There are a number of swim schools now offering lessons for babies and pre-schoolers, and finding the right swim school may seem hard.

Things to consider are:

- the class size

- whether the instructor is fully qualified and has experience and reliable

- the location, size of the pool

- whether the water is managed correctly, private pools are not regulated and the ownership is on the owner to ensure the water is clean and safe.

- will the lesson plan include submerging?

-what are you hoping to achieve? water confidence or survival skills?


Here at Jenny's Dolphins the class sizes are on average are 6 pairs, the lessons are taught by instructing the parents as well as the children if they are old enough to understand, this means parents can practice outside of lessons remembering the teaching points from within the lessons, i.e "flicking toes, not kicking and "fingers together" to create more resistance.

I am fully qualified and have over 25 years of teaching experience, so I can assess quite quickly what needs to be improved to enable a young child to take their first unaided strokes. I operate alone so you will always deal direct with me and contact me any time.

I use Montsaye pool and Balance Health Club and more recently Everlast and The Holiday Inn, all of which are regulated by an external source which means the water is maintained to high standard and risk of infection or illness is kept to a minimum. Some private pools are not made for commercial use and do not have an automated chlorine dose which means the water needs monitoring a lot more carefully, and a shower before swimming should be offered. The readings should be available for you to view. If your child is complaining their eyes sting it is more likely to be not enough chlorine and that's the bacteria in the water affecting them.

My lessons can include submerging, but nothing is forced, the babies are introduced slowly and if they are happy to continue it is encouraged, those that show signs of disliking it are kept to more water confidence practices. I do not agree with the techniques involved in some of the survival classes that are currently available, to teach fire awareness would you put your child near a fire? NO,  so why would you leave them alone on the surface of water, to see if they can rotate?

The main aim of my lessons are to to build water confidence and unaided swimming and have fun together !