Parents Corner

First timer?

Coming in for an Orientation Class - What to expect

Coming in for a Skill Assessment - What to expect

Year round swimming in the cooler months

Pregressing from level to level

Getting set for Assessment Week

Stay up-to-date

Tips for parents with children swimming in our School Program

More general swimming lesson tips

Homework to help develop swimming skills

DLSA & Lange Pool & Spa Facebook Giveaways Terms & Conditions 

The importance of year round swimming

Check out this GREAT bit of info produced by Health Direct Australia on the benefits of swimming!

Water Safety - Emergency Action Plan

Tips for first timers!

• Notify admin or teacher of ANY medical or other personal issues that may affect your child’s performance.
• View the admin photo board for Staff profiles: this will help if you are new or need to locate a make up teacher etc.
• Try to arrive relaxed and positive especially if the experience of swimming lessons is new, your child will feel clam and secure and the lesson will be more successful.
• Have a dress rehearsal at home: try on togs and goggles so your child is used to wearing them.
• Arrive early so your child can use the bathroom: this saves interrupting the class.
• If your child/baby is upset during the lesson, please talk to your swim teacher or admin. Do not pull your child out of the lesson, it is all about them being safe in and around water. Your swim teacher can help your child with the fear of the unknown.
• Aim for positive reinforcement prior to the lesson, this will help each time.

DLSA Orientation Class - What to expect!

Our DLSA Orientation Class (OC) is available to all children under 3 years of age who would be looking to join our Infant/Toddler Water Safety Program.

This is a great way to take your time getting all the information you need, to get the most out of your time at the DLSA.

Try to arrive at least five minutes early for OC. Upon arrival, make contact with one of our Admin Team to get things started. The process will then happen as follows;

* Meet one of the DLSA Administration Team who will take your through the administrative side of lessons at the DLSA. This generally takes about 15 minutes.

* Be shown through the DLSA facility and to the changerooms to get ready for a swim!

* You/a guardian will be required to hop in the pool with your child where you will do an example class with a qualified DLSA Infant Program Instructor. This will go for about 15 to 20 minutes.

* Following this you exit the pool have a shower/get dried and dressed and meet with with our Admin Team for any final questions.

DLSA Skill Assessment

Children over 3 years of age generally start in our Water Confidence or Learn-to-Swim Levels.

So that we can get your child off to a great start we will have them in the water for a Skill Assessment.

Upon arrival, make contact with one of our Admin Team to get things started. The process will then happen as follows;

* You will be shown where to find the changerooms should your child need to get changed into togs for the assessment.

* Our Administrator will provide you with all the relevant DLSA documentation and standard forms. Take a moment to read through and/or fill them out while you are waiting for the assessment to start.

* When one of our qualified Swimming Instructor is ready to start the assessment, your childs name will be called to enter the pool. Don't worry if your child is a bit timid or even upset. This happens quite a lot.

* Take your lead from our Instructor, you may be asked to come in on pool deck or the Instructor may ask you to watch from a distance.

* The assessment process should only take a couple of minutes at which time you will be called over to have a chat with the Instuctor.

* Once this discussion has finished you can take your child to get dried and dressed.

* Then you can meet with our Admin Team to discuss the assessment results.

Tips for the cooler months!

• We’ll keep the water warm… You just need to focus on getting to and from the water! ☺
• During the colder months, arrive rugged up and go home rugged up.
• Bathing caps are great to wear - it keeps your child warm and reduces water in ears and hair in face.
• Bring extra towels.
• Beanies, slippers, dressing gowns are a great way to keep warm to and from lessons.
• For late afternoon lessons, why not get your child to have a hot shower after their lesson and then dress them straight into their jammies before going home.
• Ask our Admin Team for a lend of the hair dryers to dry your child’s hair before you leave the centre.

Progression

Try not to compare sibling’s performance or discuss under-performance around siblings purely as a comparison tool as certain children may regress.

All children progress at their own rate... But they all get there eventually.

Coordination and skill development can be hampered by growth spurts. This is only temporary though.

As a general rule, on average, it can take up to 35 lessons to progress from one level to the next. Sometimes children will progress faster, sometimes they will progress a bit slower.

Doing multiple lessons per week WILL enable your child to progress faster.

Assessment weeks

Plan holidays around assessment weeks i.e. avoiding missing assessments - plan ahead and ask admin for dates.

Be patient with your child’s progression. We all learn at different stages with variations to progression possible at any time, sometimes for no reason.

See admin if your child misses their assessment, or if your child’s normal teacher was not there, we can reassess.

Messages from our Admin Team

Keep watching the televisions in the reception area – it’s a great way to keep up with all the happenings in our program.

Keep your personal details up to date - email, mobile, emergency contact, any health issue change with swimmer.

If parents wish to talk to teachers, please see Admin to arrange a call back at end of session or the next day, just so it doesn’t hold the teacher up for their next class.

Tips for Parents with Kids Swimming in our School Program

As part of your school's curriculum the children from year 1 to year 6 are to partake in a swimming program once a year. The DLSA offers an extensive and valueable Professional School Swim Program while the program is based on our Private Program Level Progression there are a number of other differences that parents with childres in our Private Program should know about.

First and foremost is numbers per class. We always offer each school the option of participating in our School Swimming Program with the same low student:teacher ratio as our Provate Program but this is rarely taken up due to the cost factor of the lessons.

Schools tend to go towards the standard options which offers a greatly reduced lesson rate but higher student:teacher rations. Even with this high ration we are able to conduct effective classes due to the fact that most schools elect to go with 45 minutes lessons.

When deciding as to whether or not your child should partake in the Schools Program as well as swimming in our Private Program at the same time, consider these points:

• The DLSA School Program does not take the place of our low student:teacher ratio Private Program.
• Having said that, it does however offer a greast BOOST to their Private Program lessons as everything they are learning in their after school classes will be reinforced and practiced in our School Program.
• Practice and regularity promotes improvement. Just as to 2 or 3 lessons/week in the Private Program will greatly increase progression, swimming in our School Program will have the same reult.
• Let the have some fun! :) Kids coming to our School Program are doing so with their friends and it's a fun excursion outside of the classroom. We often see who the kids are excited to be swimming and enjoy the fact that they are doing so with thei friends.
• If your child does continue regular Private Program lessons, chances are they will have a higher skill level than most of the other children of the same age. This often serves as a real confidence BOOST to your child.

So focus on this period of time when the kids are doing both the DLSA Private Program and DLSA School Program as an excellent chance for your child to BOOST their skills through a bit of extra regularity... This will in the end, flow onto faster progression in our Private Program.

More Tips!

• Goggles: To wear or not to wear? Goggles are a teaching aid at various stages of the learning process. They allow good vision and comfort under water. But we must never rely on goggles because of water safety.
• Please stay off the pool deck while swimming lessons are on. It is great to encourage your child but try to leave the teaching and the discipline to the swim teacher.
• Observe your child’s eating and sleeping patterns etc as children best respond to the lesson alert and with a satisfied belly, this may also include observing certain foods that may work better than others.
• Keep a routine that works, ALL children love routine.
• Aim for positive praise after the lesson no matter what happens. It’s better to have a positive atmosphere than a negative one.
• Consider pattern of behaviour etc relating to who takes your child to swimming i.e. some children, as mentioned, like routine so going to lessons with a different person each week such as parents, grandparents, neighbours, friends etc may all have a varied outcome with some children. Please also advise Admin if travel drop off or collection routines are different from the ordinary routine.
• ASK QUESTIONS if you have any question about your child’s progress ASK as soon as possible don’t let things build until you feel it’s a problem.
• It may help if you undress your baby before getting out of pool. Ensure towels are close to the pool or even perhaps on pool deck at the side of wall.
• Don't yell over the pool fence during lessons or constantly opening the door and interrupting classes; trust the teacher will do what they need to do.

Homework

WC1: practice bubbles in the bath; have a go getting eyes wet with a cup of water, eventually dunking (cup of water can even be used in the shower).

WC2/LTS1: try walking up and down the hallway at home doing reach, pull, push arms.

LTS2: practice high-to-the-sky arms and backstroke arms up and down the hallway.

If child is have trouble with breath control, use a straw in the bath to blow bubbles.

When learning to breathe, your child may not know right from left. It can help if you put a rubber band around the hand they write with so they know which side to breathe.