Awards
Awards and Aims
We like to give the children swimming badges and certificates to celebrate their successes and milestones as they go along. The awards are also a great way of motivating children reluctant to try a skill…. and to keep older swimmers focused when building stamina and learning more challenging improvements to existing skills! After a while, the children will know what award they are aiming for next – and what it is they have to work on to achieve it.
Everyone develops their swimming ability at differing speeds. They will all make progress though, even if at times it is in small steps. All are worthy of recognition – small steps and large leaps. With swimming, it is much easier in the long run, to get a whole range of basic skills in place before moving on. That applies to swimming without discs as well as swimming full strokes, jumping in, diving etc. You are most welcome to ring me if you want to discuss where we are with your particular swimmer.
There are a lot of swimming awards available these days. I have picked out the ones that best fit in to our syllabus and what we prioritise for our swimmers, as well as being fun to do!
There are 2 areas we focus on:
• Working towards excellent stroke technique on all 4 strokes, building stamina with those strokes, plus diving and turns.
• Particularly because of where we live – safety and survival aspects of swimming: Coping out of their depth, early treading water, emphasis on Front crawl and swimming on the back, plus swimming increasing distances without relying on the poolside. Includes other survival skills such as floating and swimming underwater.
We aim for every child to get a swimming award highlighting their achievements by the end of each term. Sometimes it will be one of our core awards, at others it may be in recognition of mastering a certain skill or stroke technique they have been struggling with. Sometimes it may be different from others in their group. They are all important and exciting markers along their individual journey. We also slot in Personal Survival and Rookie Lifeguard awards where appropriate. On the back of each certificate you will find what the swimmer has done to pass the award.
Here is a selection of the awards we use as we teach the children. There are others – achievements in their own right - and not every child will end up with every single award we use. The class teacher will select the award most appropriate to what that class/individual is focusing on at the time. I have asterisked the ones we would like all the swimmers to achieve as and when they are ready.
Younger Swimmers (Pre-School/Reception):
Duckling Awards, Level 1 – 4: These awards incorporate a variety of early skills, with certificates and badges designed for younger learners.
School Age:
Water Skills, Level 1 - 4:
These incorporate skills and stroke elements. We spread them out in between the distance awards. Our aim is to finish all 4 before they move on to Challenge Bronze/Silver.
Rainbow Distance Awards:
5m, 10m, 15m, 20m. To be swum on the front and/or on the back as a continuous swim.
25m (a big step up from 20m as can’t be swum on doggy paddle or back kick), 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 600m, 800m, 1000m, 1 Mile
All must be swum on recognisable strokes, with better technique, incorporating more different strokes swum over longer distances as the length of swim increases. Swimmers use the poolside to turn at the end of each length.
Survival Awards:
Continuous Swim : 25m, 50m, 100m Can be swum in any way as long as on the surface and not touching the pool floor or side.
Water Safety 1 Award : An early award which we do once the children are able to swim without aids - in the deep end and without goggles. Swimmers should understand that these skills can help them ‘look after themselves’ in the water.
Water Safety 2 Award: This introduces the swimmers to how it feels to wear clothes in the water! Shorts and Tshirts are worn over their swim kit and again there are no goggles allowed. They will learn about the dangers of cold water, and how to float and signal for help.
Water Safety 3 Award : More advanced, normally once the swimmers have achieved Challenge Bronze. Swimmers wear long sleeved top and trousers, no hats or goggles. Includes a theory element – they have to answer questions! We want them to finish this award realising the benefits of wetsuits and lifejackets in open water situations.
Challenge Awards:
As the name suggests – more challenging awards involving a skill section, which has to be performed continuously, and a longer distance section where we look for increasingly advanced techniques in strokes, starts and turns.
Bronze – Usually assessed around 400m/600m Rainbow Distance - has an underwater element that some swimmers struggle with….. we do not let them get stuck on it – but move on to the next challenge whilst still working on the underwater bit.
Silver – Usually, once swimmers have passed 800m/1,000m Rainbow Distance. This has a 100m timed swim, so a speed element. Again, we will not allow swimmers to get stuck if they are not fast enough yet, but keep working on it as we go along.
Gold – One of the last awards we assess for. Swimmers will be able to (among other things!) swim a timed 800m swim in under 25 minutes, as repeated 100m swims on each of 3 strokes showing very good stroke technique throughout.
I hope this is helpful. Again, please contact me if you would like more information about the awards, or to discuss where your child is with their swimming.