SwimSafer 2.0
Exactly what your child is tested on at each stage, in the order the assessor marks it. I wrote these as a certified SwimSafer 2.0 assessor — the same criteria I apply when I run official assessments.
SwimSafer 2.0 changed on 1 July 2025. Silver and Gold now start their front crawl and breaststroke from a dive entry that did not exist before, and several other requirements were tightened. Everything on these pages reflects the current syllabus, not the old one.
The first stage. Getting comfortable, going under, floating, and moving without help.
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Stage 2 · Stage 2Step entry, sculling, treading, and the first real distance — 25 metres unbroken.
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Stage 3 · Stage 3Front crawl and backstroke, stride entry in deep water, and fitting a life jacket while swimming.
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Stage 4 · BronzeFour strokes, a forward somersault, throw rescues, and two minutes staying up in deep water.
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Stage 5 · SilverTimed swims off a crouching dive, a 1.8m surface dive, and H.E.L.P. in long pants.
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Stage 6 · GoldThe final stage. Standing dive, butterfly, a 1.8m head-first dive, and making a float from your own trousers.
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SwimSafer 2.0 runs in six stages. The first three are numbered; the last three are named Bronze, Silver and Gold. In CAMS, the national booking system, those are Stages 4, 5 and 6.
| CAMS number | Stage | Headline goal | Typical time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stage 1 | Confidence in the water | 2 to 6 months |
| 2 | Stage 2 | 25m continuous swim | 2 to 6 months |
| 3 | Stage 3 | 50m continuous swim | 4 to 6 months |
| 4 | Bronze | 100m across four strokes | 4 to 6 months |
| 5 | Silver | 200m against the clock | 6 to 12 months |
| 6 | Gold | 400m against the clock | 6 to 12 months |
Working from Stage 1 through to Gold typically takes 2.5 to 3.5 years for a complete beginner, on standard weekly lessons of 45 to 60 minutes. Each stage averages roughly 12 to 16 hours of lesson time. Real timelines vary a lot with water confidence, attendance and coordination — a confident child who never misses a week will move far faster than the range suggests.
Seven skill strands run through every stage: entries and exits, sculling and body orientation, underwater skills, strokes, survival skills, rescue skills, and knowledge.
Every stage splits into two kinds of block, and the manual treats them differently:
Stage 1 is the exception, because its swim is folded into Sequence 1A: goggles are allowed there, apart from three items the manual specifically marks goggles-off.
So a child can wear goggles for their timed 50m front crawl, then must take them off for everything that follows. Practising the survival half without them matters far more than most parents realise.
These pages are written from the Revised SwimSafer 2.0 Instructor's Manual dated 1 July 2025 and the SwimSafer CAMS Handbook, put into plain English. For the official documents, go to Singapore Aquatics.
Not sure where your child stands?
I assess against these exact criteria, the same way I do at an official test. Open to students of any coach.
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