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Badges & Awards
Duckling Awards 1-4

Duckling awards are designed to help younger swimmers enjoy learning to swim. With Duckling awards your child can work towards four different stages and achieve four colourful awards. Each of these awards has its own certificate and badge.

Duckling 1 will see your child start moving by themselves in the water and by Duckling 4 they will be jumping in, going underwater, floating and swimming five metres without support.

Duckling awards are great for promoting increased independence and water confidence, to help prepare your child for unaided swimming.

Water Skills 1-6

The Water Skills awards support intensive activity programmes and rewards the child for successfully developing the 10 skills required for each grading level.

The six awards are represented by six colour coded certificates and an accompanying badge. These awards focus on confidence, versatility, skills and endurance.

Rainbow Distance Awards 5m -1500m

These distance awards are presented with a bright, cheerful badge and certificate, to help keep children motivated, whilst learning to swim. The awards are achieved to demonstrate the child’s swimming ability, to swim from A to B without pause and without stress. They are a fantastic way to give swimmers the incentive to develop their swimming abilities, stoke technique and stamina, by gradually increasing the distances they can swim.

Swimming Challenge Awards

These awards are for swimmers at the latter stages of their swimming journey. The child will be challenged to develop a wide range of skills and stamina in order to achieve the awards, with a focus on good stroke style. Stroke must be co-ordinated, smooth and efficient in the water.

There are 4 certificates with an accompanying badge: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Honours.

All award certificates and badges are paid in addition to the monthly lesson costs and are available at the Aquanauts Pool reception.




Swimming badges are generally achieved in the following order, with the child starting at the appropriate badge to their ability. The age of the child is irrelevant, and badges are awarded based on their ability. All distance requirements below are shown for the number of pool lengths at the Aquanauts Pool.

Duckling 1 to 4

Swim aids can be used

Puffin 5

13 length swim with aids, good body, leg & arm position with face in the water

5m Distance

13 length

Water Skill 1

Swim aids can be used

10m Distance

23 length

15m Distance

1 length

20m Distance

113 lengths

25m Distance

123 lengths

Water Skill 2

50m Distance

3 12 lengths

Water Skill 3

100m Distance

7 lengths

Water Skill 4

200m Distance

14 lengths

400m Distance

28 lengths

Bronze Swimming Challenge

600m Distance

42 lengths

Water Skill 5

800m Distance

56 lengths

Silver Swimming Challenge

1000m Distance

70 lengths

Gold Swimming Challenge

1500m Distance

95 lengths

Water Skill 6

Honours Swimming Challenge

1 Mile Distance

112 lengths


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