Three and four-year-olds, four to a class, the teacher in the water, no parent in the pool, £9.50 a lesson
Pre-school
The first class without a parent in the water: three and four-year-olds in groups of four with the teacher in the 30°C teaching pool, building the water confidence that every stroke depends on. Faces in, blowing bubbles, floating on front and back, jumping in, getting out, and the first kicks on a float. £9.50 a lesson.
Pre-school swimming is where a child decides whether the pool is theirs. Four children with one teacher in warm water, lots of games and no hurry: by the end of the year most can float on their own, push off the wall, and put their face in to look for the sinking toys.
Classes are thirty minutes in the teaching pool, four children at most, with the teacher in the water beside them the whole time. Parents watch from the gallery, which is the part most parents find hardest. The first few lessons may involve a lot of sitting on the step; that is fine, and the teachers are expert at getting a reluctant three-year-old from the step to the water without anyone noticing it happened.
Everything is taught through games: posting balls through a hoop to get faces close to the water, blowing a ping-pong ball across the surface to learn to breathe out, star floats, rocket push-offs, collecting toys from the step. Armbands are used at first and removed in stages as confidence grows; floats and noodles take over.
The pre-school outcomes are the foundations of the Swim Wales framework: entering and exiting the water safely, moving through it, floating on front and back with a buoyancy aid, putting the face in and blowing bubbles, and the first kicking. A child who has all of them moves to Stage 1 when they are four, or straight to Stage 2 if they are flying.
Children wear a swim nappy until they are reliably dry, then normal swimwear and a swim cap with long hair. Goggles are optional and we would rather they were not used at this age, because learning to open your eyes underwater is part of the course.
What is included
- Three and four-year-olds, four to a class
- The teacher in the water, the teaching pool at 30°C
- Water confidence through games: faces in, floating, jumping in, getting out
- Armbands removed in stages, floats and noodles after
- Weekday afternoons and Saturday and Sunday mornings
- £9.50 a lesson, charged by the term
What it costs
£9.50 a lesson for thirty minutes, charged by the term. Registration £15 once. The level finder suggests the stage and lists its classes with spaces; the term dates page shows the lessons left this term and what joining now costs.
Questions about pre-school
My child screamed at baby swimming. Should we try again?
Yes. A lot changes between two and four, and a small group with a teacher in the water is very different from a busy public session. Tell the teacher; they will start on the step and go at your child's pace. It nearly always works within a term.
Do I come in the water?
No; this is the class without a parent in the pool. You watch from the viewing gallery, which has a window onto the teaching pool. For the first lesson you can stand on the poolside with the teacher's agreement.
When will they move up?
When they meet the pre-school outcomes, usually between four and four and a half. The teacher tells you a week ahead and the office moves them into a Stage 1 class at a time that suits.
Find the stage, then book a place. Pay only for the lessons left.
Tell us the swimmer's age and what they can do now, and we offer a class at the right stage with a space, usually within the week. The first ten minutes are an assessment and the teacher moves them that day if the stage is wrong. Or ring Carys in the office.