The percentage system that we have for our ‘GoLearn’ (go learn) system isn’t a true indication for a child's progress.
For example, in stage four, it's the same percentage increase for passing a push and glide to the floor as for passing breaststroke. The percentages aren’t weighted proportionally to the difficulty of the outcome, therefore this can give the false impression of children being close to passing.
To find out what children need to pass, log into the home portal, to view the child's assessment.
Absolutely yes - especially in the lower stages where confidence in water is essential.
If a child can already put their face in the water, demonstrate a basic kick and float well, then they will move up to stage two sooner.
It is still useful to bring children to swim alongside their swimming lessons, even in the higher stages, as even just playing about in the water increases core strength and fitness levels. Swimming often will help children move up the stages quicker.
Yes - any child on our programme is entitled to free swimming with a paying adult. We do this to encourage children to come along and practice their skills.
We don't advise bringing children swimming for longer than 15 minutes just before their swimming lesson - it greatly reduces the benefit of their lesson as they tire quickly and lose concentration.
There are many skills that aren’t assessed directly on the percentage system including skills such as strength, fitness and water confidence.
Children will be improving, even if the percentage score hasn’t increased. If a child isn’t making progress then their swim teacher will let the parent/carer know and suggest ways to help them.
Our Learn to Swim pathway shows what your child will learn in their lessons and when they will be ready to move up to the next stage.
Yes - autism shouldn’t be a barrier for a child learning to swim. We have many children in our programme that have autism, and we do our best to accommodate for their needs.
A child can attend any swimming lesson in our Learn to Swim programme, however if a child needs extra support, we run an autism specific course.
How we tailor dedicated swimming lessons for children with autism
We dim the lights, close most of the blinds, and provide a quiet environment to help children relax and enjoy a calmer and less noisy teaching environment.
We also have more teaching staff to provide extra care and allow us to adapt to a child’s needs.
If our special lessons don’t give a child the attention they need to succeed, we offer one-to-one and one-to-two sessions where the teacher can concentrate on just one child and help them learn to swim.
Every swim teacher teaches differently, and all children learn differently.
If a child isn’t improving, and the parent/carer has given them a good amount of time to improve, they can move their child to another teacher.
We understand that some children prefer one specific teacher, whereas other children prefer another.
School swimming lessons have some similarities with our Learn to Swim plan but follow a different programme and criteria.
School swimming lessons often have much larger class sizes and don’t always focus on breaststroke and butterfly. In our opinion, you should treat the school swimming as an addition to our swimming lessons, not a replacement.
We suggest buying goggles for children in stage two and three.
We recommend goggles for a child, wearing them makes swimming a lot easier.
Parents/carers should make sure their child’s goggles are fitted correctly before the swimming lesson, as adjusting goggles takes away a child's teaching time.
Every child progresses at different rates and some children may find some stages easier than others.
At stage four, the progression rate does slow down as a child needs to have mastered all four stroke kicks.
It is not unusual for a child to get stuck on one criteria for a long time. We have developed a scheme of work to help children in the harder areas such as breaststroke and butterfly.
We ask parents/carers to allow their child to enjoy their lessons and progress at their own speed.
Yes - every child should have the chance to learn to swim, our teachers are very patient and adaptable and we have specific lessons with extra support in there to give every child the chance to learn to swim.
If our special lessons don’t give a child the attention they need to succeed, we offer one-to-one and one-to-two sessions where the teacher can concentrate on just one child and help them learn to swim.
If you are at all concerned please don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss your options.
On enrolment of a child onto our swimming programme, the parents/carers should have been asked if there is anything medically we need to be aware of.
If you haven’t been asked this question please contact us so we can update our records.
Anything you feel would help us understand a child’s needs really does help our teachers understand and assist a child in our lessons.