EY1/EY2 & Primary Swimming Lessons – Term 1.1

Dear Parents,  

I am delighted to inform you that we are now in a position to open the DBIS Swimming Pool for school PE lessons. The children will begin specialist lessons on Monday 23rd August. Every class in EY1, EY2 and Primary Y3 – Y6 will have one swimming lesson and one PE lesson each week throughout this upcoming half term. Please see the Swimming Timetable to see which day your child’s class will be swimming. 

Students will need the following kit/equipment for swimming lessons:

• DBIS swimming costume/swimming trunks
• DBIS rash-vest 
• DBIS swimming cap (House colours)
• Goggles 
• Towel 
• Bag for wet clothes 
• School uniform and underwear (if child is wearing swimming costume/shorts plus PE kit to school for a morning lesson) 

We recommend that all items have been clearly labeled with your child’s name to avoid lost property. We recognise that this notification gives parents short notice to purchase all the necessary swimming items from the DBIS uniform shop, but we did not want to delay our swimming programme any further. With this in mind, although we would ideally like all children to wear the full DBIS swimming kit from the first lesson, for the first two weeks of term we are happy for children to wear ‘non DBIS’ swimming costumes/trunks, rash-vest and swim cap. We do ask that all children have all of the required items listed above by Monday 6th September. If you do have any questions regarding this please don’t hesitate to contact me by email, my email address is [email protected]. 

If your child is swimming in the morning, they may wish to come to school in their swimming kit to save time and make changing easier. If your child has swimming in the afternoon, we recommend that they would be more comfortable in their school uniform and can change into swimwear at the start of the lesson. The Early Years and Primary class teachers will share the full timetable including PE lesson timings in the upcoming week.

Students will be grouped according to their individual swimming ability and will be taught and assessed by one of our 4 qualified swimming teachers. It is important to note that ability groups vary from class to class. A group 1 swimmer in one class might be working to the same level as a group 2 or 3 swimmer in another class. Students are grouped with children of a similar ability so that they are in the best position to be able to progress. Less able swimmers are placed in the smallest group in the class so that they can access more support. 

If your child is a swimming beginner or lacks confidence, please be reassured that as a team we have significant experience of teaching swimmers of all levels including complete beginners. We use a variety of buoyancy aids and floats as well as standing tables. As a team we aim to work with the children in a sensitive and nurturing way to build confidence in the water. Please do reassure any nervous children that we will look after them and have lots of fun! 

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me. 

Yours sincerely

Rob White 

Head of PE and Sport

Discovery Bay International School

[email protected]