Frequently Asked Questions
Following are a few of the most common questions asked by parents. If your answer isn’t below, please free to get in touch
There is no absolute answer to this question. Every child is different and the rate at which they learn to swim will depend on how comfortable they are in the water. For example, a child who fears water flowing over their head at bath time will take longer to get used to putting their face in the water in comparison to a child who is happy with water flowing over their head. This means that a child who is more worrisome in the water will generally take a bit longer to learn to swim. That said, at Shapland’s we have built a supportive and fun 5 step learn-to-swim program that ensures any child, regardless of age, ability or level of comfort in the water, is able to be introduced to the pool, and learn to swim at the pace that best suits them. Our program has been designed with insights gained over 8 decades of industry experience with classes for babies through to school age children, and students looking for advanced stroke correction.
At Shapland Swim Schools we encourage each child to participate in their swim class without goggles. The reason for this is that we feel we have a duty of care to prioritise swim safety and prepare each child to be able to save themselves in emergency situations. If your child was to accidentally fall into a pool, or any body of water, it would be highly unlikely they would be wearing googles. As a result, we teach our swim classes without goggles to prepare them for this situation. By helping your child to be comfortable in the water without googles this has the potential to reduce the likelihood of panic. Read more about the importance of swimming without goggles on our blog. There are always exceptions, so please contact your closest Shapland Swim School to discuss your child’s special needs. Once your child can swim without goggles then we do permit our students to wear goggles while they improve their strength and stamina by swimming longer distances.
Your child can wear the swim garment that makes them feel most comfortable in the pool, be it a swimsuit or sun suit. If your child is a toddler there are several options available, these range from tight swimsuits to swim nappies. Please contact your closest Shapland Swim School to read about their toddler swimwear policy.
All of our Shapland Swim Schools run a seamless, year-round swimming program rather than a term-based schedule. We do this to ensure continuity in our student’s swim journey and optimise their skill development. Meaning each student can have a consistent and uninterrupted block of swim classes.
To aid this and make the lives of families easy, once you have secured a permanent spot at your local school your class spot is saved. This means you come for your lesson at the same day and time each week and you never have to rebook. Your spot will be automatically saved and the only time you need to change your class time is if your schedule changes. For example, if your child starts school or your work or family commitments change you might need to change your class time. If so, just log into our member portal MySSS and easily change your class time.
All Shapland Swim Schools offer a Flexible make-up lesson system if you are unable to attend your regular class. Here’s how it works:
1. Contact your local Shapland Swim School to confirm the cut off time to reschedule a class based on their make-up lesson policy (times slightly vary per school).
2. Log into your MySSS account or call the school prior to the cut off time to cancel your lesson for the day
3. Log into your MySSS account when it is convenient for you and book in a make-up lesson.
4. Enjoy your make-up lesson
NOTE: Make up lessons cannot be used as a credit against the monthly fee and can only be used if you are enrolled in our program.
We provide flexibility in payment options to ensure we can support each of our families. These range from credit card, EFTPOS, direct debit (selected centres) or internet transfer. Please note that some Shapland Swim Schools do not offer all methods. We recommend contacting your closest Shapland Swim School to find out which methods are on offer.
With over 8 decades of swim experience our top priority is swim safety. Our highly trained industry qualified and Blue Card holding swim teachers share our passion for water safety. They also pride themselves of providing a fun and engaging learning environment. The cherry on the top is that they each value developing rapport with their students and prioritise building a relationship with each and every one of them. It’s through this that we are able to deliver a personalised service based on genuine connection and care. And, because we are committed to constantly evolving our program and delivering our students the best possible experience, each and every one of our teachers undergo extensive annual training to enhance their skills
Swimming just like any new skill requires practice and consistency. Weekly classes provide the opportunity for your child to progressively learn skills and make progress with their comfortability in the water, and their ability to move across the pool. If your child takes breaks from classes, depending on the duration they take away from swimming lessons, their progress may halt. If their skill development is at a critical point, then an extended break may result in a regression. For example, if the child is starting to learn that the water will support their body weight, what they are learning is to trust the water and their teacher. Taking a break at that point could cause the child to lose that trust, resulting in a regression of their skills. That said, it is important to note that children develop their aquatic skills at different rates, so each child is different.
Our simple 5 step swim program is designed to cater to each stage of a child’s swim journey, as well as helping them to achieve their personalised swim goals. We offer classes for babies, toddlers, school age children, and adolescents. Should your child wish to take their skills to the next level we offer advanced stroke correction where students are taught how to build their endurance to the point where they can start to swim kilometres.
Regardless of age or goals, before terminating swim classes we recommend that the minimum skill your child should have is the ability to swim at least 100m unassisted without goggles. This is to help them be safer in a normal still water environments such as lakes, slow flowing creeks, dams and swimming pools, as well as areas where water is in motion (e.g., swimming in the surf, creeks or rivers).
Each child learning trajectory is different and no one student is the same. In most cases a lack of progression can be explained by plateauing. Should you wish to learn more about plateauing check out our blog article that explains in more detail why your child does not appear to be improving.
Given that no one is drown proof, the answer to this is complicated. If your child was to fall into a domestic pool, they may be able to swim back to the wall or steps. However, there are many factors that influence how a child will react if they fall into water. These range from water temperature, how high the wall is above water level and whether they hit the side of the pool during the fall. All of these can all alter the child’s reaction. Regardless of how well a child can swim, it is always best to ensure an adult is constantly and always supervising any child in the water.
Being in the water during the winter months will not increase your child’s risk of catching a cold or flu. To help support the health of all of our students and their families we encourage the members of our swim communities to not attend class if they are unwell.
The Shapland Swim School program has been designed based on over 8 decades of swim experience. During this time, we learned that the best way for children to learn to swim, is by providing a concentrated time that allows them to have focused attention. After the 20-minute mark many students struggle to concentrate, and their learning ability decreases. This is why our classes run for 20 minutes. To aid this and increase our students learning, we only have a maximum of 3 students per class. This enhances concentration, reduces distractibility, and allows each student to have focused attention from our passionate and industry accredited teachers.
Children and parents can become frustrated when learning to swim. This is expected and normal because swimming is a skill that requires your child to deal with a very different environment to the one they are in on a day-to-day basis. Once a child or adult enters an aquatic environment the gravitational forces acting on their bodies is greatly reduced, depending on how much of their body is in the water. This takes some time for some students to be comfortable with.
We like to remind our families that learning to swim is like learning how to stand up, but in an environment that is always moving. Imagine learning to stand in a liquid environment where you have to rely on the water to support your body weight, whilst learning how to hold water with your hands and feet. It makes sense that this might take a bit longer to learn in comparison to learning how to stand on the ground that does not move. Sometimes learning to swim can be frustrating. As a parent, you can help to minimise your child’s frustration with positive reinforcement at the end of every lesson. With patience and persistence, the skills can be learned and even mastered.
Each Shapland Swim School features an enclosed pool with roof sheeting over the pool. The roof is designed to block out UVA and UVB radiation to protect students and teachers, whilst also creating an airy and enjoyable swim environment.
There is a very small percentage of our pools that are indoor and in those centres we make sure there is adequate ventilation and extraction fans in order to keep the air quality inside the pool hall, fresh.
Yes, it is very structured in terms of the skill progression taught, however the delivery by our highly trained instructors is very flexible and is designed to cater for each pupils individual needs, both psychological and physical. Over 8 decades of swim experience has allowed us to develop our 5 step learn-to-swim program. Our simple structure means it’s easy to find the right class for you or your child as we offer baby programs through to school age, advanced stroke correction and classes for adults. Your child will progress through our swim program in stages. Once they have mastered the skills required in their specific level, they will then move onto the next.
Delivered by passionate and industry certified teachers, our programs are delivered in semi-private classes of only 3 student per class. Our teachers are trained to accommodate differences in skill level within the class without losing skill development momentum. Undergoing routine training to ensure our skills are always fresh, our staff know how to adjust their teaching style to the skill level or unique needs of each student. And because we believe in personalisation and genuine connection, your child will have the same teacher for every swim class.
There are a few very simple and easy activities you can do at home to support your child swim lessons.
If you have a pool, you can let them have fun and play in the water whilst you supervise. However, we recommend not pressuring your child to swim at home if they do not want to. In their swimming lessons they will experiment with the water and as their confidence builds, the skills they learn in their swimming lessons will start to take over and their confidence at home will improve.
If you do not have a pool at home, the best thing you can do is encourage your child to having showers as soon as possible. Helping your child to become comfortable with the shower spraying water over their head and around their ears, eyes, nose and mouth will help them to feel at ease when water gets in their eyes in the pool. It will also help them control their breathing when the water goes over their nose and mouth.
At Shapland’s we are dedicated to enhancing the health, wellbeing and comfort of your child in the water. We understand that some children have sensitive eyes and skin, so we have invested in Magna mineral water for our pool. This innovation in water science provides cleaner and clearer water for your children to learn to swim in. Not only is it gentle on eyes and is therapeutic for the skin, it also naturally sanitises the pool 24/7.
When learning a new skill comfort is king. That’s why in addition to our mineral water each and every one of our pools are set at 32 degrees Celsius year-round. As children have a lower percentage body fat, our 8 decades of teaching has taught us that they usually feel cold in water below this temperature. Our pools are heated to 32C as it is important to us that every child, as well as their parent who enters the water with them feels comfortable.
The short answer to this is no. Platforms can be very dangerous, create a fear of falling into deep water, and inhibit the space in which your child can move as they adapt to a lack of gravity in the water. All Shapland pools have uniquely designed to have 8 different water depths, including a shallow end which occupies half the pool. The varying depths of water gives our teachers and your child significant variety when learning. This means there is flexibility in how the class can be run and the pool design does not restrict your child to a fixed space. Teaching without platforms and utilising the varying depths of our pool also ensure we can tailor the class to meet the needs of your child and help them master this new environment in a safe way that is reflective of the real world swim environment.
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