Children’s Swim Course
Our interactive, structured lessons focus on improving your children’s technique in the water and enabling them to become happy and confident swimmers.
Our instructors are attentive and we are in the water with the children during the lesson. We also set responsible and achievable goals for each child based on their needs and we regularly review these goals as the children progress.
The earlier a person learns to swim, the better. Younger children can usually develop new skills quickly and tend to be less nervous in and around water.
Swimming is a vital part of the PE curriculum in Swedish schools, and by Grade 6 they are required to swim 150m on their front and 50m on their back, in order to pass the subject. It can be very frustrating for a child to realise that they have failed the subject solely because they cannot swim.
So encouraging them to learn as early as possible is definitely the best solution. Although these specific swimming qualifications are not mandatory for children in international schools here, learning to swim at an early age is still extremely important for their physical well-being and their safety. We have many lakes and open waters in Sweden, so water safety and confidence are vital.
In our children’s classes we keep instructions concise, allowing the children to discover and learn new movements. The course is very much results focused, with clearly-defined goals. Our classes are split over seven levels, following the Svensksimidrott swimming criteria.
Splash Classes
Our splash classes are 40 minutes of fun and entertainment in a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. These classes are packed with lots of energy and enthusiasm and combine lots of singalong nursery rhymes whilst practicing water confidence activities. In the last 10 minutes we allow parents to have free-play with their child. The aim of these classes is for you and your child to bond with each other whilst they develop their water habits.
Preschool Classes
Preschool classes We offer pre school classes for children from 4 – 6 years of age. These classes are designed to be fun and interactive and are based in the warm teaching pool. The aims of these classes is for children get used to the water and to start gaining water confidence.
General Classes
We offer group swimming lessons for children from 7 years of age. Within our children’s classes, we focus on providing fun, safe and progressive lessons. Swimmers will learn how to gain confidence, have fun and remain safe in water. We take the best and blend a mixture of Swedish Swim Awards with the UK Swim England Stages. Both offer a well structured progressive focus. Swimmers will gain confidence and build on the fundamentals of water safety, floating, breathing, push and glides, rotation, working towards mastery in all 4 strokes, Front Crawl, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly and life-saving.
General Classes
We offer group swimming lessons for children from 7 years of age. Within our children’s classes, we focus on providing fun, safe and progressive lessons. Swimmers will learn how to gain confidence, have fun and remain safe in water. We take the best and blend a mixture of Swedish Swim Awards with the UK Swim England Stages. Both offer a well structured progressive focus. Swimmers will gain confidence and build on the fundamentals of water safety, floating, breathing, push and glides, rotation, working towards mastery in all 4 strokes, Front Crawl, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly and life-saving.
Levels
Level 1
From 7 years old
This is our introductory course and is for children with little or no experience of swimming. In this course we introduce and build confidence and safety awareness, as well as the fundamentals of swimming both front and back paddle, using kickboards or noodles. The main focus will be on building water confidence through fun games, floating, breathing, blowing out and pushing and gliding.
Assessment goals may include : Baddaren, Grön, Blå, Gul, Skölpaddan, Bläckfisken awards.
Skills to be achieved should include – Safe entry/exit of pool, Confidence moving around the pool, basic understanding of inhaling, holding and blowing of breath, getting confident submerging face, floating unaided, learning to kick, kicking using a float, rotating from front to back and side to side, pushing and gliding, swimming unaided 3 meters on from and back and water safety.
Prerequisite: The child has been in a swimming pool before, but does not yet have water confidence.
Level 2
From 7 years old
Our secondary course is for children that already have some water confidence and are able to put their face in the water and blow out for 5 seconds, they should be able to float to their back for 5 seconds and rotate onto their front (Sköldpaddan). Level 2 swimmers should be able to already swim 3 meters on their front and 3 meters on their back. In this course we continue to build on water confidence – sometimes working in deeper water, we continue working on breathing and blowing bubbles under water for 5-10 seconds. We improve our understanding of rotation, we continue to work on push and gliding through the water, progressing to the mechanics of moving through the water focussing on good leg kicks.
Assessment goals: Baddaren, Skölpaddan, Bläckfisken awards.
Prerequisite: The child has water confidence, can swim 3 meters on front and back, can float for 5 seconds and rotate, can push and glide with face submerged , can kick for 5 meters on front and back with a kick board and can give the teacher at least 1 pool water safety rule.
Level 3
From 7 years old
Our level 3 class is for children who are nearly fully water confident, they can push and glide in deep water, and are able to swim 5 meters on their front and back without any floats. We continue learning rotation, and how to kick in all 4 strokes, we continue to build a greater understanding of water safety. The aim is for children to be able to kick 10 m with a float on their front and back and 7 meters unaided.
Assessment goals: Pingvinen Silver, Pingvinen Guld awards.
Skills to be achieved should include – Floating and rotation, learning all 4 leg kicks – travelling further, swimming Butterfly 3 meters.
Prerequisite: The child can already swim 5 meter on front and back, can kick 10 meters with a float and can relay 2 water safety rules.
Level 4
From 7 years old
Children who are already able to swim 7 meters without floats on their front and back, float for 5 seconds and rotate onto their back and push and glide in deep water are welcome to start this course. In this class, we start to focus on the techniques of each stroke. We will break the strokes into manageable components to simplify the child’s learning. We will continue to look at floating and jumping, progressing onto surface diving. The aim is for children to be able to swim 25 m by the end of the course.
Assessment goals: Silverfisken, Guldfisken awards.
Skills to be achieved should include – Floating and rotating 10 seconds in deep water, improving breathing techniques, stroke development and distance awards.
Prerequisite: The child can already swim 7 meters, Crawl, Backstroke and Backstroke, is able to float and rotate, can submerge to collect toys off the pool floor, can swim 3 meters Butterfly and can relay 3 water safety rules.
Level 5
From 7 years old
This class is for students who can already swim 25 meters Freestyle, Backstroke, 10 meters Breaststroke and 5 meters Butterfly. We will continue to develop with all 4 stroke techniques – working towards swimming legal standard requirements. We will build stamina and work on distance, focusing on improving our deep water aquatic skills including diving, treading water and surfacing diving. The aim is for children to improve all 4 strokes and be able to swim 50 meters by the end of the course.
Assessment goals: Guldfisken and Järnmärket awards. (Vattenprovet if able and required)
Prerequisite: The child can swim 25 meters Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke and 10 meters Butterfly, have some deep water experience including surface diving and floating with rotation.
Level 6
From 7 years old
This class is for children who can already swim 25 meters Crawl, Backstroke, Breaststroke, 10 meters Butterfly and have a 50 meters (any stroke) distance award. Swimmers work on technique for all 4 strokes, working towards greater distance recognised legal stroke requirements. In this course we will analyse every element of each stroke, assessing the timing of the breathing, arm movements, leg kick and glide, providing the child with personalised feedback. We work towards lengthier lifesaving awards and build on distance and stamina. The aim is for the swimmer to be able to swim the Swedish Vattenprovet 200 meters school test.
Assessment goals: Järnmärket, Bronsmärket, Silvermärket, Hajen Brons and Hajen Silver Awards.
Skills to be achieved should include – Introduction to competitive swimming
Prerequisite: The child can already swim 50 meters.
Level 7
From 7 years old
This is our most advanced course and is for those children who are almost competent in all strokes, but need to critique their stroke or learn an entire new stroke (Butterfly). In this course we will analyse every element of each stroke, assessing the timing of the breathing, arm movements, leg kick and glide, along with competitive turns providing the child with personalised feedback. We competitive turns, surface dives in deep water, treading water and other fun aquatic techniques. The aim is for the child to be completely water confident and have recognised legal requirements in all strokes. We can support the transition to a competitive swim club.
Assessment goals: Utmanarmärket, Silvermärket awards, 300 meters – 1000 meters, Bronze Master, Silver Master and Gold Master Awards.
Skills to be achieved should include – Recognised legal strokes in all 4 disciplines. Working towards Master awards (these may take longer than 1 course). Moving to a competitive swim club.
Prerequisite: The child can already swim 100 meters, recognised legal stroke in at least 3 strokes over 25 meters, able to dive 5 meters (deep dive with only one arm pull allowed)
Rookie Lifeguard course
From 7 years old
Rookie lifesaving and deepwater activities class
New to the Go Waters swim program
This term we are offering a fun and important Lifesaving Course. Within this course we shall be using life-saving equipment. We will cover all aspects related to surviving in open water and helping someone in need. Such topics include various rescue techniques, including towing a casualty both from land and in water, safe entries into unknown waters, removal of additional clothing when in water, survival swimming (treading water), keeping afloat and heat retention. We shall also cover surface diving to collect a dummy, land diving and full emergency response to a casualty including putting them into the recovery position and CPR. We will team this up with deepwater activities and some stroke development, such as side stroke and old English backstroke. Students will also learn about the Swedish bath and boat rules.
Goals: Although this is not an official Rookie Lifeguard qualification, swimmers will many things in the area of lifesaving. They will learn how to rescue, assist, support and treat casualties. Swimmers will continue to improve their strokes and diving but also learn new lifesaving techniques. Swimmers will learn how to work as a team.
Prerequisite: Swimmers must be able to swim 100 m
