Children and TeenagersThere is no strict age limit for children to join our main swim school. If a child has completed the STA First Steps programme with us, they will automatically be offered a place in the main swim school to continue their lessons.
If your child has no experience of water or swimming (other than the bath!), we offer dedicated learner sessions to allow children to find their fins in a smaller, more attentive group.
All of our swim school lessons are taught by a fully qualified STA Swim Teacher (many of our teachers are also ASA Qualified) and are attended by a fully qualified Pool Attendant.
Groups will not usually exceed 8 pupils and are, in most cases, taught from both poolside and in the water. This allows clear eye level communication, and increased confidence for children as having a strong swimmer in the water with them means they know someone will help them if they struggle.
We will use a 2nd teacher if part of a group is falling behind others as these smaller groups can help.
Positive peer group encouragement is also used as children sometimes explain things best to children and this allows good water sense to develop and a 'keeping an eye on your friends' mentality.
The most important factor is fun! We teach using games, toys, and floats as well as traditional coaching methods. Children need to enjoy their time in the water as well as learning to keep themselves safe.
TeachingWe believe it is important to allow children to develop at their own pace and within their physical abilities. For every Olympic level speed swimmer, there is a child who despite giving 100%, is not going to win a gold medal no matter how hard they are pushed.
These children have other skills such as being expert life savers, Olympic endurance swimmers, high board diving, even swim teachers of the future.
We work to identify their talent and nurture it in a way which will give them a sense of achievement, confidence and satisfaction.
We encourage parents to observe lessons away from eye contact with the children to improve children's water confidence; although we encourage full involvement with your child's progress, including family pool and beach trips so they can impress you with their amazing new skills!
STA Award SchemeWe follow the STA Award Scheme. Younger children (typically between 4-8 years, depending on the age they learnt to swim) follow the Stage 4 programme which works to achieve the Octopus, Goldfish, Angelfish and Shark Awards. At the end of this programme, children will be able to swim 100 metres with confidence, perform all swim strokes; dive confidently and safely from poolside, and understand their ability and basic water safety. Children are allowed to complete awards at their own pace, although we aim for most children to achieve a distance swimming badge and a water skills award every two or three sessions (half terms). We believe these to be the foundation for all other skills and we encourage all children to complete this level before choosing to specialise their swimming. In order to progress to more senior standards, children must be able to swim to the Shark Award standard. Older children can choose to follow one or more of 4 routes. 1. The Advanced Swimmer & Advance Water Safety Scheme The Advanced Swimmer develops all f4 swim strokes and increases distance abilities as the series advances. The Bronze, Silver and Gold awards are followed by Bronze, Silver and Gold Water Safety awards before a final Platinum award can be achieved which tests the skills of all the previous awards gained. 2. The Personal Survival Series is aimed at teenagers who are more prone to find themselves in a wide ranging set of difficult circumstances. This series addresses safety and life saving in deep water situations where the swimmer is fully clothed. 3. The NaRS Cross Awards are principally aimed at teenagers and young adults; they turn competent swimmers into potential lifesavers who can perform a rescue or resuscitation. There are 3 levels of award Bronze, Silver and Gold which get progressively more difficult and completed in turn. The only prerequisite to enter the scheme at the Bronze Award level is that the candidate is a competent, confident swimmer. At all levels, the core elements covered are:
4. The Student Teacher Certificate (STU) has been designed to provide preliminary training in the skills of teaching swimming for teenagers and young adults and is a natural stepping stone to a vocational qualification. It is intended that holders gain further practical experience by acting as an assistant to a qualified swimming teacher. The student must be 13 years of age, or older, on completion of the course; the upper age limit is 18 years and all students must be able to swim 100m in a competent manner and be confident in deep water. The course lasts for a minimum of 20 hours and will develop team building and life skills, with many cross-curricular links. The certificate is intended to build community awareness and responsibility to oneself and other, and to build confidence and self-esteem. If you have any questions regarding the lessons programmes, or the awards schemes which we follow, please contact us on 07974 692628. Intensive (Crash) Swimming CoursesWe offer Crash courses to all child age groups in the May and October half term, Easter and Summer Holidays. The sessions cover all abilities including beginners, improvers, length & speed swimming. The objective is to enable swimmers to reach the next level of their swimming ability. These are usually run from Stamford Bridge Primary School pool and consist of intensive 40 minutes sessions once per day for 5 days. Before each child is enrolled, we discuss with parents to understand each participants water experience, and what they hope to achieve from the week. We listen to the child in the lessons and work to achieve the aims set at the start of the week. We would aim for even the most nervous non-swimmer to be able to confidently self rescue by the end of the week. Many children are able to cover a distance of between 5-10 metres after the intensive sessions. These sessions are an excellent way to introduce a child to swimming lessons as the daily sessions build up early confidence for a longer term course of swimming lessons. | ||
23 Dorrington Close, Pocklington, York, YO42 2GS | T: 07974 692628
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