20 FAQs About Our Swimming Crash Courses

1) What is a swimming crash course? 

Swimming crash courses are 4-Day or 5-day swimming courses offered during school holidays. The format of the crash course is to have lessons in every weekday of the week (excluding bank holidays), normally during morning hours.

2) Are Crash Courses the same as Swimming Intensive Courses?

Yes

3) When do our crash courses run normally?

Our crash courses run over Easter and Summer holidays and during school half-terms in October, February and May/June.

Half-term courses will run for a week. Summer swimming courses run every weekday during 3-4 weeks of school summer holidays from July (in 2024 summer holidays from 22 July 2024) until mid-August.

4) Are the swimming crash courses just for children? Can adults also sign up to do summer 1:1 crash courses?

Our summer crash courses are 1:1 lessons suitable for learners of any age including adults. 

We also offer 1:1 swim lessons for adults with any swimming ability from complete beginners to advanced swimmers who wish to improve stroke techniques.

We can offer 1:1 SEND lessons in our holiday courses.

5) Are crash courses just for beginners level?

Not at all. In our crash courses, our lessons are private lessons. So the focus of sessions will be based on the wishes of each swimmer. Over the years, we have had children who were excellent swimmers (club swimmers) but needed to get better at certain strokes like freestyle to have better times to be part of their school’s swimming squads.

Good adult swimmers have done crash courses with us to improve their swimming speed or stamina. For example, a previous client did a 5-Day intensive course to improve his side breathing in Front crawl (freestyle) for doing a triathlone competition.

6) I am an adult and never learned to swim as a child. Could swimming intensive courses be O.K for me?

Yes, our 1:1 adult intensive lessons can help you to improve your water confidence and learn the basics of swimming specially before going away on your summer holidays. But, if you are a complete beginner, you need to continue with more lessons to become a confident and competent swimmer after your holidays.

7) How 1:1 swimming crash courses different to the weekly 1:1 lessons?

In crash courses, you will have 1:1 lessons in consecutive weekdays. In weekly lessons, you will have one lesson per week normally over 12 weeks. An intensive course means the lessons, a swimmer takes lessons in 4 or 5 consecutive days instead of having one one-week gap between lessons which is the format for weekly lessons.

8) Which swimming pool is for school holidays swimming crash courses?

We use Wimbledon College in Wimbledon (SW19 4NS) to provide our swimming lessons over school holidays in 2024.

9) What times of the day the swim lessons run during the crash courses?

We normally we run our lessons in the morning hours.

10) How long is each lesson or session?

Lessons could be a minimum of 30 mins and a maximum of 60 mins.

11) Can lessons be longer than 60 mins a day?

Yes, you can, but, it could be really tiring to do longer sessions daily for a few days in a row. 

12) What is the minimum booking?

With us, there’s a minimum of one week of crash courses or a maximum of 4 weeks which is only possible over the Summer holidays.

13) I have other commitments and I only need 2-3 lessons. I want to book 1 or 2 days of a crash course. Will I be charged for all 5 days of the course?

Unfortunately, the booking is for a full week and ad-hoc booking is not normally offered.

14) Where can I find your fees for crash courses

On our website.

Click here for Swimming Fees and Term Dates

15) I don’t want to do 1:1 lessons, are there any group lessons in Blue Wave Swim’s crash courses?

No, sorry. We don’t offer group lessons.

For children, we can offer semi-private lessons and share lessons with siblings or friends of similar age and swimming skills.

16) If I miss a lesson during a crash course, can I move the lesson to another date or get a refund or credit for any missed lessons?

Unfortunately, the answer is no.

17) Why do I see different fees between different swim school’s for their swimming crash courses? 

Depending on the format of lessons during the crash courses and the type of pools used, the charges between swim schools may vary.

At Blue Wave Swim School, we only offer lessons at 25-meter pools which are professionally run and managed.

We also only offer private (1:1) or semi-private lessons.

We don’t offer group lessons.

Since our lessons are only private and semi-private, we can cater to all ages including adults ; from 0 to 99 years old.

18) Can your swimming crash courses completely replace my child’s weekly lessons?

Weekly swimming lessons or swimming crash courses are different choices of having lessons, depends on your preferences, goals, and learning styles.

Each option has its own set of benefits. Swimming crash courses give more rapid progress and in terms of time efficiency, they are much better. You can get 2 terms worth of swim lessons which need at least 6 months of weekly commitment, with 4 weeks of crash courses. Swimming crash courses are designed to provide concentrated and focused learning over a short period through daily lessons. This allows swimmers to make significant progress in a short amount of time. However, weekly lessons can be more relaxed and typically follow a progressive curriculum, allowing swimmers to learn swimming skills gradually and in a structured manner over a longer period of time. This can be beneficial for those who prefer a steady learning pace.

19) Will doing one week of crash be enough to learn to swim?

Although everyone is different and we don’t have a specific number of lessons that each person must take to learn to swim, very unlikely a complete beginner can learn to swim in 5 lessons only. Generally, though, children learn faster than adults and people who are already water-confident can pick up technique faster than those who are nervous. Nonetheless, learning to swim with good technique and be completely at ease in water needs a lot of practising. 

20) What can I expect to learn from doing one week of crash course

The focus of the crash courses is to improve swimming skills but the focus of the lessons will vary, depending on where the starting point of each swimmer is. Since our lessons are 1:1, our swim teachers can mold the lessons around the needs of each swimmer.

• For children at the beginner’s stage or adults who lack water confidence, the focus will be to improve their confidence during the course.
• For those who can already swim and have no fear of water, the focus of the lessons will be on teaching and improving technique.
• For the advanced swimmers, courses will aim ti improve speed and stamina.