Our Approach
Our syllabus is split into 8 different ability groups, all with 3 stages to complete in each. Starting with the Starfish level, which introduces young swimmers to the water all the way through to the Shark series which caters for competent swimmers capable of swimming all 4 strokes with a good technique.
At O'Tooles Swimming School we teach all 4 of the recognised strokes one at a time. Teaching our pupils one stroke at a time ensures that each child can concentrate on a particular stroke thoroughly to enable them to perform it to the best of their ability. Teaching with the multi-stroke technique often causes confusion and lack of knowledge.
We start with breaststroke first. This is one of the hardest strokes to teach and we are often asked why we choose to do this first, especially teaching it to children as young as 3. We believe that although it is a complicated stroke to teach it is a very efficient stroke used for life saving and tends to be the stroke you come back to later in life.
Once the breaststroke has been mastered, we then go on to teach backstroke, front crawl and butterfly. Again, there are specific groups to concentrate on each stroke and all 3 stages must be completed before moving onto the next level.
