Learn to Swim is York Vikings teaching section which supports children to learn to swim, following the Swim England Stages 1 to 7.

We are a small, friendly swim school and we take pride in knowing each of our individual swimmers well. Our well qualified, experienced teaching staff encourage children to work on skill development and technique, while inspiring a lifelong love of swimming.

Our teaching staff are experienced and supportive and embed our teaching philosophy that swimming is more than a life skill or a competitive sport; it is an addition to a healthy lifestyle which develops values such as perseverance, self-discipline and self-belief.

We are affiliated to Swim England, and follow their guidelines and principles to deliver high quality swimming lessons within a safe and controlled environment. We are SwimMark accredited. SwimMark is Swim England's quality standard for swimming clubs, and recognises high standards of governance, sustainability and effectiveness. 

We use the Swim England Learn to Swim programme and children are rewarded with certificates at the completion of each stage. At the end of Stage 7, many of our swimmers choose to continue with York Vikings and move up to our pre-coaching squad and then into our competitive coaching squads.

Swimmers in the club learn about the core aquatic skills. These enable them to understand the processes that are needed to swim all of the four strokes, front crawl, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly.

Our Learn to Swim Programme proudly offers:

- Swim England lessons from Stage 1 to Stage 7.

- Fully qualified teaching staff.

- Appropriate class sizes based on the stage.

- Our early Stages (1-3) all benefit from in-water teaching assistants to ensure that our youngest swimmers are supported to quickly develop confidence and independence in the water.

- Lessons from age 4.

- Pool-side seating so you can stay dry and enjoy watching your swimmer happily make progress.

- Longer pool time allowing us to cover more per session than the average 30 min lessons which are provided by other swim schools.

We run two Learn to Swim Routes, both follow the same Swim England Programme but offer flexibility to busy parents allowing swimmers the opportunity to swim regularly.

All Year Programme 

(4 weeks holiday a week - 2 weeks at Christmas and 2 weeks August)

Venue: New Earswick Swimming Pool

Days: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday

Information: Swimmers can attend two 30 minute sessions a week, choosing from the days above.

OR

Term Time Only Programme

(Terms follow York Council School Terms)

Venue: Archbishop Holgate School

Days: Sunday

As children grow, the experiences they have shape their characteristics and embody who they are. At York Vikings we work with children from learning to swim all the way to when they go off to university. We also run a Masters Squad for over 18’s for those who want to continue.

Working with your children in this timeline has developed our philosophy to swimming: it is more than a life skill or a competitive sport, but an addition to your lifestyle. It teaches values like perseverance, self-discipline and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

We strive to have inspirational teachers and coaches who have the belief in our swimmers to succeed. We have the expertise and knowledge to educate your children, but we want to go a step further and to create a home for them in the water. Your children should love swimming and understand that as well as being a life skill it can be part of their daily life. We want them to fall in love with the water and be confident and comfortable in this environment. York Vikings is about promoting the value 'swim for life' - because swimming is so much more than a sport.

We see learning to swim as a venture into so many other aquatic based disciplines. These can include lifesaving, water polo, diving, scuba, teaching, coaching and more...this is how investing in learning to swim adds so much value to our lives compared to some other sports.

We believe that swimming is for life and we work hard to ensure that our members have the opportunity to continue building their skills, refining their stroke technique and most importantly, to enjoy swimming in a social and supportive environment.

On completion of Swim England Stage 7, our swimmers are invited to join our Pre Coaching Squad, which acts as a bridge between swimming lessons and swim training. Swimmers begin to refine their stroke techniques and acquire new skills such as block starts. 

Quotes from our PC parents and swimmers

The coach is brilliant with them all and everyone makes noticeable progress throughout the lessons.

The class was lovely and so informative for the kids.

The coach really engages with the swimmers positively.