2022 term times and holidays, we hope this helps! If you have nay questions please let us know.
Dear Parents / Guardians,
Please read all as there is some very important information on lessons. Well it’s that time again when we say bye to the Summer holidays and back to school and activities next week, when we will be back starting from the 6th September. We hope you have had an amazing summer and are looking forward to returning to swimming lessons. Below are the protocols for each pool for next week and how they will slightly change over the term. We are trying to make sure lessons are still safe and everyone feels comfortable but also start the relaxation of measures, hopefully getting back to total normal soon. This relaxation is going to be gradual and we will keep track of how things are going and also your feedback as we go through this term.
For all venues
We are sticking to the 3 children to 1 teacher ratios this term. The only slight difference is we have pushed a lot of classes together where there will be 6 children to 2 teachers. You might be thinking why… We have looked at what the predictions are over the winter, with the government predicting Cold, Flu and sickness bugs to be higher than normal due to people not mixing over the last two years as much as normal. With 6-2 ratio if we have a staff member off, we will at least be able to have the lesson go ahead, where as with 3-1 we would have to cancel as we don’t have major cover. The children will still get the same done, if anything will get more done in each lesson. We have hired more staff for extra cover and to prepare for other venues opening so in some cases you may even get an extra teacher in the class and have 6-3 ratio.
We also are still asking Parents to keep wearing masks and keep washing hands in the centres if possible, most of our pools are schools and we want to keep you as safe a possible as well, as not risking us being a cause for a school to have an outbreak. We appreciate your help on this.
Please look below for venue specific protocols. Please read.
CastleView Academy
For the first term, until October half term the school have decided they are not changing protocols. So unfortunately parents won’t be allowed on poolside. We will keep asking questions every couple of weeks but I think the school are wanting to see how it goes when children are back with COVID. This means we will follow the same guidance as July with the one way system – going through side door and out of the changing rooms, bringing children ready to swim, we do have small changing rooms on the side what can be used if this isn’t possible and then entering at the side of the pool and exiting through the changing rooms. The showers can now be used also. As said above Parents will not be allowed on poolside for the first term.
Thornhill Academy
Week 1 and 2 – for the first 2 weeks we will be following the same guidance as before, this means the one way system, bringing children ready to swim, then entering at the side of the pool and exiting through the changing rooms. The showers can now be used. Parents will not be allowed on poolside just for the first two weeks.
Week 3 onwards – Protocols will be the same except that we will now allow 50% of parents on poolside. We will alternate this each week so you get to view the lesson every two weeks. The poolside is not very large so spacing everyone would be very difficult and not safe. Only one parent per family can view the lesson each time. This is a great step forward and hopefully after October half term we can allow everyone onto poolside every week.
Farringdon Academy
Week 1 to 5 – for the first 5 weeks we will be following the same guidance as before, this means we will be going through changing rooms onto poolside and then after swimming going back through changing rooms getting changed and heading home. Please if possible bringing children ready to swim. Parents will not be allowed on poolside as this is very small space but read below for when you can.
Week 6 – 7 onwards – Protocols will be the same except that we will allow 50% of parents on poolside each week to view progress of children. The poolside at Farringdon is tiny so we are trying to limit this as much as possible, masks will have to be worn at all times. Only one parent can view the lesson also.
Everlast Gym
There will be a staff member to greet you on week one and direct you in the right direction. You will get changed in the changing village and then just wait there a staff member will call you when lessons are ready to go. Parents can not view lessons as their is no seating or space on poolside for this,2 minutes before the end of the lesson you can come to entrance to pool and collect children. We will then call the next class. Parent’s can wait in changing rooms for children or grab a coffee at the front of the centre. Please make sure you are there to pick up your children on time as this can have major effect on how lessons run.
We hope you can see that this is the first step to normality and if we can change it faster we will do. But also remember all of this subject to change and like everything we might have to in force more safety protocols if we are advised to do so. All of this info will be on the swim city website on the news section. If you have any problems with anything above please give us an email and we will get back to you ASAP.
We can’t wait to see you, Thanks,
Jonny
Swim City
A well planned eating strategy will help support any swim training programme, whether you are training for fitness or for competition. Getting your nutrition right can also promote efficient recovery between sessions, reduce the risk of illness or injury and help you to achieve your full potential in the pool. More specifically, what, when and how much you eat before a swim session will affect your performance, strength and endurance. Pre-workout nutrition can have an impact on your energy levels in the pool, your levels of concentration and alertness during a session and assist in delaying fatigue.
Carbohydrates
Consuming carbohydrate before exercise has been shown to result in improved performance when compared with exercising on an empty stomach. It makes sense, carbohydrates provide energy which fuels your workout. But carbohydrates are also important to assist in delaying the onset of fatigue during a session. Individual requirements for carbohydrates will vary, but it is recommended to consume 1 – 4g/kg body weight of carbohydrate within 4 hours of a training session.
Protein
Protein is important for muscle repair and muscle protein synthesis. The amount of protein consumed can affect your rate of recovery so it’s pretty important to think about, to ensure you are consuming enough. The benefits of protein after exercise are pretty well known, but consuming protein before a workout can help to minimise protein breakdown during a session and improve recovery. There is no recommended amount on how much you should look to include in a pre-workout meal, but if you aim to include a source of protein with every meal and most snacks throughout the day, you are likely to be hitting targets.
Putting it all together – Pre-swim meal
You should aim to include a source of carbohydrate and protein in your meal before a swimming session. Your source of carbohydrate should ideally have a low glycemic index (GI), this is the effect the food has on your blood sugar levels. A low GI refers to a slow release of glucose, which will sustain your energy levels. Ideally, you should eat a meal between 2 and 4 hour hours before training, leaving enough time for your stomach to settle so you don’t feel too hungry or full. The exact timing of your meal will depend on your daily schedule and the time of day you plan to train. If you are swimming in the morning, a meal may be too much to consume before you get moving. Keep reading to find out more about snacks before your session, this could be a better option.
Some meal ideas include a sandwich, pitta or wrap with chicken, fish, egg or tofu and salad. A jacket potato with tuna or cheese, tomato based pasta with beans or lentils and vegetables, root vegetable and lentil casserole with potatoes, a chicken, lean meat or tofu stir fry with noodles and vegetables or lentils, tofu or chicken with quinoa or rice and salad
What about snacks?
The closer you eat to your training session, the smaller your meal should be. Therefore, it can be a good idea to have a snack within 1 hour of your session if you had your last meal a while ago, if you’re training in the morning or have left it too late to eat a meal. For example, having an ample lunch then a snack before training is a good idea for an evening swim. In contrast to your pre-swim meal, you may benefit from including a higher GI source of carbohydrate in your snack. This places less strain on the gut, means glucose is absorbed quicker and energy is release sooner, just in time for your session. The focus here should be high carbohydrate and low fat.
Great snacks to include could be fresh or dried fruit with a flapjack, yogurt with fruit, toast or a bagel with honey or jam, an energy or cereal bar, a fruit smoothie, oat and fruit muffins, crackers or rice cakes with jam or honey
Should you avoid anything?
The last thing you want to do before a swimming session is upset your stomach. The gut is a very sensitive organ of the body, so knowing what to avoid before a session can be useful. Avoiding high fat and processed foods such as cream or ice cream, cakes, biscuits or crisps can be useful.
Consider keeping spicy meals for after your workout too, such as curries. Large amounts of spice can move quickly through the gut, which may cause discomfort during your session. Keep your fibre (for example lentils and beans) for your meal rather than snack. Ensure you are comfortable with consuming these foods too, never try a new food for the first time just before a swimming session!
Don’t forget about hydration
Remaining hydrated before a session is important, beginning a session dehydrated can seriously impair performance. Dehydration can cause fatigue, lack of concentration, headaches and muscle soreness. Gulping down a litre of water 5 minutes before your session isn’t the goal here, you should aim to be drinking 5-10ml per kg body weight within 4 hours of your session.
Finding what works well for you is important when it comes to pre-training nutrition, it may be a case of trial and error to see what suits you best. If you feel like something could be improved, try it! You never know how much it could improve your performance in the pool.
BIG WEEK 2 – PRIZES
Hi,
Hope you are all well and getting through this lockdown as best you can. Like we said in our previous email we will be doing another BIG WEEK, next week 1st-7th Feb. We have some amazing prizes for the children, parents and the full family.
Prizes.
1. Fausto Coffee – we have 2 vouchers for coffee and cake for 2 people
2. Wellness space – we have 2 vouchers for a 2 week unlimited virtual yoga
3. Little Shop – £10 voucher
4.Diegos Italian – £20 voucher
5. Luna Yoga – 3 x passed for all different ages for yoga
6. £25 Roblox Voucher
7. £25 Disney Voucher
8. Katie Canavan Travel Director – Discount for all Swim City customers on your holiday booking. This one is super exciting and will have more details soon on the partnership.
9. We also have some awesome Swim City prizes, including goggles and ponchos.
We hope to see you all on Monday joining in. Our First competition will be an athletic challenge for the children. This will be posted 9am Monday on Facebook. See you all then.
Team Swim City
Exciting that we have another awesome week planned next week. There are some amazing prizes what will be posted soon!Keep an eye on this space #bigweek #round2
One of Swim City big goals is to help the environment. If this is one of our annual plastic beach pick ups or trying to promote this to swimmers. We are now only using fully recyclable masks at all of our venues. Every little bit helps. Mask bros, Eco Masks are the first of its kind in the UK.
Promote and educate your little ones on recycling at home. For more help click below.
The BBC today have latched their lockdown classes. It’s a great way to keep your children engaged over the time they are off.
For more info go to BBC LOCKDOWN EDUCATION CLASSES
Click on the link below and this will direct you to the gym session. The gym session is 50 minutes long so make sure you have a water bottle. https://www.facebook.com/swimcitygb/videos/290095368669223/ or visit our Facebook page and click on the link.
Have fun and make sure you post your videos, pictures and comments for Adam to get in touch. @swimcitygb
Have fun everyone!
Swim City Big week! Aimed for the full family to get up and active but also to have some great fun. We will have different activities. Post your picture, videos and comment on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok @swimcitygb. Have fun!
In this article we’re going to reveal how long it’s going to take your child to learn to swim – plus everything you can do to help speed the process along.
What does “knows how to swim” look like to us?
To us, a child knows how to swim when they reach Stage 7. At this point, they’ll be able to perform each of the four main strokes confidently, dive, and tread water – everything they need to know to be safely left unsupervised in the water.
How long will this take?
On average, it takes our students around six years to learn to swim at a Stage 7 level. They generally join us at age four or five and reach this level by the time they’re ten or eleven.
Of course, they’ll be doggy paddling within their first few lessons and swimming each of the four main strokes long before this point. This is just how long it tends to take until they’re confident enough of a swimmer to be able to be safely left unsupervised in a pool.
How to help your child learn to swim as fast as possible
There’s plenty you can do to make sure your child learns to swim as fast as possible.
Here are our recommendations:
Give them consistency
In our experience, the biggest factor in how fast your child will learn to swim is how consistently they show up to lessons.
As a parent, it’s important you make sure your child has the same relationship to their swimming lessons as they do with school. That means that whether they want to go or not, they still have to (unless of course they’re ill).
We design our lessons to be as enjoyable as possible, but kids are kids, and there are going to be weeks where yours would rather stay home and watch YouTube than come to their lesson.
But if you want them to learn this life skill as quickly as possible, showing up to every lesson should be non-negotiable.
Make sure they get as much pool time as possible
The longer your child spends in the pool, the quicker they’ll learn to swim.
More lessons are a sure-fire way to help them progress as fast as possible, although we don’t let our young students do more than two lessons a week. Any more than that and swimming can start feeling like a chore for them, which will be counterproductive in the long-run.
As a parent, one thing you can do to really help bring on your child’s swimming is to get them to the pool as often as you can, especially during the school holidays. Making swimming a regular part of their life is the best way to make sure they quickly improve at it.
Make sure their first times in the pool are good experiences
If you can’t swim or you’re not confident in the pool yourself, your child’s first swimming lessons can be nerve wracking.
However, your child will pick up how you’re feeling when they look over to you for encouragement. If you’re relaxed and positive, you’ll fill them with confidence. But if you’re nervous and on-edge, your child is likely to follow your lead.
We understand this is easier said than done, but the best advice we can give parents who are nervous about their children learning to swim is to put on a brave face for your child – no matter how nervous you are about them in the pool.
That’s because if their first few experiences of swimming are negative, it can hold their development back by months or even years.
Each of our instructors have taught hundreds of children to swim, and they’re experts at keeping your child safe and helping them feel confident and comfortable in the pool. Try your best to be positive and encouraging from the sidelines to help make your kid’s early experiences with swimming as good as possible.
Instill a growth mindset in your child
Swimming doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Our founder, Jonny, couldn’t swim a single length of backstroke when he was 11 years old. However, he went on to swim for Great Britain in the backstroke against Olympians like Michael Phelps.
He credits his parents and coaches teaching him to have a growth mindset as a big factor in what got him there.
When a child has a growth mindset, they believe that with enough hard work and perseverance they can learn any new skill or subject.
If they have a fixed mindset, on the other hand, they think that if they can’t do something now they’ll never be able to do it. If you ever catch your child saying things like “I’m just no good at that” or “I’ll never be able to do that”, it’s a sure sign of a fixed mindset.
As you can imagine, kids with a growth mindset learn every skill and subject much quicker than those with a fixed one – not just swimming.
Luckily, there’s a few things you can do to help encourage your child to have a growth mindset – all of which you learn about in psychologist Carol Dweck’s TED talk on developing a growth mindset.
The most important thing you can do to help your child develop a growth mindset is to avoid praising them for the results they achieve (“well done for getting to Stage 5”) and instead praising the effort they put in (“well done on trying so hard in your swimming lesson today – I could see how much you were pushing yourself”).
This will help your child internalise that hard work is more important than natural ability. This will not only help them learn to swim as fast as possible – it will also help in their schoolwork and beyond.
Remember that plateaus are part of learning any new skill
Learning any skill is never as simple as steadily getting better every week. Zoom out and you’ll see continuous progress, but week-by-week it might feel like your child’s development is stagnating or sometimes like they’re even going backwards.
This is especially common when they go through a big growth spurt, as it can take them a while to get used to their new bodies.
As a parent, it’s important to keep the big picture in mind and explain to your kid that things might not always click straight away. Remind them how far they’ve come and explain that if they stick at it they’ll eventually get to the next level.
Keep these five tips in mind and your child is sure to become a confident swimmer in no time.
And if you’re looking for swimming lessons in Sunderland for your child, book your first lesson with Swim City today.