Benefits of Swimming Lessons For Children

There are many benefits to children learning to swim, some of which are outlined below.

Water fear prevention: Learning to swim early can help children feel comfortable and confident in the water, preventing fear or phobias from taking hold.
Water safety: Swimming lessons teach children vital life-saving skills and how to stay safe around pools, lakes, rivers, or the sea, reducing the risk of accidents.
Physical development: Regular swimming is an all-around workout that boosts heart health, builds stronger muscles, and improves coordination and flexibility.
Social benefits: In our friendly group lessons, children learn alongside peers, build communication skills, and often make friends.
Cognitive improvement: The cross-body movements in swimming strokes naturally stimulate the brain.

Children’s Swimming Lessons Program: What to Expect

Our children's lessons are designed to boost confidence while enhancing skill levels. They will also assist your child in transitioning to parent-free swimming and acquiring water safety skills.

Teaching Approach: Our coaches are in the water with our swimmers from Stage 1 until approximately Stage 6. These levels are fundamental to a child’s swimming development, stroke technique and general confidence. With a personable approach, the support that we provide from within the water and the ability to quickly correct a child’s technique make our approach and structure different from other swim schools. It allows a child to become confident quickly and progress rapidly. Our coaches are highly experienced, and most come from competitive swimming backgrounds, which means our swimmers get first-class demonstrations and learn from the best. Most of our classes are 1:1 or 2:1, which means that when a child is ready to move on to the next level, our coach will start teaching the new competencies right away, rather than having to switch to a different class or wait until the next term. With our small group sizes, our coach can have swimmers swimming together with almost no time sat on the side of the pool. Our swimmers tend to progress together and encourage each other, which means that they can progress through the stages side by side.

Skills Taught:

Non-Swimmer (Stage 1)

Safe water entry.
Moving around the pool holding the poolside for safety.
Float on the back with ears submerged.
Complete a 5 second star float unassisted.
Jump in the water and attempt to swim to the coach (up to 2m).
Regain an upright position from the back with support.
Regain an upright position from the front with support.
Submerge face and blow bubbles.
Push and glide in a horizontal position from the poolside on the front with face
submerged.
Push and glide in a horizontal position from the poolside on the back with ears
submerged.
Take part in a coach-led partner-oriented game.

Beginners (Stage 2)

Travel on the back for 5m with a flat body position attempting arms out of the water.
Travel on the front for 5m with a flat body position attempting arms out of the water.
Jump from poolside and attempt to swim to the coach up to 5m.
Regain an upright position from the back without support after 5 seconds of flotation.
Regain an upright position from the front without support after 5 seconds of
flotation.
Push and glide from the wall up to 5m on the back.
Push and glide from the wall up to 5m on the front.
Blow bubbles for a minimum of 3 times rhythmically with face submerged.
Perform a rotation from the front to the back to regain an upright position.
Perform a rotation from the back to the front to regain an upright position
Develop a basic understanding of breaststroke.

Beginners 1 (Stage 3)

Jump from the poolside and submerge up to 1.2m.
Travel 10m on the back with straight leg kick and arms coming out of the water.
Travel 10m on the front with straight leg kick with arms coming out of the water.
Sink, push away from the wall and maintain a streamline position.
Push and glide on the front with arms extended and log roll onto the back.
Push and glide on the back and log roll onto the front.
Develop an understanding of water safety.
Develop a basic understanding of bilateral breathing.
Fully submerge to pick up an object on the pool floor.
Travel on the front, tuck and rotate around the horizontal access and return on the
back.
Have a fair understanding of breaststroke timing, arms, legs and breathing

Beginner 2 (Stage 4)

Demonstrate an understanding of buoyancy.
Travel 20m on the back showing correct leg and arm action and correct entry of
the arm.
Travel 20m on the front showing correct leg and arm action and correct entry of
the arm.
Swim 20m front crawl showing fair technique, breathing to the side correctly
Understand the dolphin leg kick.
Perform a tuck float for 5 seconds.
Perform a sequence of changing shapes whilst floating flat on the surface
(minimum 3).
Push and glide from the wall to the pool floor.
Kick 15m breaststroke on the front unaided.
Travel on the front and roll in one continuous movement onto the back.
Travel on the back and roll in one continuous movement onto the front

Beginner 3 (Stage 5)

Perform a 30m warm up in front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke.
Perform a feet first horizontal scull on the back for 5m.
Perform 3 different shape jumps.
Tread water for 30 seconds.
Swim 30m backstroke with good technique and correct leg kick.
Swim 30m front crawl with face in the water and correct body position with bilateral
breathing.
Swim 30m breaststroke with good understanding of coordination of the stroke.
Swim 15m butterfly with basic stroke technique.
Perform a forward somersault tucked in the water

Improver 1 (Stage 6)

Perform an 80m warm up in front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke.
Sink push off the wall, glide kick and rotate into backstroke.
Sink push off the wall, glide kick and rotate into front crawl.
Demonstrate a basic understanding of turns.
Swim front crawl to include at least six rhythmical breaths.
Swim breaststroke to include at least six rhythmical breaths.
Swim butterfly to include at least 6 rhythmical breaths.
Swim 75m - choice of stroke is optional.
Perform a surface dive

Improver 2 (Stage 7)

Perform a 120m warm-up incorporating front crawl, backstroke, breaststroke & butterfly.
Swim 100m backstroke.
Swim 100m front crawl.
Swim 100m breaststroke.
Swim 75m butterfly.
Perform a movement sequence of 1 minute.
Develop an understanding of diving starts and the transition into the stroke.
Swim 150m continuously using a minimum of 3 strokes.
Tread water using egg beater action for 1 minute.
Develop a good understanding of turns and the transition into the stroke.

Improver 3 (Stage 8)

Complete a warm-up using all 4 major strokes over 200-400m.
Complete a set lasting 400m (e.g. 16 x 25m) on a specific turnaround time set by the
coach.
Swim 200 – 400m continuously using 1 stroke.
Perform a backstroke turn from 10m in to 15m out.
Perform a breaststroke turn from 10m in to 15m out.
Perform a butterfly turn from 10m in to 15m out.
Perform a front crawl turn from 10m in to 15m out.
Swim 100 m butterfly.

Class Details

Format: Various class sizes are available depending on location and level, get in touch to learn more

Duration: Each session lasts for All lessons are 30-minutes other than Squad which is an 1hr.

Number of Lessons: 43 lessons per year

Class Size: Children's classes are small groups, typically 4-8.

Frequency: One lesson per week. Some families book two lessons per week.

Location(s): Our children's swim school lessons are held at all our pool locations

FAQs

Can I sit and watch my child?

Yes, parents can sit and watch their child to monitor their progress and get reassurance.

If my child can’t swim, are they allowed to attend?

It doesn't matter if your child hasn't attended the baby swim classes. Our child swim classes will meet your child's needs. Our expert coaches will quickly assess and tailor the program to their specific requirements.

Why can’t I stay in the water?

The classes are designed to help reduce water fear and build confidence. This independence will help your child progress faster and learn water safety skills.

Are coaches fully qualified?

All coaches are fully qualified, DBS-checked, insured, and highly experienced in teaching young children. Swim Generation has successfully trained thousands of children.

Swimming Lessons for children

We accept swimmers from age 2 onwards, without a parent in the water.