Info, tips, tricks, videos and articles aimed at supporting and education Swimming Teachers
251014 ‘PLAY’ In swimming lessons There is a lot of chat about the benefits of ‘play’ and ‘games’ in swimming lessons and a very wide disparity on what constitutes play, what sort of play should be encouraged, whether it is for enjoyment or stimulation, guided or unguided etc.This article is aimed at unravelling a load...
The Value of Play in Swimming Lessons Read More »
Swim England have done some research* (published in March 2025, showing that 70% of children are taken out of swimming lessons before they can swim competently putting them at risk in the water. What’s occurring? Let’s a take a look at some of the factors and what can be done about it. Not starting Swimming:...
WHY PUPILS STOP SWIMMING LESSONS EARLY Read More »
FEAR and DROWN PROOFING (See also: ‘Barriers to Learning’) In swimming tuition, we have two conditions that are applicable: Aquaphobia (Fear water): Aquaphobia is a specific phobia characterized by an intense and irrational fear of water. This fear can range from mild apprehension to complete panic and can disrupt a person’s daily life, not just swimming. The...
Fear of Water and Drownproofing Read More »
250730 BARRIERS IN LEARNING TO SWIM (See also: Fear & Drown proofing) Every teacher has come across the ‘reluctant’ pupil, those who struggle physically or mentally, are obviously frightened, have their parents ‘wrapped round their little finger’, are embarrassed or shy or are being forced to attend and so on.Most teachers are now starting to...
Barriers in learning to swim Read More »
It’s difficult in a short swimming lesson to be fair to everyone, time is not on your side, pupils may not respond the way you would like them to and so on. Fairness in teaching isn’t about treating all pupils the same. Instead, it’s about providing each pupil with the right personalised support to be the best they can or want to be, based on their unique needs and strengths. It’s is about equity, not equality—helping pupils access the same opportunity to do their best through individual input and tailored support – even though you have a lesson plan for the group as a whole.
All Pupils are Equal – Or are they? Read More »
The key question is:What is the purpose of babies and toddlers attending swimming lessons? How many parents actually ask this question – I suspect a very few and those who do probably are just wanting their baby to be able to swim and be safe in or near water. Safety will be dealt with (or...
Adult and Child swimming – The Essence Read More »
What constitutes a proper and effective Lesson Plan. Firstly, let’s look at what a Lesson Plan is and where it sits in the overall scheme of things. This is your plan of what you are going to teach to a particular class of your pupils at a particular time within a particular scheme of work...
How good is your double ‘S’ back crawl arm propulsion demonstration? During one of our CPD seminars, we asked all 60 odd delegates to stand and demonstrate a bent arm back crawl arm action as they would to their pupils. Only 2 were even remotely correct. Why is that?In simple terms, they did not understand...
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Demonstrating BackCrawl Arm Action Read More »
Did you know that you do not have to teach pupils to breathe to swim? If I had a pound for every teacher that I have heard who tells pupils that the most important thing in swimming is to be able to breathe, I’d be worth a few bob. This kind of comment is of...
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Why You dont need to learn to breathe Read More »
The question that every teacher needs to fully get to grips with is: “What is the most important part of the body governing the quality of your swimming technique?” You probably all know that this is the head, but if you thought something else, it’s time to reassess! There is one ‘guru’ currently pushing all...
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Why The Head is the key To everything Read More »
