Swimming levels? Better Leisure

[Hamstar]

Hi mums!

My kids started swimming lessons back in August after a crash course. DS9, bless him, is asd and won’t tolerate water in his face, desperate to not be a ‘red hat’ anymore whilst his sister (8) is flying through and now on Green.

Does anyone know what scheme Better gyms are based on? At ours it’s Foundation (Red, Amber, Green) then Development (Bronze, Silver, Gold) and finally Academy (no idea!). This doesn’t seem to be what any other club does on the whole of Google! They all seem to run on Swim England 1-7/8-10 scheme or very similar.

DD8 wants to make a checklist of everything she needs to do through the stages but we can only see the foundation stage on the app, and they never update her progress.

Thanks in advance :)

(Sorry if this is the wrong forum I wasn’t sure where to post!)

I've had a quick google and better gyms seem to follow the IFSTA - the international federation of swimming teachers association... not that that gives much info on programme.

Does your daughter have any certificates from when she changed classes ... these might give you a clue to which programme. It could be STA whose programme is here... https://www.sta.co.uk/international-learn-to-swim-programme/awards/ but if it is your daughter will have some of their awards.. the gym should be able to give their targets for each stage though.

Tbh if you son cannot out his head in the water then swimming lessons as they are are not for him. He will just see lots of smaller kids progress past him. I would suggest if you can afford it some separate individual lessons with a teacher that has some experience in SEN to get him going. Or if not pull him out for now and try him again in a year or so.

Yeah I noticed on their website it says they follow their schemes but they don’t 🤣

I don’t really want to pull him out as he’s got so much more confidence. He’s very stubborn too and although he wants to progress and wants to get his face wet etc, he just won’t. It’s be no difference face to face or in an SEN group. He starts swimming with school after Xmas too so want him used to it. He loves going and he loves swimming for fun (with his floats of course). He can always go in the older non swimmers group if he needs to at some point so not really worried about being overtaken by smaller kids. We’ve explained it just takes longer for some than it does others. If he said he wanted to stop, that’s different.

Sorry to jump on an old thread but did you ever find out what on earth Better are doing? My child just achieved "Red" but no certificate or anything. They're desperate for a badge to sew on their towel and for the life of me I can't work out what the equivalent is to buy! The centre are not being helpful either.

Hiya, yes the levels are - red, orange, green for foundation. Bronze, silver, gold for development. No badges, but you do get a downloadable certificate so I print them off and put them with the colour hat. Bit disappointing not getting badges but my daughter is 9 now and not too bothered. She’s flown up to bronze since my first post. My son is 10 however and still in red 🤣 massive fear of water in his face!

not sure if all better swim schools are the same though.

They get a hat?? Our certificates don't show up on the system so I'm going to have to go and ask at reception next week.
We moved my eldest (11 - autistic and has ADHD) over from a different swimming system where he was up to swim school level 6 and Better have put him into Red and not assessed since early this year. I don't understand why they have to make it so complicated 😅

So they start with a red hat and then as they move groups they go through colours. Our badges show up when they pass the grade in the home portal where the percentage shows what they’ve achieved. They don’t always update it though. I can’t complain too much as my son’s teacher is amazing and so patient with him and his fears.