Parent Testimonial Blog
A special guest blog from one of our Fins parents that has been with us for many years!
We first started swimming with Farnborough Fins in 2012 when our son, William, was six. We used to go to Frimley C of E school on a Friday night and William was in small group classes of 6 children, each with a teacher and pool helper. William achieved his ASA Ducklings awards, gradually moving classes further up the pool and achieved his ASA Stage 4 quite quickly thereafter. During this time we also took advantage of the holiday crash courses as it was quite amazing how much they could learn by being in the pool for half an hour every day for a week.
After a while, due to other commitments on a Friday, we moved to a 1-1 class on a Saturday where William continued to gain his stage badges and distance awards though normal lessons and the annual distance days at Kings. In fact, it was shortly after William started swimming at Kings that it underwent the amazing transformation and refurbishment to the community facility that we can now enjoy.
After achieving his Stage 5, a number of additional opportunities became available for William including diving and snorkelling courses and also an invitation to join the Farnborough Fins Academy where children can learn the basics of competitive swimming which further supports Stages 8-10 of the ASA framework.
Meanwhile, our daughter Alice (then aged 2) also started to have 1-1 lessons and participated in a number of 1-1 lessons, crash courses and special stroke lessons (to practice butterfly in particular) enabling her to pass Stage 4 at the age of 5. Alice is now working on Stage 5 and continues to love every lesson and has a constant smile on her face.
Water safety has always been important to us and Farnborough Fins have run special water safety courses for both children and adults over recent summer holidays. They also run RLSS courses and once William had achieved his Stage 10, he went on to complete the Rookie Lifesaving course at Farnborough Hill and over a period of around 4 terms went through the full Bronze, Silver and Gold programme.
William also continued at the Academy, with the annual race night enabling him to practice competitive swimming skills and have the opportunity to work for the ASA school speed awards where you can achieve Bronze, Silver or Gold times for each stroke.
To make it a fully family affair, both my husband and then I plucked up the courage to join the Adult swim fit class that runs after the Thursday evening academy which gives you the opportunity to swim for fitness and improve your stokes.
Both of our children have had a great time learning to swim with Farnborough Fins and they have had a wealth of different opportunities offered to them. Furthermore, all Stage 4 awards and above, Rookie lifesaving awards and Academy medals and awards are presented at a special presentation afternoon held at Kings college on a Sunday afternoon each term which is a lovely way to celebrate the success of all of the children who are lucky enough to swim with Farnborough Fins.
