Good swimming lessons locally?

[Kelpie]

We are moving back to Camberwell in a few months, after two years abroad. I?ve missed the good old EDF!

I will have three children who need swimming lessons, something I didn?t tackle at all before we left the UK so I?m fairly clueless. The children are 5, 3 and 1 and the older two have learned for two years already.

I recall being told at JAGS sports club that people queue from 6am to enrol there ... this was enough to put me off even trying to join up!

I would love to know where are there good lessons for small children (5, 3 and 1 years)? Are the Dulwich and Camberwell leisure centres any good? Is it really very difficult to get into lessons at places like JAGS sports (and is it worth it?)

Thanks so much

[sabrina79]

Alley s school or West Dulwich college ,they have a private pool , similar to JAGs...I know some children go there and parents are happy. At least the swimming teacher does their job properly! By teaching how to be safe in the water and floating...which ,as a swimmer I know is the basic :) . Hope it helps

Sabrina

[bonaome]

For the 1 year old, I take it it?s baby and parent splash sessions you?re after. I?m pretty sure Camberwell leisure centre, Peckham Pulse, the Elephant and Castle centre, ED leisure centre and Brixton Rec will all have these and it?s more about finding a time that suits you. AFAIK, they aren?t expensive and are all PAYG. But see below on water quality.

The 3 year old can find ?lessons? at Beckenham Spa and Brixton Rec, and also the leisure centre at Elephant and Castle. Probably at the other places too but the advantage of these three is that they have dedicated toddler pools (Peckham Pulse May have too) which are very warm and very shallow and ideally suited to letting the little ones get really comfortable being in water, being splashed and maybe even doing a rudimentary doggy paddle.

The 5 year old is ready for lessons lessons. By 5 they mostly (but not all) have a reasonable control over their arms and legs and can actually understand what the teacher is telling them. Swimming actually involves some very complex and sometimes counter intuitive coordination.

Leisure centre lessons are fine. But check how many kids there are in the class. There should never be more than 12 and ideally you?d want fewer. Watch some of the lessons. Note progress and move if you are not seeing any. It will all boil down to the specific teacher you get.

I personally find the water at Camberwell very heavily chlorinated. The Elephant and ED less so. JAGS bearly at all as they use UV light.

The teaching overall at JAGS is good. Again, it?s down to the specific teacher, not the venue. The classes there do book out quickly, but I think they do everywhere. I?d probably take a view on class timings as much as anything else.

One last thing to consider - Tigersharks has superb teaching and you can swim with the kids yourself too - though you don?t have to. They are a non competitive club. Look at the website and email them to see if they have space.

If you want a competitive club, local ones are Dulwich Dolphins (Dulwich) Leander A(Clapham) and Saxon Crowm (Lewisham). They all have development squads. Ironically I think progress in these can appear to be slower than in leisure centres and at JAGS, but they are not in the business of trying to trot the kids through a curriculum and perhaps focus a bit more on getting it ?right? than getting it ?good enough to tick the box?. Maybe. Tigersharks May be the perfect mix as it has no levels to jump through and I?ve seen the teaching myself and it?s superb.

Hope that helps.

[Kelpie]

Thanks, this is helpful. I hadn?t heard of Tigersharks.

We?re in Australia at the moment so the children are already swimming pretty well (for their ages). For the baby, I?m happy to be timetable driven - she?s not exactly swimming laps yet! The three year old is doing ?real? lessons now. She?s only a level or two below her five year old brother who is doing backstroke and front crawl. I?m keen that they don?t lose the good start they?ve made in swimming so I?m looking for low ratio classes with good teachers who can talk to children. Sounds like Tigersharks or JAGS might be a good place to start. Anyone have any tips on how to get into JAGS classes or will it really be a 6am queue one morning?!

[mayo]

I took mine to Crystal Palace for lessons before they started school. They do parent and baby lessons in one of the small pools and then they can go in on their own from around 3.5 and then they are maximum 6 to a class. No silly queuing to book lessons! I didn?t like their lessons for over 5s though as too many children in a class. I would highly recommend superkids swim school. They do lessons at Dulwich prep (and some other schools) and they are maximum 6 to a class and really good teaching. My eldest swam with tiger sharks for a while and I didn?t rate their teaching personally, I thought it was better suited for children who already have good technique and wanting to improve stamina etc with club style swimming.

[bonaome]

mayo Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> My eldest swam with tiger sharks for a

> while and I didn?t rate their teaching personally,

> I thought it was better suited for children who

> already have good technique and wanting to improve

> stamina etc with club style swimming.

The guy I saw teaching there recently was new and was only taking little kids. Haven?t heard of Superkids but sounds great.

[Cyrus328]

Swimming is something which we do in the summer season and people visit long places where they found some good swimming pools. I get some gears from custom essay which are affordable and also have some good quality as well.