SwimStage 5 of 6
Silver
Intermediate Personal Survival and Stroke Refinement Skills
What this stage is for
Introducing the fundamentals of diving, and developing survival knowledge in the situational context of swimming quickly away from a sinking boat. Students must show efficient technique across 200 metres within set times.
What parents should know
Silver is where the clock starts. Three timed swims, and completing them is no longer enough — they have to be fast enough. This is also the stage that changed most on 1 July 2025.
What changed on 1 July 2025
- A crouching dive entry was added — front crawl and breaststroke are now started from it. This did not exist in the old syllabus.
- The feet-first surface dive is now specified to at least 1.8m depth, with ear equalisation if needed.
- The straddle jump entry is now written as “stride or straddle”.
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
✓ Goggles allowedGoggles allowed. Front crawl and breaststroke are started with a crouching dive entry.
- Crouching dive entry, used for front crawl and breaststroke new 2025
- 50m front crawl within 1:30
- 50m breaststroke within 1:50
- 50m backstroke within 1:40
- 25m survival backstroke
- 25m sidestroke
- Dolphin kick 10m on the front
Silver Sequence
✕ No gogglesNo goggles. In swimwear, long pants and t-shirt.
- Enter deep water using a stride or straddle jump revised 2025
- Perform a backward somersault
- Feet-first surface dive to at least 1.8m, equalising the ears if needed revised 2025
- Swim through hoops on the pool bottom for 3m and resurface
- Swim 45m quickly using front crawl
- Wave and call for help — a rescuer throws a life jacket
- Retrieve the life jacket in the water and fit it while treading water
- Hold the Heat Escape Lessening Posture (H.E.L.P.) for 30 seconds
- Swim 25m with the life jacket and climb out
The times to beat
These are pass/fail cut-offs. Finishing is not enough at this stage.
| Swim | Maximum time |
|---|---|
| 50m front crawl | 1:30 |
| 50m breaststroke | 1:50 |
| 50m backstroke | 1:40 |
On the day
| What to wear | Swimwear, plus long pants and t-shirt for the survival sequence. |
|---|---|
| Goggles | Allowed for the timed swims. Not allowed for the Silver survival sequence. |
| Pool required | 50m, at least 1.8m deep. |
| Students per assessor | 10 students per assessor. May be combined with Gold, 10 total. |
The one I see catch students out
The crouching dive. Children taught before July 2025 have often never been asked to dive at all, and a dive cannot be learned the week before a test.
If your child learned in a condo pool, read this
Around three in five of the condo-pool students I assess fail on the surface dive or the swim through the hoops on the pool bottom. Not on the strokes — on the underwater work. Silver is where depth becomes the deciding factor. A feet-first surface dive to at least 1.8m, with ear equalisation if needed, then 3m of swimming through hoops along the bottom before resurfacing. The assessment pool itself must be at least 1.8m deep. A child who learned in a condo pool has almost certainly never been that deep, never felt the pressure build on their ears, and never had to equalise. That is not something you can learn on the day.
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 6 to 12 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.