National Curriculum
of England

Welcome to the Beginners’ Section

This gives information and guidance on teaching swimming to beginners.

Firstly, how do you recognise beginners?

  • Beginners are more often horizontal than vertical when moving through the water.
  • They use fewer swimming aids and support than non-swimmers, or no swimming aids and support.

In this section, you will find five simple, exciting core tasks for you to use with beginners. Each task is linked to an area of activity from the PE curriculum (eg dance, games) to help you meet the programmes of study through swimming. Together, the core tasks will also help you to achieve the learning objectives learning objectives for beginners.

If you prefer, you can choose to look at technical information about strokes and water confidence for beginners.