St Luke's Swim School
The St Luke's Swim School programme is designed for children and Adults of all abilities, from those who have never swum before to competitive swimmers.
Our lessons follow the Swim England pathway and swimmers are assessed against specific criteria to progress along the swim school. You will be able to track your child's progress online and at the front desk. Please speak to a member of the team at reception for any information on this.
Lessons take place 7 days a week in our indoor pool at St Luke’s Sports Centre in Exeter and are delivered by our experienced team of qualified swim teachers and assistants.
For just £25.00 a month children receive one 30-minute lesson a week and a free swim membership to swim in our indoor and outdoor pool at Cornwall house.
Lessons run continuously throughout the year with a two-week break over the Christmas and New Year period.
If you have any questions about the swimming lessons, including enrolling on, please email swimminglessons@exeter.ac.uk, call the reception team on 01392 724940 or speak to the team on hand at the reception desk!
If you have queries about payment/direct debit issues within the swim school, please email sportsadmin@exeter.ac.uk.
Courses
SEQ Level 1 Swimming Assistant (Teaching) Course - £385:
Tuesday 11th April - Friday 14th April
Possibility of working as part of the St. Luke's Swim School Team on successful completion of the course.
To book this course, please contact St. Luke's Sports Centre on 01392 724940 or swimminglessons@exeter.ac.uk
For more information on the details of this course please visit:
https://www.swimming.org/calendar/all/seq-level-1-swimming-assistant-teaching-st-lukes-pool-exeter/
Adult Lessons
Adults can also pay for swim lessons in the form of a block of 10 lessons at £85. Adult Lessons are delivered for either complete beginners or those who wish to improve their swimming ability (improvers).
From those who are nervous about the water to those wanting advanced technical tips and coached swimming sessions, all are welcome!
Dates for our next block of 2023 courses:
| Course | Start Date | End Date | Times |
| Adult Improvers | Wednesday 15th March | Wednesday 17th May | 19:00-19:30 |
| Adult Improvers | Sunday 19th March | Sunday 21st May | 11:30-12:00 |
| Adult Beginners | Sunday 19th March | Sunday 21st May |
12:00-12:30 |
| Adult Beginners | Sunday 19th March | Sunday 21st May |
12:30-13:00 |
Lessons held at St Luke's Indoor Pool
Bookings and enquiries
The waiting list has now been re-opened for our Ducklings lessons! Please be aware that our waiting lists are still currently closed for Stage 1 - Stage 3. For more information on how to add your child to the waiting list, please contact us on 01392 724940, through email at swimminglessons@exeter.ac.uk or speak to the team on hand at reception.
We understand that you may wish to cancel your Swim School place, if so, it is a requirement that you do so in writing with 1 month notice. We need to cancel your Direct Debit and due to processing time, it usually requires one further payment. Please use this swim school cancellation form to inform us in writing of your intention to cancel your child(s) place.
Levels and structure
Please see below the criteria and structure for each level of our learn to swim programme for children:
Learn to swim programme
View the assessment criteria and how to track your child's progress.
Our lessons are taught as the Learn to Swim or Stroke Improvement.
| Level | Content | Award |
|---|---|---|
| Adult & Child | Available for children between 2-3 years old where a parent/guardian will accompany them in the water. These run on Mondays at 2-2:30 or 2:30-3pm and Thursdays at 3-3:30 or 3:30-4pm. | Discovery Duckling |
| Ducklings | This is the entry level to the swim school. You will learn how to enjoy the water and take part in structured lessons. Aimed at non-swimmers between three and five years old. This stage operates one teacher to a maximum of six students. | Duckling 1 to 4 |
| Stage 1 | Stage 1 develops basic safety awareness, the class scenario, basic movement skills and water confidence skills. Swimmers may use aids, such as arm bands, floats, etc. Stages 1 and 2 are taught together. This stage operates one teacher to a maximum of six students. | NPTS stage one |
| 7+ Learn to Swim | Beginners learn to swim classes for children aged 7 and above. These are separate from our Ducklings and Stage 1 classes as we find it works better to have similar aged children learning together. These run on Mondays at 5pm, Wednesdays at 5:30pm, Fridays at 5pm and Sundays at 10:30am. | NPTS Stage one, two & three |
| Stage 2 | Focus on developing safe entries into the water, including jumping in, basic floating, travelling up to five metres on the front and back, and rotating the body to regain an upright position. Swimmers may use aids such as arm bands, floats, etc. Stages 1 and 2 are taught together. This stage operates one teacher to a maximum of six students. | NPTS stage two |
| Stage 3 | Developing safe entries into the water - including submersion - travelling up to 10 metres on the front and back, and progressing water safety knowledge and body rotation skills from the previous stage. Stage 3 swimmers must swim completely unaided on front & back and takes place in very deep water.. This stage operates one teacher to a maximum of six students. | NPTS stage three |
| Stage 4 | This stage develops the understanding of buoyancy through a range of skills. Also covered is refining kicking techniques for all strokes. The swimmer also has to swim 10 metres to a standard directed by the ASA. This stage operates one teacher to a maximum of seven students. | NPTS stage four |
| Stage 5 | Swimmers develop watermanship through sculling, treading water skills and body complete rotation. They also perform all strokes for a distance of 10 metres to a standard provided by Swim England. This stage operates one teacher to a maximum of seven students. | NPTS stage five |
| Stage 6 | Developing effective swimming skills - including coordinated breathing - across all strokes. Learners swim a distance of 25 metres using a stroke of their choice. Children also learn about aspects of water safety and about preparing properly for exercise. This stage operates one teacher to a maximum of eight students. | NPTS stage six |
| Stage 7 | During this stage, children develop quality stroke techniques up to 100 metres incorporating the skills they have learned, and combine them to develop a linked routine. This stage operates one teacher to a maximum of eight students. | NPTS stage seven |
Intensive Swimming Lessons
Great news! We are back running our Intensive Swimming Lessons this Easter 2023. These courses comprise of 30 minute lessons on 4 consecutive days at a price of £25.00. These lessons act as a great introduction to structured swimming lessons for those children on our waiting list and are also a great addition to those children already within our Swim School.
Monday 3rd April - Thursday 6th April
09:00 - 11:00am
Tuesday 11th April - Friday 14th April
09:00 - 11:00am
For more information, or to book on, please contact us via telephone: 01392 724940 or email swimminglessons@exeter.ac.uk
Squad Swimming, Rookie Lifesaving and Junior Swim Fit
For swimmers that have completed Stage 7 there are a few different options available:
Squad swimming
The first option is to continue through to squad to get an introduction to competitive swimming. We run squad swimming on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
Rookie lifesaving
The second option, and an alternative to lane swimming, is our rookie lifesaving squad. These currently run on a Saturday and a Sunday. The Rookie Lifeguard programme is the junior award scheme of the Royal Life Saving Society UK and teaches children skills in survival, rescue, life support and water safety.
Once your child is aged 16, they have the option of taking the National Pool Lifeguard Qualification (NPLQ) course and becoming a fully qualified lifeguard.
New to 2023! Junior Swim Fit
The third option is new to our programme in 2023 and takes place on a Saturday at 12:00. This class uses a mixture of strokes, speeds, lengths, and exercises to provide a more varied way to workout and improve fitness rather than traditional lane swimming.
For more information, please contact us on 01392 724940 or email swimminglessons@exeter.ac.uk.