Water Babies Classes Update


Tuesday 5th January | Classes Suspended Until Further Notice


Last night the Prime Minister announced a national lockdown, which means that we will once again be pausing all of our lessons and photoshoots from 5 January 2021. Whilst it’s not the start we’d hoped for, we’d like to thank you for your unconditional and continued support throughout 2020. 


We’ll pause our activity just as we did before, during the March and November lockdowns and pick up when we get the green light to reopen. 


Just like we did last year, we'll be here for you every step of the way, to ensure your little one continues to build their water confidence at home. We'll be creating more Live content across our social platforms, sharing water skills you can do at home, and our Water Babies Learn series is already on our YouTube channel, which you can view now and start practising. 


We’d like to say a huge thank you for your continued loyalty and support, stay safe and well. 


Thank you. 

Water Babies. 💙🧡

FAQs

  • We have a precise record of exactly where you left off in your Water Babies journey which means we will know exactly where to pick up. We will also call on our extensive 18+ years of experience in reintroducing children to the water that have had a long break, making sure to tailor your first lesson back with us to fit your little one’s needs.


    Rest assured that our aquatics team have been developing lesson plans to ensure you get the best reintroduction to the water possible, continuing to help your little one build water confidence and reach key milestones in their development right from the get-go.

  • We will do our absolute best to ensure continuity across all of our classes, but this might not always be possible in every case. We’ll be working incredibly closely with our pools and our teachers for this continuity but our promise to you is that you will be taught by one of our experienced Water Babies teachers, in a pool that is thoroughly vetted to the Water Babies standard, with classmates at a similar developmental stage.

  • The health and safety of our customers and colleagues will always be our number one priority, and we are complying with the Government's guidance on managing any potential risk in all of our pools and operations. We are taking all the necessary steps to ensure that we can deliver the best teaching experience for you and your little one in the safest possible way.


    Swim England, the national governing body for swimming in England has published the guidance (in partnership with all the home countries national governing bodies too) for returning to the pool in accordance with the most recent updates from the UK Government. Examples of some of these measures includes increased hygiene and cleaning routines as well as strict social distancing rules that will always be adhered to. From the changing rooms to the water, every step of your experience with us will be made as safe as possible.

  • Your local office will be in touch with you as soon as your pool is ready for you to begin swimming with us again.

  • We’ll be working closely with all of our colleagues and venues to ensure that all Government guidance is adhered to at all times. From the car park to the changing rooms and right the way through to the water, every step of your Water Babies journey will be made as safe as possible.

  • Yes, they are! After a short suspension while we got all of the safety procedures ready for their return, our photo shoots are now running once more. This will give you the opportunity to have a stunning keepsake of your baby's progress to cherish for years to come.

    For more information on our new photo shoots, including our frequently asked questions, please visit our photo shoots page here.

  • Your local office will be more than happy to help answer any additional questions that you might have. The best way to do this is to reach out by email but please be patient with them at this time as they try to get back to everyone as quickly as they can.


    Keep checking back to our FAQ’s as these will develop as we hear more from the Government guidance and our swimming national governing bodies for all home countries.  

  • We take the safety and hygiene of our lesson environments very seriously.

    We lead the way in the baby swimming industry having actually written the British Standards specific for the operation of swim schools teaching children 0-4 years of age. These standards promote best industry practice with specific reference to; pool water treatment, the general cleanliness of the pool environment and pool water temperatures.

    Now, with the arrival of Coronavirus, these standards are even more relevant and necessary.

    Following the recent PWTAG (Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group) advice and in-line with our standard operating procedures, we are continuing to work with, as we always have, each and every one of the pool operators where we hold our lessons to continually coordinate all recommended health and safety measures.

    Our 4 point action plan supports the following:

    1. Frequent and regular testing of pool water quality.
    2. Full compliance of pool water pH and disinfectant levels.
    3. Regular pool water bacteriological tests carried out by specialist laboratories.
    4. Structured cleaning regime of ALL areas used by the public including the changing rooms, pool surrounds and all teaching equipment to fully comply with not only industry standards, but government recommendations also.

    We understand that a Water Babies lesson is not just about the pool, it’s the entire experience. And it’s our overriding purpose to make your experience as safe and enjoyable as possible.

Thursday 26th November | Classes Will Start Up Again from 2nd December


We’re thrilled to announce that following the most recent Government announcements in England, we will be able to start swimming again from the 2nd of December 2020. 


We are currently working with your local venues and governing bodies to re-open our pools as soon as we can following this date. In addition to this, we have confirmed that our classes in England will be able to continue in Tier 3 areas going forward.  


Please be aware that pools that we swam in before the lock down may still be in the process of becoming operational again. Rest assured, we’re currently working with our pool operators and local authorities to get everyone’s pools running Water Babies classes again. As soon as we have an update for you, your local office will be in contact. If you were previously booked on to a photoshoot during lock down, your local office will be in touch to re-schedule. 


Once again, we’d like to say a huge thank you for your continued loyalty and support. This news will create lots of questions coming into our small teams, so we apologise if we’re a little slower at responding during this time, but we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. 


We hope you stay safe and well during this time, and we can’t wait to see you back in the pool soon! 


Thursday 5th November | All classes suspended until further notice


Like us, I’m sure you’ve been watching the news that has unfolded today in England with anticipation, wondering what does this mean for us? It’s looking like our venues will close from Wednesday evening (4th November) and we’ll stop swimming (in the places that we have been able to restart). We’ll pause our activity just as we did before, during the March lockdown and pick up when we get the green light to reopen, which the Government announcement has suggested will be 2 December 2020.

 

Equally for those booked onto your photoshoot, we will seek to re-arrange another suitable time for as soon as we are able.

We’ll continue to work with National Governing bodies and our pools to understand all the finer details and as soon as we have any information, we’ll come back to you.  

 

We’d like to say a huge thank you for your continued loyalty and support. This news will create lots of questions coming in to our small team, so we apologise if we’re a little slower at responding during this time. We have of course learnt the information at the same time as yourselves and are working through everything as quickly as we can.

 

We hope you stay safe and well.


Monday 16 March | All classes suspended until further notice


Thanks to the amazing Water Babies family for all the support since our COVID-19 announcement on Friday. In our communications, we shared with you our promise that we’ll always put the safety and well being of your child above anything else.


In light of the Prime Minister’s announcement this evening stating ‘everyone’ should now avoid social contact with others and stop non-essential travel to help fight coronavirus, we are following Government guidelines as we said we would, and suspending all of our lessons with immediate effect.


We'll update you with more information in line with governmental advice.


Water Babies is a network of small family owned businesses, which together, with you our swimmers makes up our wonderful Water Babies family. We’re going to do everything we practically can to support our little swimmers, carers, teachers and staff and we have every confidence that by helping one another we will see this through together. Stay safe.


Friday 13 March | Lessons still running


At Water Babies, one of our promises to you is that we’ll always put the safety and well being of your child above anything else.


We also share a similar promise with all of our staff – ‘We’ll care for you like family. We’re in this together.’ Safety is our highest priority and something we relentlessly strive for, no matter what.


With this in mind, we are closely following government guidelines and recommendations around the COVID-19 virus and what that means for your swimming lessons with us.


Currently, where pools remain open, lessons will still be going ahead as normal. According to the latest advice from national Governing bodies for swimming, who have in turn taken the advice from a range of UK Government bodies, there is a unified view that it remains safe to go swimming. This message has been reaffirmed by the Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group (PWTAG) who has said the following:


“PWTAG has consulted with relevant authorities “we have checked with our national leads who confirm that Coronavirus would be inactivated at the levels of chlorine used in swimming pools.”


Given the consistency of advice from all the appropriate agencies and Government bodies, we at Water Babies are satisfied that it is safe to continue swimming.


For more information, see our FAQs below:


For more detailed information for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, please see the official statements below.


England



Wales


Scotland



Northern Ireland


For your continued safety outside of the pool, please make sure you are also following official advice on prevention best-practice. Thoroughly washing and sanitising your hands, coughing and sneezing into disposable tissues or sleeves and not touching your eyes, nose or mouth if your hands aren’t clean.


We will continue to review everything as the situation progresses so please keep an eye on this page or contact your local office for updates.


We are all one big Water Babies family. We’re here to help and support all of our members stay safe and healthy throughout this time.


All the best,


The Water Babies Team

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