Babies

For students between the age of 3 months and 3 years, we offer group lessons or what we call, Tadpole Groups. These are activity based lessons that run to a CD of familiar songs and nursery rhymes. Skills worked on include blowing bubbles, submerging and back floating.

Course details

All tadpole courses are run at our St. George's location in Ferry Reach Each group consists of up to 10 Moms/Dads and babies.

Summer 2010 - now booking August

Please scroll down to see the schedule for tadpole group lessons for August. There will be no September or October tadpole courses in 2010.

If you are a new client, please send the following information when you make your booking:

To make your booking

When viewing the schedules below, please bear in mind the following things:

• Saturday courses in May. New this year! Please see the schedule below for dates and times.
• Feel free to book multiple courses. As May is usually a busy month, the May courses are once a week only, but I encourage you to book two courses so that your child can swim twice a week. Monday and Wednesday courses pair together perfectly. Students who swim twice a week are much more settled and progress more than those that swim once a week.
• Age range is more of a guideline than a hard fast rule. If you are interested in a course that is different from your child’s actual age, please send an email to discuss.
• Advanced courses available for 25 - 36 month olds. If your child is perfectly happy being submerged, you may want to book him/her into one of the advanced courses. The idea of this course is to focus more on the things that they will be doing in the 1:1 lessons and will move at a fast pace. It is most suited to toddlers who have been swimming with us for a few years and therefore know Mandy, the pool and the set-up of the lesson. In May there are no advanced courses as it's the beginning of the season.
• Sibling course available. The sibling course in June and July is designed to help working parents with two children under the age of three by offering one course that will be tailored to both your toddler and your baby. Every child must have an accompanying adult. This course is open to people with just one child as well, you do not have to have two children to attend.
• Older siblings in need of 1:1 lessons. If you have another child who is 3 or older who you wish to have lessons at a similar time as you and your tadpole, please let me know at the time of booking. I won't be able to book your older child in for 1:1s yet as that schedule is not ready yet, but it is helpful for me to know in advanced so that I can do everything possible to have all your children swimming at a similar time.
• Shaded courses are fully booked. Please ask to be placed on the waitlist if the course you wish to take is fully booked. Cancellations are rare, but there is always a chance. Also, it is possible that more courses may open. In this event, those students that are waitlisted will be contacted via email.

To book a course, please click here to send an email. When making your booking, please be sure to include:

• Your child’s name
• Course IDs that reflect the bookings you would like to make
• Your preferred time slot
• A second time slot if you can (incase your first choice is fully booked)
• A day and evening phone number

Schedule below updated on 18th July. Please always try refreshing this page to see the most current information. 

Benefits of swimming

There are many reasons to enroll your baby into swimming lessons. These are the main ones:

• To provide a safe and positive environment for a child’s first water based experiences
• To develop motor-skills linked to swimming
• To develop skills that might help them in a survival situation

Baby swimming lessons will not make your child safe around the water. Often the child will gain confidence and develop a love of the water which can make him more of a danger to himself around the water. Parents must be even more cautious when your child is around water.

There are other non-water related benefits as well. Swimming can also help to:

• Stimulate appetite
• Encourage good-quality naps and sleep
• Improve balance and co-ordination
• Develop neck and back muscles used during tummy-time
• Introduce rolling

Click here to view a 3-minute video clip of a tadpole lesson. All of the students in this video are between two and three years old. These babies are all in their second or third year of swimming lessons.

Private groups

There are pre-allotted courses available to arrange a private group for yourself and up to nine friends. Time allotments are limited for private groups, so book early to avoid disappointment. For more details, please click here.

Newborns

After leaving the womb, babies quickly forget the sensation of being in liquid, but with a few lessons, you, the parent, can learn how to help your child retain that memory and continue to feel safe and comfortable in the water. The minimum requirements for swimming lessons are that your baby’s umbilical chord has completely healed and that you have had approval from his/her pediatrician. For more details, please click here.

Top: An 8-month old tadpole comfortably submerges under the water. Bottom: A tadpole group enjoys the Hokey Pokey. To see more pictures of what goes on in a Tadpole lesson, click here.