Babies and toddlers

The beauty of swimming is that you can start at almost any age. Our Dipping Programme is designed for babies as young as five weeks old (as the NHS explains, you don’t need to wait until they’ve been vaccinated to get started). Baby and Preschool classes are all about introducing children to the joys of water for the first time, so they feel comfortable and safe in the pool. The sessions are also great for encouraging coordination, health and wellbeing, adult-child bonding and all-round learning.

If your child is under three, you (or a suitable guardian) will join them in the pool with our specially trained instructors. You’ll help to build on their innate swimming skills. If appropriate, we’ll encourage your baby to go under the water to work on their natural dive reflex. As they progress, we’ll introduce them to the building blocks of their essential safety skills and future swimming techniques – things like returning to the side of the pool, holding on to the edge, floating on their backs and, above all, gaining confidence in the water.

We have an in-house achievement scheme for babies and preschoolers, with colourful badges to mark your child’s key milestones. Tadpoles is the first stage, followed by Newts, Frogs, Toads and Little Sharks; the children then move on to the independent Sharks classes. Safety is our number one priority; all our teachers are STA or ASA-qualified to work with very young children, and we follow the STA methodology and guidance for baby swimming.