KS2 · Physical education · Year 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Range of skills, alternating strokes front crawl and backstroke, floating

Swimming: strokes, distance and safe self rescue

Learn it. Recall it. Make it stick.

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Your learning goal

I can swim front crawl and backstroke with my arms recovering over the water.

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Range of skills, alternating strokes front crawl and backstroke, floating: slides adapted from the imported teaching text; recall questions created from its keywords, learning points and common mistakes. Self-check practice, with no automatic grading or XP. Answers stay on this page and are cleared when you leave.

What you’ll learn

I can swim front crawl and backstroke with my arms recovering over the water.

Key learning points

Move: quality swimming using a recognised swimming stroke requires balance and control.
Move: recovering your arms over the water enables you to reduce the resistance created by the water.
Think: using a long arm front crawl pull with arms recovering over the water increases distance travelled per arm pull.
Feel: self-motivation enables us to enjoy moving in the water.
Connect: working with peers to provide feedback aids improvement.

Words to know

front crawl: a recognised swimming stroke using alternating arm and leg action on the front, with arms recovering over the water and breathing to the side
backstroke: a recognised swimming stroke using alternating arm and leg action on the back with arms recovering over the water
floating: the ability to stay on the surface of the water without sinking

Common mistakes

Moving your arms faster makes you swim faster.

When learning front crawl and backstroke pupils must have opportunity to catch the water and feel the water so that they are able to pull as much water as possible.

For parents, carers and teachers

Pratice the arm action at school, ideally pratice the action in front of a mirror. Use peer observations to encourage the pupils to identify why some pupils are travelling further off each arm pull when swimming front crawl and backstroke.