28 Nov 2018
Monthly assessments, why we don’t do them on Poolside?
At Safely Swim we have opted to do class assessments during the last swimming lessons of the month, but why? Our initial reason is that we don’t want our swimmers and parents to be focused on a number that they need to move to the next stage, we would rather they developed all of their skills to become more rounded swimmers. They then move to the next stage when they are ready and confident all-round. This is especially important because of the layout of our pool. Our stage 2 swimmers are often out of their depth, so we need to be sure that they will be confident and ready for this. This is why you will quite often see stage 2’s going to the deep end to jump in. This helps to improve confidence and realise that deep water isn’t something to be scared of. Obviously, this is only done in a safe and controlled way.
Another reason why we don’t do weekly assessments is because these would have to be done on poolside whilst the lessons are happening, this takes time away from teaching as the teacher would be marking off the criteria rather than giving instructions. It can result in teachers being glued to an iPod or clipboard for the lesson rather than engaging with swimmers, we want to avoid this at Safely Swim as we want to ensure every swimmer gets the most out of every session. This way our lessons can flow more efficiently as our instructors are focused and engaged on delivering their classes to the highest standards.
Using an iPod or clipboard on poolside for assessments also has safety implications. It can take seconds for children to get distracted and be doing something that they shouldn’t. In water messing around can quite quickly become dangerous as children can unknowingly wander out of their depth or go underwater when they are not yet confident. The split second that a teacher is looking down at their device could lead to them missing a dangerous situation. This goes against the foundation of SafelySwim as it is our ambition to teach swimming in a safe and fun environment.
However, just because we don’t record their progress every single lesson we are still monitoring it and constantly assessing them. At Safely Swim we are all experienced in the Learn to Swim criteria so we know what we want from each swimmer at each stage. This doesn’t mean that movements can’t happen in between this time. If we are happy with a child’s ability, they will be moved into the next class as soon as possible to allow them to continue developing. We have found that this is the best way for us to monitor progress without becoming overtaken by it.
