Adult Swimming Framework

If you are serious about your swimming then there are four Adult Learn to Swim Awards to work towards. These reflect the four Stages of the Adult Swimming Framework.

Swim School Enquiry

The Four Adult Learn to Swim Awards

1. Be Water Confident

This Award is about gaining the confidence to enter the pool safely. It also covers the ability to move around the pool with confidence and to achieve basic core aquatic skills. These are entries, exits, buoyancy, balance and aquatic breathing.

2. Be a Swimmer

By the time you earn this Award you will have the necessary skills to start swimming independently over short distances (5 to 10 metres). You won’t need support or floatation equipment.At this stage, we recommend you also try the Adult Distance Awards – 5 metres, 10 metres and 25 metres.

3. Be a Better Swimmer

By this point you’ll be able to swim up to 400 metres independently. You’ll also have the confidence to try other pool activities, such as Aquacise or lane swimming.At this stage, we recommend you build your stamina even more, with our Adult Distance Awards – 50 metres, 100 metres and 200 metres

4. Be a Master Swimmer

Gaining this award means you can confidently enter the Masters section of a swimming club. It’s about more advanced swimming skills to enable you to compete at different levels and in different sports such as triathlon, open water swimming and lane swimming. At this stage you can also achieve our most advanced Adult Distance Awards – 800 metres and 1 mile.

Adult Learn to Swim Awards Core Skills

As you work through each of these four stages you will focus on developing the following key skills:

Entries and exits

Treading water

Rotation and orientation

Streamlining

Aquatic breathing

Sculling

Travel and coordination

Floatation

Stamina

Submersion

Water safety

Before you start, it’s a good idea to talk to your swimming teacher about what you want to get out of lessons.

Although each of the four stages has a number of outcomes, not all outcomes will need to be achieved to move onto the next stage; as they are not compulsory.

The Adult Swimming Framework is about being flexible – the swimming teacher will select the required outcomes based on your individual goals.

Register Your Interest

Learning to swim is a vital skill that lasts for a lifetime. Through fun-based lessons following the Swim England Learn to Swim Pathway, we have sessions for all – from beginners to advanced register below for your free swim taster session.