong swimmer and I'm so glad we preserved with the lessons!

My main objective, and I am glad was recommended by a work colleague, would be to get them swimming well as quickly as possible. I have no idea how parents cope with YEARS of swimming lessons every week a year drove me nuts. dc also quickly lose motivation and it ends up just being another swim rather than learning new skills and progressing quickly.

ds started swimming lessons around 7-8 years old and within a year had passed all levels and also had his bronze rookie lifeguard (swimming 20 lengths in PJs for a warm up!)

We did it with one 30 min group session a week for a year to get the badges and a 20 min one to one session once a week for around 9 months. It cost more each week, but probably still much less than the cost of swimming lessons/fuel/snacks over years.

If you can afford it, save your sanity and throw money at it short term and you will save in the long term.

That's not a bad idea! I can see at this rate it would probably take another couple of years at these 30 min term time only group lessons to get halfway decent. I heard of people doing intensive courses every morning for a week or so during the holidays as well, but haven't seen anything like that in my area yet. Maybe I'll look into private lessons then and see if we can speed it up a bit so she's at least a reasonably competent swimmer by the time she's 8.

The woman ds got allocated to him at the one to one sessions was brilliant - we really struck gold with her, ds was a bit disappointed when she took him as there were young guys there also doing lessons and she was a bit older but she was obviously very experienced. I was a bit sceptical at first as the lessons were only 20 mins but watching it an intense lesson for 20mins worked well and was the right balance between enough time to keep concentration on learning but without losing motivation.

She was in the water with him and very hands on showing him exactly how to move his arms, moving his arms for him, for each stoke and correcting when he was off.

He could then practice his new skills each week in the group lessons and was motivated to get his badges. I never learned to swim 😳 so it was important to me ds did, thanks to her he has a brilliant swimming technique and glides through the water beautifully.