Awards
There is much confusion among parents when it comes to children receiving awards. Some swim schools create their own Badges and Certificates whilst others adhere to the award scheme of their own governing body. There are two major swimming organisations in the UK: The ASA or the Amateur Swimming Association and the STA, The Swimming Teachers Association. Waterworld is affiliated to the ASA and we use their award system. As the ASA has been in existence for many years now, the awards have gone through a series of changes. If we just go back 15 years to when Waterworld was founded there were Water Skills badges 1-6, and following these Levels 1-12 were introduced. Now there are Stages 1-10. The part that gets confusing is that they are not in any way comparable to each other as the criteria for each set of awards is different, so a Water skills 1 is not equivalent to a Level 1 and a Level 1 is not the same as a Stage 1. The ASA have discontinued 'the Levels' award scheme (as of Summer 2016).
By the end of every term each child will have been accessed on the progress made and a certificate appropriate to the standard achieved is awarded. The ASA have created what they call the 'SWIMMERS JOURNEY' through the award scheme. The 'Learn to Swim' framework is the national syllabus produced by the ASA to take children through from their first splash to full competence in the water using fun and games. Along the way children can be kept motivated by rewarding them with the Kellogg's ASA award scheme. There are over 150 awards but the easiest way to get started is to offer your youngster the 25 badges and certificates at the heart of the 'JOURNEY'. The progress card to record the 'JOURNEY' and the accompanying stickers are completely free. Should you wish to purchase the certificate and cloth badge for each award the cost is £2.00. We will order badges at the request of the parent or guardian so be sure to let us know if you wish us to purchase them for you. An example of the progress card and certificate is pictured above.
Finally on the subject of monitoring and rewarding, it is our promise at Waterworld to adopt a continuous monitoring process as opposed to a ‘Test Week’. Children are required to complete each required task on the criteria repeatedly and not just on a one off occasion. It is often the case, that breaks in swimming can lead to regression and if a child achieves Stage 4, stops swimming for six months and then returns, they may have gone back to Stage 3. I hope this has helped to explain the way we have adopted the ASA Awards System.
By the end of every term each child will have been accessed on the progress made and a certificate appropriate to the standard achieved is awarded. The ASA have created what they call the 'SWIMMERS JOURNEY' through the award scheme. The 'Learn to Swim' framework is the national syllabus produced by the ASA to take children through from their first splash to full competence in the water using fun and games. Along the way children can be kept motivated by rewarding them with the Kellogg's ASA award scheme. There are over 150 awards but the easiest way to get started is to offer your youngster the 25 badges and certificates at the heart of the 'JOURNEY'. The progress card to record the 'JOURNEY' and the accompanying stickers are completely free. Should you wish to purchase the certificate and cloth badge for each award the cost is £2.00. We will order badges at the request of the parent or guardian so be sure to let us know if you wish us to purchase them for you. An example of the progress card and certificate is pictured above.
Finally on the subject of monitoring and rewarding, it is our promise at Waterworld to adopt a continuous monitoring process as opposed to a ‘Test Week’. Children are required to complete each required task on the criteria repeatedly and not just on a one off occasion. It is often the case, that breaks in swimming can lead to regression and if a child achieves Stage 4, stops swimming for six months and then returns, they may have gone back to Stage 3. I hope this has helped to explain the way we have adopted the ASA Awards System.
