Can I be charged for National Curriculum Swimming Lessons?

hoggle_2

Not sure if I have put this thread in the right place but here goes!

My DS is in year 4 and they have a swimming lesson once a week at the local pool. The school are charging £79 for this and I want to know do I have to pay it? I wouldn't mind if everyone did but going by previous school trips etc etc and the same few parents that always cough up. I have heard conflicting information as to whether the school can charge me or not but they keep sending letters home saying that there is still an outstanding amount of £79 to be paid immediately!!

Any advice please

Thank you

danlojo

Both my dd and ds had lessons in Year 3 and 4 and we never paid. Surely if it's in the curriculum then it's 'included' in their schooling?

hoggle_2

That's what I thought but the letters are getting more and more 'insistant'!!!

danlojo

Primaries are increasingly having to cut back on visits to pools and ask parents to help with the cost of transporting children to them, Education Guardian has found.

This is despite the fact that learning to swim is as compulsory a part of the national curriculum for key stage 2 - ages seven and eight - as maths is. Government guidelines state that by the time children complete primary school, they should be able to swim 25 metres


That was in 2008 so maybe the Government doesnt stand by this view now and schools cant cover the cost themselves?

Maybe it's to cover the transportation?

Volupturaptor

The way it's put to us, (we pay £2.50 a week) is that yes, swimming is on the national curriculum, but that they don't actually get enough money to pay for it, so either us parents pay our "Contributions" or it has to come out of the school fund, the money that we raise through various events throughout the year to provide all the things the school (and therefore children) would not otherwise have, such as new carpets in the classrooms, xmas parties and so on.

Spendless

We have had a thread about this before and I *think* the poster queried with the HT why she had to pay for it and was told she didn't it was voluntary.


In my area most kids swim weekly thru-out yr 5. My kids school is slightly different as they start after Easter in yr 4 and stop before easter yr 5, but it still works out the same (a years worth of lessons). Is your area giving over and above this - cos if they are then I can see why they they would charge.

choccybikkie_2

Is it really in the National Cirriculum?? None of mine have EVER had swimming lessons with their schools I have 3 kids of school age yr7, yr5 and yr2.
Is it dependant of where you live?

CB

Janepig

DD is starting school swimming lessons next week every day for the next 3 weeks and we have to pay £1 a day for the bus to take them to the pool, but not for the lessons. I'm not sure if this is correct, but I would have thought that it would depend how the school have managed their budget as to whether they can pay for the lessons out of their budget or whether they have to ask parents to cough up.

Jxx

Spendless

choccybikkie wrote: »

Is it really in the National Cirriculum?? None of mine have EVER had swimming lessons with their schools I have 3 kids of school age yr7, yr5 and yr2.
Is it dependant of where you live?

CB

It's NC AFAIK. I went to swimming lessons with my school back in the 1970s so it's not a new thing. :cool: We're in England. You?

Janepig

Spendless wrote: »

It's NC AFAIK. I went to swimming lessons with my school back in the 1970s so it's not a new thing. :cool: We're in England. You?

I'm not sure if it's on the National Curriculum in Wales, but as I say DD is doing it in her school and I've heard of afew other schools in town who are doing it. I think it depends on the school because when I was in primary school (a lonnnnnnggggggg time ago!), we never had swimming lessons, but there were other primaries in town that did. Then conversely in comp, we had lessons but other schools didnt.

Jxx

choccybikkie_2

Hi Spendless.Yeah, I went on swimming lessons too when I was at school but thought maybe it was just something some schools did.
Yep, we're in Milton Keynes. Hmmm