Learn to Swim pathway

Learn to Swim pathway

Learn to Swim is a national pathway for those learning to swim.

Swim England: Pre-school framework

Discovery Duckling: for babies three months to three years to introduce baby to the water at an early age assisted by an accompanying adult.

Ducklings: for toddlers up to school age to help them gain water confidence and begin the first steps of learning to swim (with accompanying adult).


Swim England: Learn to Swim framework

See a detailed breakdown of each Learn to Swim stage.

Stage one

  • for beginners to develop basic safety awareness and water confidence; swimmers may use float aids

Stage two

  • developing safe entries into the water, basic floating skills and travelling up to five metres

Stage three

  • further developing safe entries including submersion and travelling up to 10 metres; swimmers will be assessed without float aids

Stage four

  • developing buoyancy skills, kicking technique for all strokes and swimming 10 metres

Stage five

  • developing skills through sculling and treading water and complete rotation; four strokes over 10 metres

Stage six

  • developing effective skills across all strokes and water safety skills; work on effective breathing

Stage seven

  • developing pool entry skills and further stroke development; overall stroke timing

Completing stage one to seven

After working through all the stages, learners can then progress onto:


Stage eight to ten (Swim England Aquatic Skills Framework)

Stage eight

  • developing more advanced swimming techniques and turn ability across all strokes; completing a 400 metre set on a specified turn-around time

Stage nine

  • working towards completion of an 800 metre set with a specified turn-around time and turn development

Stage ten

  • underpinning previous skills already learnt and 1,200 metre swim time sub 24 minutes

Lifesaving

Rookie one National

  • For children eight and over to start their Rookie journey – Rookie bronze award 1, 2 and 3 allows children to understand how to make a safe rescue, the dangers of water and a some first aid.

National Lifesaving Academy

  • The RLSS UK National Lifesaving Academy helps to teach personal survival, first aid, CPR and fitness skill for children aged 12 and above. 

Rykneld Synchro Club

An introduction to artistic swimming.


Chesterfield Swimming Club

An introduction into the competitive world of swimming.