Can I be charged for National Curriculum Swimming Lessons?

milliebear00001

swimming is compulsory for schools in Key Stage 1 - no they cannot charge you for it, although they can ask for a voluntary donation. It is compulsory also in Key Stage 2, unless the requirements have been fully met in Kewy Stage 1.

In my experience, most schools take children for a term or two/three and that's it.

LJM

milliebear00001 wrote: »

swimming is compulsory for schools in Key Stage 1 - no they cannot charge you for it, although they can ask for a voluntary donation. It is compulsory also in Key Stage 2, unless the requirements have been fully met in Kewy Stage 1.

In my experience, most schools take children for a term or two/three and that's it.

i live on the iow and have worked in a few schools none of our keystage 1 children do swimming in school, our keystage 2 do though they do it for so many weeks in year 3 and then again in year 4. ive never heard anywhere that this is compulsery

devildog

The school where I worked did swimming for one term a year.Parents were asked for a voluntary contribution of ..(whatever it was!)Without enough contributions it would not have gone ahead and those that genuinely couldn't afford it were not chased up, however there were a few parents who could have quite easily affored the payments if they were 100 times more-yet they chose not to contribute!!!! The PTA also used to contribute to the cost(also needed to hire coach for transportation) I believe it is compulsory for schools to provide at least some swimming lessons. The age group was reception through to year 6.

milliebear00001

LJM wrote: »

i live on the iow and have worked in a few schools none of our keystage 1 children do swimming in school, our keystage 2 do though they do it for so many weeks in year 3 and then again in year 4. ive never heard anywhere that this is compulsery

Sorry, what I meant to write was that swimming is compulsory in KS2, unless it has been covered in KS1. It is compulsory as designated by the National Curriculum Handbook for Primary Schools.

Rainey_LB

phunkles wrote: »

Does the letter ask for a voluntary contribution towards? (if so you dont have to pay....)

Have heard of primary schools charging for the bus to and from the pool but thats it??

Schools are pretty much obliged to word letters as 'voluntary contribution' but the fact is school budgets are being squeezed more then you would believe and there is not enough money for resources let alone swimming lessons or trips. It can often mean if not enough parents pay the activity/trip will be cancelled.

Also schools are not allowed to profit from trips and if they find themselves in profit from a trip are obliged to refund parents, even if its 5p each!!

The school I work at passes the cost of swimming lessons to the parents as we have no funds for it and the charge is £15 per term, the children walk so there are no transportation costs.

My DS will start swimming lessons with school next term and the cost last year was again approx £15 so I expect it will be a similar amount. I don't mind paying as I think swimming is an important life skill.

If you are just being charged for a terms lessons that seems high, its more than I pay for a terms lessons with the local pool outside of school, so I imagine they are passing on a transport cost. I have found that the cost of coaches has increased dramatically because of the fuel costs and even with shopping around the prices are very high to what they were 12 months ago.

If you can't afford to pay speak to the Head in confidence and often they are able to contribute towards the cost from the hardship fund.
I
Swimming is part of the national curriculum for KS2 and the aim is for all pupils to be able to swim at least 25m unaided by the end of year 6.

PasturesNew

In the 60s, at my first school we'd catch the bus to the town pool. In the 70s all the schools I went to had pools, they were village schools and every village had a pool and the pool was always at a school.

DevilsAdvocate1

milliebear00001 wrote: »

swimming is compulsory for schools in Key Stage 1 - no they cannot charge you for it, although they can ask for a voluntary donation. It is compulsory also in Key Stage 2, unless the requirements have been fully met in Kewy Stage 1.

In my experience, most schools take children for a term or two/three and that's it.

Its not compulsory for Key Stage 1. My kids are 5, 9 and 12 and none of them have had swimming lessons in Key Stage 1. In fact, I haven't heard of any school doing it in Key Stage 1. I am in the northeast of England.

D.

milliebear00001

DevilsAdvocate1 wrote: »

Its not compulsory for Key Stage 1. My kids are 5, 9 and 12 and none of them have had swimming lessons in Key Stage 1. In fact, I haven't heard of any school doing it in Key Stage 1. I am in the northeast of England.

D.

Already corrected in above post.

hardworkingmum40

As part of the funding settlement, schools get extra money in the per pupil formula allocation for children in year 4 to have a course of swimming lessons. So the answer to your question is no, you cannot be charged for swimming lessons but they can ask for voluntary contributions to cover the cost of transport.

LJM

my eldest did it in years 3 and 4 both terms we were asked for a voluntary contribution of £2 each which i thought was resonable amount