Aquatic Education Structure

Water Confidence 1 & 2 The water confidence class is designed to educate both the parent and the child on the basics of water safety. It teaches the child to love and respect that water in a happy environment, with the least amount of stress as possible. This is a 30 minute class with a maximum of six children in each class. The children can vary from 4 months to 3 years of age; however classes are grouped with children of similar ages.

The parents are also required to attend the classes. If you are the parent participating in the class, it is a good idea to wear a T-shirt. This enables the child to pull him/herself up without the help of the parent. For health and safety reasons, all children 3 years and under are required to wear an approved swim nappy at all times.

Beginner 1 & 2 Beginners' is the first level of teaching where the child experiences a class without their parent. In that class the children develop their breathing ability, and learn to do 'Big Arms'. It strengthens their ability to swim in their own, and encourages them to swim in deep water unassisted. Beginners are divided into two separate groups, known as Beginners 1 and Beginners 2. The difference with the two levels is that Beginner 1 kids are just learning their arms and getting the concept of using a kick board. Beginner 2 kids are much stronger then a beginner 1 and should now be able to kick by themselves on the board doing their 'Big Arms'. By this stage they should be doing their 'Big Arms' without the board unassisted by the teacher and coming up for a breath.

It is in this level that the child has to swim 10m doing 'Big Arms' without hesitation before moving up to the next level. Once strong at doing this and confident on their own, the child then progresses to Intermediate 1. This is a 30 minute class with a maximum of four children. The class is divided up into two sections with 15 minutes taught in an area where the child can stand up, and the remaining 15 mins spent in deep water.

Intermediate 1 & 2 Intermediate 1 is the first level that the children will experience rolling onto their ear to breathe, however the child must have a good streamline position, very strong kicking and stroking technique before this is taught. This stage aims to strengthen the child’s freestyle by improving their technique, and introduce them to backstroke and butterfly. Intermediate 2 aims to strengthen freestyle, backstroke and butterfly, before moving on to swim longer distances. The child must have a good streamline position body position, very strong kicking and stroking technique.

Getting a child to start swimming laps too early can cause their stroke to become sloppy, however, it’s always a good idea to introduce the child to longer distances now and then, to avoid the child becoming frightened.

Advanced 1 & 2 The Advanced class is the next level up from Intermediate 2. This class works on stamina, strength and teaching the child to breathe correctly, before being put up to Beginner Transition. This class is held in both the big pool and the teaching pool. Advanced is also divided into two separate groups, known as Advanced 1 and Advanced 2.

The difference with the two levels is that the Advanced 1 children are performing all the strokes correctly and independently, however the Advanced 2 children are much stronger and almost ready for the Beginner Transition where the child is then required to swim 45 minutes in the pool consistently. This is a 30 minute class with a maximum of five children, class sizes vary a little depending on the ability of the children in the class.

Beginner Transition & Transition The Beginner Transition is the next level up from Advanced 2. This class works on Stamina and Strength to enable the child to smoothly progress into the transition level, where the child is then expected to swim 25m laps with the teacher out of the water. Beginner Transition is the last level where the child gets hands on work with the teacher, so it is important that throughout this level the children are taught the correct techniques of all strokes.

This is a 45 minute class with a maximum of 6 children. The children will be required to swim 12.5m laps consistently throughout the class. The Next level up from Beginner Transition, is Transition. This level is the swimmers transition from Learn to Swim, to our Squad program. There is a maximum of 8 children per class, and the child will be required to swim 25m laps constantly. It is this level that the child will havea solid grounding in all 4 strokes.