SwimStage 4 of 6
Bronze
Personal Survival and Stroke Improvement Skills
What this stage is for
Developing stroke technique and coordinated breathing in deep water. This stage introduces throw rescues and more personal survival skills. The headline goal is 100 metres across a variety of strokes.
What parents should know
Bronze is the first stage that feels like a real test of stamina. Four different strokes, 25m each, one after another without stopping. Add a forward somersault, a feet-first surface dive, and three minutes of slow survival swimming, and this is a long session for a child.
What changed on 1 July 2025
- “Tread water for 2 minutes” was relaxed to “scull, float or tread” — slightly easier than the old wording.
If your child was taught before July 2025, check they have actually practised these. I see students arrive at assessments having never been shown them.
Everything the assessor marks
The assessment splits into blocks, and the goggles rule differs between them. This is the order it is worked through.
Swim 100m continuously
✓ Goggles allowedGoggles allowed.
- 25m front crawl
- 25m backstroke
- 25m breaststroke
- 25m survival backstroke
Survival Sequence Bronze A
✕ No gogglesNo goggles.
- Enter deep water with a compact jump, resurface
- Perform a forward somersault
- Scull, float or tread water for 2 minutes revised 2025
- In at least 1.4m deep water, perform a feet-first surface dive
- Swim through hoops on the pool bottom for 2m
- Resurface and exit safely
Survival Sequence Bronze B
✕ No gogglesNo goggles. In swimwear, shorts and t-shirt.
- Swim slowly for 3 minutes using survival backstroke, sidestroke and survival breaststroke, changing stroke every 15m
- Wave for help — a rescuer throws a flotation aid
- Swim to the flotation aid, kick to the pool edge, climb out
On the day
| What to wear | Swimwear, plus shorts and t-shirt for Sequence B. |
|---|---|
| Goggles | Allowed for the 100m swim. Not allowed for either survival sequence. |
| Pool required | 50m, at least 1.4m deep. |
| Students per assessor | 10 students per assessor. |
The one I see catch students out
Survival breaststroke and sidestroke. These are rarely practised in normal lessons because they are not race strokes, so children arrive having barely swum them — and they are in the goggles-off half.
Worth knowing
At Bronze, the students waiting their turn throw the rescue aid to the group being tested — and that throw is marked. Nobody is off duty.
If your child learned in a condo pool, read this
Bronze adds a feet-first surface dive in at least 1.4m of water, plus 2m of swimming through hoops along the pool bottom. Most condo pools are shallower than that end to end, so this is frequently the first time a student has gone down and stayed down under their own control.
This is the single most common reason I see condo-pool students come unstuck from Stage 3 upwards, and it gets worse the higher the stage. It is nothing to do with how well they swim on the surface. Time in genuinely deep water, before test day, is the only fix — going down, staying down, and moving while they are under.
How long does this stage take?
Most students spend 4 to 6 months at this stage on standard weekly lessons of 45 to 60 minutes — roughly 12 to 16 hours of pool time.
Treat that as a range, not a schedule. Water confidence, attendance and coordination move it a long way in both directions, and there is no advantage in pushing a child into an assessment early to hit an average.