Swimming lesson criteria

We offer pre-school, junior and adult swimming lessons.

Adult and child swimming lessons

Adult and child swimming lessons are suitable for children up to three years old.

Children under three years old are accompanied into the water by a parent or guardian with a ratio of one adult per child.

The following adult and child lessons are available:

Adult and child 6 to 12 months

Lessons for children aged 6 to 12 months focus on group interactions and sensory movements through games and songs.

Adult and child 12 to 24 months

Lessons for children aged 12 to 24 months focus on giving young children water confidence, using songs and games to assist their development within a group environment.

Adult and child 24 to 36 months

Lessons for children aged 24 to 36 months focus on encouraging further water confidence and enabling children to move through the water on their own without being held by an adult.

Pre-school swimming lessons

Pre-school swimming lessons are suitable for children aged three to five years old.

Lessons are held in groups of four children. Children aged three to four are assisted by a swimming teacher in the water.

The following pre-school lessons are available:

Pre-school beginner

To join these lessons children must be able to enter the pool safely.

Pre-school beginner lessons will help children:

• Learn water safety skills
• Develop flotation skills
• Travel up to 5m with and without swim aids
• Build confidence in the water

Pre-school improver

To join these lessons children must be able to travel without a swim aid and submerge their face in the water.

Pre-school improver lessons will help children:

• Continue building water confidence
• Aim to travel 5m on their front unaided
• Aim to travel 3m on their back unaided

Pre-school advanced

To join these lessons children must be able to travel 5m with their face submerged in the water.

Pre-school advanced lessons will help children:

• Continue developing their front and back paddle
• Improve their overall water skills
• Practice push and glides
• Aim to be assessed for stages 1-3 once at the correct age

Junior swimming lessons

Junior swimming lessons are suitable for children who are at full time school and who are five years old and above or will turn five before 31 August 2025.

Swimming lessons for stages 1 to 4 take place in the teaching pool, and stages 5 to 10 take place in the main pool. Rookie Lifeguards, Swim Fitness Junior and Swim Fitness Teen sessions all take place in the main pool.

Stage 1

To join these lessons, children will be new to a lesson environment and non-swimmers, but must be able to enter the pool safely.

Stage 1 lessons will help children:

• Build water confidence
• Learn water safety skills
• Develop basic skills to improve swimming ability 

Stage 2

To join these lessons children must be able to swim 3m on their front with their face in the water unaided.

Stage 2 lessons will help children:

• Streamline their strokes
• Travel without their feet on the floor
• Develop kicking techniques on their front and back

Stage 3

To join these lessons children must be able to swim 5m front crawl and 5m backstroke.

Stage 3 lessons will help children:

• Develop their kicking techniques for both front crawl and backstroke

Stage 4

To join these lessons children must be able to travel up to 10m front crawl and 10m backstroke

Stage 4 lessons will help children:

• Develop their leg kick for all four strokes
• Further develop push and glide techniques
• Introduce sculling skills
• Be introduced to the main pool and achieve 10m front crawl and backstroke

Stage 5

To join these lessons children must be able to swim 15m using basic front crawl and backstroke, have some knowledge of breaststroke, and be confident swimming in the deep end of the main pool.

Stage 5 lessons will help children:

• Develop their skills in treading water
• Develop breaststroke technique 
• Learn the correct arm pulls for all four strokes
• Practice water skills

Stage 6

To join these lessons children must be able to swim 25m basic front crawl, 25m basic backstroke, and 15m basic breaststroke.

Stage 6 lessons will help children:

• Learn how to prepare for exercise
• Develop an efficient technique for all four strokes
• Further develop surface diving

Stage 7

To join these lessons children must be able to swim 50m using front crawl and backstroke with good technique, and 25m using basic breaststroke with some knowledge of butterfly.

Stage 7 lessons will help children:

• Fully develop all four swimming strokes
• Build stamina and endurance
• Improve their diving skills

Stage 8

To join these lessons children must be able to swim 200m and have good technique in front crawl, backstroke, and breaststroke, and have basic skills in butterfly.

Stage 8 lessons will help children:

• Further develop all four swimming strokes
• Build stamina and endurance
• Improve tumble-turns for all four swimming strokes

Stage 9

To join these lessons children must be able to swim 600m and have good technique in front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke, and have basic skills in butterfly.

Stage 9 lessons will help children:

• Further develop all four swimming strokes
• Build stamina and endurance to swim up to 800m
• Introduce racing start underwater phases for the four swimming strokes

Stage 10

To join these lessons children must be able to swim 800m in under 25 minutes and have correct technique in front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke and have good technique in butterfly.

Stage 10 lessons will help children:

• Further develop all four swimming strokes
• Build stamina and endurance to swim up to 1500m
• Relay take overs and rules around competitive swimming

Rookie Lifeguards

To join Rookie Lifeguards, pupils should be at least eight years old and have reached stage 9 or above.

Rookie Lifeguards will help pupils:

• Learn lifesaving skills
• Learn rescue techniques
• Gain Bronze, Silver and Gold RLSS Rookie Lifeguard Awards

Swim Fitness Junior

To join Swim Fitness Junior, pupils should be between 10 and 12 years old and have reached stage 9 or above.

Swim Fitness Junior will help pupils:

• Further develop all four swimming strokes
• Build stamina and endurance

Swim Fitness Teen

To join Swim Fitness Teen, pupils should be between 12 and 15 years old and have reached stage 9 or above.

Swim Fitness Teen will help pupils:

• Further develop all four swimming strokes
• Build stamina and endurance

Adult group swimming lessons

The following adult group lessons are available:

Adult beginners

To join these lessons adults must be able to enter the pool safely.

Adult beginner lessons will help you:

• Gain confidence moving around the pool
• Achieve basic aquatic skills: entries, exits, buoyancy, balance, and aquatic breathing
• Learn to swim with aids and start swimming independently over short distances (5 to 10m)
• Learn to swim 5 to 10m without floatation aids

Adult improvers

To join these lessons adults must be able to swim 15m to 25m front crawl and backstroke independently.

Adult improver lessons will help you:

• Achieve a reasonable standard of front crawl and backstroke
• Focus on improving specific strokes and techniques
• Improve on your breathing, kicking, body positioning and timing
• Build stamina to swim distances up to 50m

Adult advanced

To join these lessons adults must be able to swim 50m to 100m front crawl and backstroke independently.

Adult advanced lessons will help you:

• Develop a reasonable understanding of breaststroke
• Build stamina to swim distances further than 50m
• Increase your ability to swim longer distances
• Refine your swimming techniques for each stroke