LEISURE bosses at City of York Council have been criticised over the timing of a new course of swimming lessons.

Parents and councillors have complained that the term will start in the middle of the summer holidays – rather than at the same time as the school term, as used to be the case.

The Labour opposition group on the council has now called for a rethink, saying that families face losing quality time together, as well as money.

Tim Hedley-Jones, of Hobgate, off Acomb Road, contacted his councillor to complain about the changes, which affect his six and nine-year-old children.

He said: “In the past, the swimming lesson terms have broadly coincided with school terms. But since the start of this year, they no longer coincide so that children have their lessons partly in the term time and partly in the school holidays.”

He said many families would be away on holiday in early August, when the new term begins, meaning they are paying for lessons they are not getting.

Mr Hedley-Jones said families also enjoyed the freedom from routine that the holidays offered, and added: “Clearly, no one asked the customer – ie children and their parents – what they wanted as I have heard no support for this change or any rational arguments in favour of it.”

Councillor Denise Bowgett said: “It seems very restrictive. Parents or carers are faced with the choice of going on holiday and their children missing perhaps two or three lessons they have paid for, or staying at home”.

Coun Janet Looker, shadow executive member for leisure and culture, said: “There does seem to be a problem here and at first glance it doesn’t seem to make any sense whatsoever.

“Families’ holiday periods are important for obvious reasons and clearly families would not want to lose money on lessons already paid for. The problem is often these lessons are paid well in advance.

“I hope the council can have a rethink and get this problem sorted for next year. Parents and carers are understandably concerned about losing quality family time, but also about losing money unnecessarily.”

Andy Laslett, sport and active leisure operations manager at the council, said: “Swimming is an important life skill and we take teaching swimming very seriously.

“The new term timetable for Swim York is in line with the national plan for teaching Swimming with each stage being run over a 12-week course. This follows feedback from parents which suggested that they would prefer swimming lessons to be taught in terms of equal length, not based on the length of the school term.”

“Starting the new term in August also means that we avoid the drop in the standard of swimming that often occurs after the long summer break.

“Although we understand that the majority of parents are happy with the revised programme, unfortunately it is impossible to plan the lessons to suit everyone’s needs.”


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