Complete Guide to Primary Swimming

Complete Guide to Primary Swimming makes teaching swimming simple—whether you are an experienced swim coach, primary school teacher, or assistant with limited experience in teaching the activity.

By following the process outlined in the 10-unit programme, you will be able to safely teach swimming to pupils at key stages 1 and 2 and help them develop aquatic skills and learn the four strokes: backstroke, front crawl, breaststroke, and butterfly.

Written by John Lawton, an ASA coach and ASA advanced swimming teacher, this book presents the following:

• Fun and easy-to-follow games and activities for each unit

• Links to highlight where the activities meet national curriculum requirements

• Outcome checklists for each unit to ensure that pupils have acquired the skills before moving on

• Equipment lists and teaching tips that help you plan and run activities

• Simple illustrations that show correct techniques

Complete Guide to Primary Swimming demystifies the process of teaching swimming, offering a clearly defined series of steps that will help children develop skills in a safe and fun environment. Unit 1 offers guidance on planning your programme, and each of the nine subsequent units supplies simple but effective activities supported by outcome checklists and teaching tips. Each unit builds on skills developed in previous units, and as the pupils progress they develop a range of skills that help them learn the four major strokes.

The games and activities easily engage the pupils, and Lawton’s masterful instruction will help you teach with confidence and help children develop skills in the limited time you have with them. And even if you are an experienced swim teacher, the units and activities provide a sequential structure that you can use in your programme.

Complete Guide to Primary Swimming is spiral bound so you can use it poolside as a handy reference. It will help you prepare pupils for their swimming experience. They will learn to move, submerge, and float. You’ll also teach them about breathing, body position, gliding, and developing the strokes. Thanks to the expert guidance provided in this book, your pupils will develop their swimming skills—and they’ll have fun in the process.

About the Author

John Lawton is an ASA advanced swimming teacher and ASA coach. He has been teaching swimming since 1967 and has worked extensively training and supporting primary school teachers.

Lawton has authored and edited numerous ASA teaching publications and written articles for ASA’s Swimming Times. He also was heavily involved with the Swim for Life campaign that lobbied the government to ensure that swimming became a compulsory aspect of the primary school curriculum.

Lawton served for 14 years as director of education for ASA, England’s national governing body for the sport of swimming. Since 2006, he has run his own sport education consultancy, and he is the editor of a publication aimed at teaching swimming to people with physical and learning disabilities.

He earned an MSc degree from Loughborough University in physical education and sports science.