SA Swim Schools
S.A. SWIM SCHOOLS 
WOODVILLE SPASTIC CENTRE
98 Woodville Rd.
WOODVILLE
&
MINDA SWIMMING CENTRE
King George Ave.
NORTH BRIGHTON
WELCOME to S.A. SWIM SCHOOLS based at the indoor heated pools at the Minda Centre, Brighton and the Woodville Spastic Centre, Woodville which provide private and exclusive venues for the specialist teaching of swimming.
The pools are a warm 32 - 33 degrees with safe access for young children into the pool. They provide an excellent venue for learn to swim, and other water activity programs, however the program will not include competitive swim squad training. There will be no more than 5 children per class, who will be taught by qualified swimming teachers many with years of experience.
S.A. SWIM SCHOOLS will provide programs that progress through stages of development in a safe and logical manner. Individual progression, qualified swimming teachers, and well-maintained venues are guaranteed to clients and their children.
* NOTE: We do not issue certificates, as experience shows that they create more problems than they solve.
S.A. SWIM SCHOOLS adheres to the policies of the Australian Council for the Teaching of Swimming and Water Safety AUSTSWIM who provides training for swimming teachers throughout Australia, and provide clear National guidelines for pre-school swimming programs and teacher / pupil ratios.
The Director of S.A.SWIM SCHOOLS, Ken Richter, has been recognised nationally as a leader in the area of Swimming and Water Safety and the establishment of safe water activity programs for children of all ages. For many years he has been the major lecturer for AUSTSWIM, training thousands of South Australian’s as swimming teachers. For 24 years, Ken Richter managed the Education Department’s Swimming and Aquatic programs, including the Learn to Swim Campaign, which involved programs in pools, lakes and rivers and beach sites around our coast.
Having successfully conducted swimming and aquatic programs throughout the State for thousands of young children, he took a separation package from the Department for Education in December 1994, and established S.A. SWIM SCHOOLS that provide programs promoting his teaching philosophies, which have been so successful over the past 30 years.
Water is not a natural environment for humans, although it is an important part of our lives. Many Australians recreate in, on and around water with about 2% becoming competitive swimmers. It is for this reason that we do not attempt to develop competitive swimmers but train children to know how to do the strokes correctly and to have skills to help them survive.
INFANT AQUATIC READINESS
Children from 7 months – 4 years
S.A. SWIM SCHOOLS prefers not to enrol children in formal swimming lessons until they are 3 years of age. We encourage you to allow them to play in the shallow pool area at no cost or enrol in our program during the day at Woodville.
Many programs for very young children have not received support over the past 30 years, because they claimed that swimming skills, or swimming reflexes to be more accurate, could make babies or toddlers safer around water. It must be stated that there is no evidence to support this claim, as it can be dangerous if parents are misled. Neither is there proof, that swimming activities lead to superior child development, however there are reasons for infants to undertake water activities. It develops the child’s self esteem, and provides important bonding opportunities for parents and their infants through play in an environment that encourages touching, eye contact, and the genuine excitement of parents seeing their young children learn new skills through the use of purpose built equipment.
Although all children having access to the pool will become familiar with the water and some will learn to go under water, few will learn to swim.
Babies
1 mth to 7 mths : I have taken my newborn grandchildren into the pool, just for them to have a new experience. I made sure that the pool was clean and warm and that they had proper nappies. These experiences were casual, irregular and not related to learning to swim.
7 mths to 24 mths : The main aim for this age group is that parents and their children have a happy experience of fun and play, providing a valuable base for future learning. Age is a very poor predictor of when a child can learn to swim, however, the acquisition of land based locomotor skills, such as crawling, standing, and walking certainly indicates that the child can begin to move through the water. I believe that this should be done with buoyancy aids, with floaties being very effective.
Parent or carer with child with assistance from a swimming teacher.
Infants
24 mths to 36 mths : There is a vast difference between how older children learn and meeting the needs of babies or toddlers in aquatic programs. Using a sensible caring approach, incorporating fun and play, you create a happy learning environment that leads to the learning of aquatic skills that greatly improves the self-esteem of infants. The creation of an aquatic environment, where the young child has opportunity for self-expression and becoming autonomous, must be supported by loving and encouraging caregivers.
Parent or carer with child with assistance from a swimming teacher.
Pre-kindy
36 mths to 48 mths : Many children at this age are able to undertake greater challenges, and acquire readiness skills necessary for them to be able to progress towards learning more formal strokes, offered at the next stage.
Max. 5 per class taught by a swimming teacher, parent not required in water.
Fundamental Motor Skills - Water entry, buoyancy, leg movements, water balance, arm movements and breath control.
Basic Attitudes - Lack of fear, shares equipment, respect for rules, listens to instructions, eagerness to participate.
Basic Understandings - Class procedures, pool rules, games and activity rules, language of instruction and the mechanics.
The attitudes of children are paramount and they will be diverted, stimulated and encouraged through games, play equipment and the warm encouraging atmosphere of the pool.
Children in these programs will not learn to swim in the formal sense, nor will they be safer. As children are adjusted to the water, they need to be watched more, not less. This program is designed to develop a positive attitude towards learning, making the learning of skills less important than the attitudes developed.
Unhappy, crying children, mean that something is wrong.
Your aim and our’s, should be to provide a warm, caring, environment that will reduce anxiety in your child, not create it.
S.A.SWIM SCHOOLS – OUR BASIC PROGRAM
Educational aquatics is organised into seven content areas: entry, buoyancy and floating, pushing off and gliding, breath control, leg actions, arm actions and combining the skills into efficient strokes. The preferred method used by S.A. SWIM SCHOOLS is the “whole, progressive-part, whole” method, which encourages beginners to attempt the whole stroke using a variety of swimming aids and then refining the parts. The larger leg muscles are taught first, followed by the arms, and breathing.
The multi-stroke method is also used, in preference to just teaching the skills of one stroke. In this way, children become familiar with the actions of breaststroke, back stroke, and the survival strokes of sidestroke and elementary backstroke. Children tend to improve in bursts, due more to the psychological aspects of being in water, rather than their neuro-muscular ability. Often progress is slow, followed by a sudden leap in ability, which is one reason for not using progress certificates. Children become excited with the rapid progress through a certificate and frustrated when the progress stops. No amount of trying harder will change this, as their readiness to achieve new skills is not all reliant on attitude. Children that are not confident will have access to buoyancy aids as well as fins.
4 yrs to 5 yrs
Many children of this age will learn to move through the water, however it must be remembered, that the aquatic skills that they will learn are less important than the attitudes that they develop. Who can estimate the value of exposing young children to listening skills, problem solving, challenges, working with other adults and children, sharing, co-operating and enjoying the rush of self esteem that comes from achieving goals and receiving peer, sibling, and adult approval. The use of fins and buoyancy will enable children to move through the water gaining confidence and mobility skills on front and back. By slowly reducing their dependency on swimming aids, they will all achieve independent swimming, although it will be at their own rate.
5 yrs to 7 yrs- Stroke development
Children that are mobile in the water but are not able to perform the strokes on back and front will benefit from small classes that will enable them to learn the correct strokes and still have fun using the variety of equipment, and enjoying the warm friendly atmosphere. The introduction of survival backstroke and breaststroke arm and leg actions will prepare them for the next stage.
7 yrs to 12 yrs- Stoke improvement - stroke correction
Children that are capable of demonstrating three of the major strokes, will benefit from more intense and specific stroke correction and the teaching of the survival strokes and safety skills. All teachers of Human Movement know that “Perfect practice makes perfect”. Children must spend most of their time perfecting the strokes, with distance and sprint swimming being introduced to provide variety and hold their interest. If your children are confident and efficient with their strokes, including the survival strokes and safety skills, they will be well placed to undertake other aquatic activities or take up the sport of swimming if they wish.
8 yrs- 12 yrs- ‘Squad’
Many Primary School children require some stroke correction, but would like to be stretched more to see if they would like to do swimming as a sport, without the pressure of joining a competition swimming squad. These small classes will enable them to learn how to do all of the strokes correctly and learn some of the skills of the sport, but it will not provide the intensive training required for competition. We will also include the survival strokes and safety skills.