There are many variables that affect the length of time it will take your child to learn to swim. These include their starting ability, your expectations of how well they should swim, previous experience in the water – good or bad, their personal level of risk taking and their attendance to regular swimming lessons.

All children start swimming lessons with different levels of ability, for most the new experience means they are learning more than just how to swim. For some it may be their first experience in a structured class without their parent or caregiver, therefore time to adjust to the new physical and social environment should be expected.

Once your child is comfortable with their surroundings and attending their lessons regularly, you will start to notice significant progress. Our teaching method means that new skills are constantly introduced, corrected and repeated to build a strong imprint of how to swim.

It is normal to experience periods of plateau whilst your child is learning to swim, if you have concerns, you can discuss these with the lead teacher, who can help work out a plan to move forward. These periods can often be resolved with the introduction of a new challenge to encourage, focus and motivate your child.

Swimming lessons should be thought of as a long-term process, part of your child’s routine to allow proper development of aquatic skills that will result in a valuable life skill.

Swimming goggles are not a requirement for beginners but once your child is swimming competently and gaining speed whilst swimming, we recommend that they are worn to improve vision underwater and to reduce the risk of collisions.

We advise that any snacks are eaten an hour before the start of your child’s swimming lesson. Small easily digestible foods are recommended. Children swallow lots of air in the learning process and sometimes the level of energy used during our lessons will cause their bodies to reject any recent food.

Arrive early to the swimming pool; make sure you have everything they need so you can calmly get them dressed and ready for their lesson. Take some time to have a chat to the lead teacher, so they can discuss any worries your child might have and explain what they can expect for their first swimming lesson, its best to remove the fear of the unknown as soon as possible.

New experiences can be daunting so being positive, encouragement helps your child realise that there isn’t anything to be worried about. Follow the teacher’s lead, they will have seen many worried children who are anxious about swimming.

Term time lessons take a break during school holidays, but we offer a holiday swimming program – Challenge Swimming!

We constantly monitor the children’s progress, the class teacher will always teach to the highest ability within the group so we like to make sure the move happens at the right time to make sure your child continues to enjoy their lessons. If you have concerns or queries, please talk to the lead teacher poolside, who will be able to explain your child’s current ability.

It is likely that for the majority of the term your child will be taught by one or two of the same teachers, however we occasionally rotate teachers as we find this helps the children develop confidence and prevents them from becoming dependent on their favourite teacher. All of our teachers need to take a day off sometimes and we would like our swimmers to enjoy their lesson despite this. There are other benefits too – all of our teachers have different styles of teaching, this means your child gets to experience a well-rounded approach to swimming.

Our inclusive, start-anytime programme makes it difficult to run a swimming badge system. We don’t want to exclude any children from receiving a badge, nor do we wish to make any child feel they haven’t progressed. We focus on trying hard every week, moving up when they are ready rather than ticking boxes and waiting until the next term to try new skills. We do however assess children for their Rainbow, Brownie, Cubs or Scouts swimming badges.

If your child is out of nappies and is fully toilet trained they do not require a swim nappy for their lessons, however you know your child best and if you have any doubts please bring a swim nappy for their lesson – contaminations in the water can be very disruptive and can affect everyone planning on using the swimming pool.