Our Story

Established in 2006 with a clear objective to provide an excellent service of swimming lessons and coaching, S4 Swim School is now one of the UK's leading swimming development programmes.

S4 Swim School has over a decade of proven success, helping thousands of children and adults develop their swimming skills in a safe and enjoyable environment.

So, what does S4 stand for?

Streamlining
Sculling
Strength
Skills

These areas are highlighted as they cover everything needed to produce swimmers with a high degree of skill & technical ability. Swimming is 70% Technique and 30% Effort!

The key emphasis in S4 teaching is to allow the swimmer to learn to swim rather than be taught. This method of teaching allows the swimmer to develop a natural instinct/feel for the water.

So, what does S6 stand for?

Once we feel a child has achieved a satisfactory level of swimming, demonstrating good technique/skills in all their swimming strokes, they will be invited to the S6 Swim Squad.

S6 Coaching is an introduction to coaching for swimmers. It is an extension of S4 swim teaching, incorporating two coaching based disciplines Speed & Stamina.

Swimmer - Instructor Ratios

Our ratios are currently set to a maximum of 7 per instructor for the learn to swim scheme. On average our group sizes vary between 5 - 6 swimmers.

These great ratios enable our highly skilled team to pay greater attention to detail to swimmer development. As a result of this, the rate of progression tends to be very fast, and our swimmers are given the tools to fulfil their potential.

Structure

Teaching Groups

For our S4 Teaching Groups (children aged 3yrs+ approx.), we follow the Swim England Award Scheme, stages 1 - 7, from Octopus to Goldfish to Angelfish to Sharks and finally S6 Swim Squad.

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Octopus

The focus here will be on children building their confidence further, with additional emphasis placed on propulsive movement. Before progressing to the next group children must demonstrate a basic over arm action on both front crawl & backstroke, and a simultaneous kick action on breaststroke & butterfly.

Goldfish

Once children reach goldfish level swimming, the main emphasis turns to technique introduction. In this group children will learn the basics on breaststroke, front crawl & backstroke paying greater attention to detail (turning the head to breathe, turning feet out on breaststroke, & little finger entry on backstroke). Butterfly kick will still be the major emphasis on this stroke progressing to dolphin shape (rhythm & timing).

Angelfish

To progress to angelfish groups children must demonstrate front crawl showing continuous correct breathing patterns. The backstroke & breaststroke arm action must be demonstrated correctly, and rhythm and timing must be evident on butterfly (no arms at this stage). The main emphasis in angelfish groups will be technique development (bent arm pull on backstroke, timing on breaststroke & an introduction to butterfly arms).

Sharks

At shark level children can slowly start to increase the distance on front crawl, backstroke & breaststroke. Stamina building will only be introduced when the child is performing correct technique. The main emphasis here will be on advanced technique with a lot of focus on stroke length on breaststroke & front crawl, and rhythm & timing on backstroke & butterfly.

S6 Swim Squad

Entry into the S6 Squad is by invitation only. Decisions will be made by the head coach in communication with the instructors. Sessions are 1-hour in duration and the main emphasis is an introduction to speed & stamina swimming and race skills (dives/turns/finishes on all strokes).

For our S6 Swim Squad we follow the Swim England Stage 8 Award. This incorporates many coaching-based criteria. We also adopt the Swim England Speed Awards in all four swimming strokes. Bronze, silver, and gold speed awards are based on target times to achieve.

Our Philosphy

A Commitment to Continuing Swimming Development

At S4 Swim School we promote continuous swimmer development and are keen to ensure there are clear effective progression/pathways for our swimmers. We can take children to a high level of swimming, specialising in advance technique and introductory coaching sessions. We believe that by instilling a basic competitive instinct this will help develop an individual for life whether they stay in the water or not!

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We have also developed strong links with many aquatic based organisations to encourage our swimmers to stay in the water for longer as we recognise the fantastic physical development that can be gained from being involved in a water-based activity whatever that may be

Our swimming programme specialises in the aquatic development of children from the age of 3 years (approx.) and upwards. Please feel free to get in touch for information on baby swimming lesson providers, recommended by us!

About Us