As I mentioned in my first post about the British Swim School 2 weeks ago, Bergen (4.5 years) and Georgia (16 months) are enrolled in lessons at one of their franchises here in the Seattle area.  The company offers lessons starting with babies (must be at least 3 months of age), and all the way up into adulthood.  Classes for children are divided by skill level with certain criteria allowing them to move on to the next program.

Bergen is working on working on introductory skills and learning basic survival techniques as a “Minnow”, and Georgia is just getting started and introduced to water in the parent-child “Tadpole” class.  While it took Georgia a couple of lessons to warm-up to having fun in the pool, I’m happy to say that they are both now thoroughly enjoying their swim lesson experience.

As a parent (and participant with Georgia), I’ve been so impressed with the format of the lessons and the skill and dedication of the teachers.  I took some time to reflect on exactly what I love most about the British Swim School, and I’m sharing here in hopes that it might help you learn more about the organization in case you’re looking for lessons for your own kids!

3 Things We Love about British Swim School

• Safety Focus

I absolutely love that first and foremost, the teachers at the British Swim School want to facilitate the learning of water survival techniques for each of their students.  Especially in the first block of each lesson, the instructors are all business.  They are focused on getting the students into the water and practicing back float and forward crawl.  They provide just the right amount of scaffolding for each individual student, and NOT a lot of fluff, which I appreciate.  In fact, teachers do everything they can to provide even more learning experiences for the students.  Last week at lessons, the director got into the water with Bergen’s class creating a 2:1 student to teacher ratio!

• Pace

Teachers ensure that each student has as many opportunities to practice their skills as possible.  From the very first lesson, actually even just the first few minutes of class, I noticed a remarkable difference (compared to other swim lessons that he’s participated in) in the amount of time Bergen was spending in the water practicing skills.  The teachers work quickly and efficiently to make certain that the kids are in the water more than they are out of the water.  There is minimal time spent on the wall waiting for their turn.

This quick pace also feels appropriate for Bergen’s age level (and the rest of his classmates).  As preschoolers, their attention span isn’t very long, so I appreciate how things move along quickly.  Plus, the teachers understand that learning a physical skill requires muscle memory.  The more time spent physically practicing, the better!

• Fun and Creativity

Most of all, I love how much my kids are enjoying lessons.  Bergen remarked on the first day without prompting, “Mom, that was so much fun!”, and he looks forward to lessons every week.  In addition to the pace, and one on one time with the teacher, British Swim School builds songs, games, and free time into the lessons.  After back float and crawl practice, the students get to climb aboard a floating mat, sing a silly nursery rhyme, and pretend to fall into the water.  The falling gives the kids a chance to practice their water survival skills and simulates what might happen in a true emergency situation.

Bergen’s favorite part of class is getting to use the flotation ring.  It’s a simple tool that gives the kids (who are not yet swimmers) just enough support to feel confident practicing their skills independently.  Unlike other swimming aids, the ring gives them freedom to move their arms and legs.  Bergen loves kicking around chasing after toys, and practicing his back float.

What is/was your child’s favorite part of swim lessons? If you’re interested to see if BSS offers lessons in your area, here’s the link for all the locations available.

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British Swim Lessons is providing us with complementary swim lessons as well as sponsoring a series of Water Safety posts in exchange for our coverage.  However, all opinions expressed here are my own! Questions? Don’t hesitate to email me! I’d love to hear from you: wildtalesof@gmail.com