THE SWIMMING ACADEMY TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Welcome to The Swimming Academy.
We are excited to have you join our swimming program.
Before you begin your lessons, please read the following terms and conditions.
carefully. By enrolling in our program, you agree to abide by these terms and conditions:
1. Lesson Schedule:
Lesson schedules will be determined based on availability and agreement between the instructor and the participant/guardian
Please let us know if you can’t make you lesson.
I endeavour to enable siblings to go afterwards or at the same time in a different class but cannot promise this as it depends on availability and demand.
2. Swimming lesson Payment:
Payment for lessons are due in advance and are paid per term. These vary in length.
All bookings are on a first come first served basis.
To be paid by Bacs or cash to reduce costs.
There is a 10% reduction for siblings attending swimming lessons.
Renewals are usually 3 weeks prior to term and you are booking a place in the term not at that specific time as times may vary, we will liaise as closely as we can with you on this.
If you have not had confirmation of your swim lessons one week prior to the term starting, please contact us.
All payments are non-refundable unless otherwise stated.
Refunds cannot be made but I will endeavour to put you in a ‘catch – up class’, if there is one appropriate for that level.
In extreme circumstances classes may be cancelled due to the unlikely event the pool has to close I will refund you for that class
Failure to make timely payments may result in the suspension or termination of lessons.
3. SAFETY, SWIMWEAR & EQUIPMENT:
Safety is our top priority. Students are required to follow all safety instructions provided by the instructor.
Parents or guardians must supervise children who are not participating in lessons to ensure their safety.
Please dress your child appropriately for swimming. Swimming costumes for girls are better with two straps rather than fashion costumes as it preserves the dignity of the child whilst learning to swim. Bikinis are not allowed for this reason.
We provide all swimming aids in lesson for your child to swim.
Do not feed your child 1 hour before swimming. This is because food does not digest quickly enough. If the child, then vomits in the pool, the pool has to close immediately as it is not safe to swim in.
We prefer the child to have goggles so that they can get used to swimming correctly and they are expected to eventually get their faces under the water.
How ever in extreme circumstances, if they become a distraction, we will ask the child not to wear them.
I do not recommend any neoprene product for learning to swim lessons – this is so the child can learn how to swim properly without any buoyancy aid.
Do not allow your child to wear any jewellery – this is to protect the child and teacher from accidents.
The only jewellery is allowed is for religious purposes but please keep at the minimum.
Be mindful that jewellery can be lost very easily in the pool and tarnishes very quickly!
Ensure all hair is tied up to enable less distraction from the child playing with their hair, to keep their hair out of their eyes in swimming and to prevent hair from getting caught in equipment etc.
All equipment is provided by The Swimming Academy and Ashville sports centre.
I do not recommend the inflatable armbands to learn to swim for many reasons: it prevents the child from bending their arms to swim correctly, one cannot reduce buoyancy in the armbands easily to allow the child progression in the water.
We always recommend the ‘rings’ we place on the arms, woggles, shark fins and of course the equipment we use to train your child like pool buoys.
4. Health and Medical Conditions:
It is the responsibility of the student or their guardian to inform the instructor of any health or medical conditions that may affect their participation in swimming lessons.
5. Liability:
– The Swimming Academy and its instructors are not liable for any injuries, sickness or accidents that occur during swimming lessons, except in cases of proven negligence.
Participants and their guardians are responsible for their own safety and well-being during lessons.
We are fully unsured as a swim school.
If there is an accident or If there are any issues please contact me directly and at the time of the accident so that the centre and myself can act accordingly.
The swimming academy accepts no liability for personal belongings on or off the premises, or damage to property whilst attending swimming lessons.
6. Conduct:
Participants are expected to behave in a respectful and courteous manner towards the instructor and other participants.
Disruptive behaviour Children: This is dealt with in the following methods:
Child spoken to, to ask it to stop that behaviour and explained why it is not appropriate.
If child continues the same explanation and that if it happens again, they will be sat on the side for 5 minutes.
If child continues, they will be asked to leave the swimming lesson or take by the lifeguard to the guardian.
If the guardian then explains to the child again they may come back to the lesson to continue.
Refunds will not be made in these circumstances.
If the child is aggressive to the teacher and hits the teacher, they will be taken to the parent immediately for time out. If the child comes back to apologise, they may continue in class as accidents do happen.
If the child continually becomes aggressive to the teacher, they will be expelled from swimming lessons.
The same process will happen if the child is aggressive to another participant.
If your child informs you that an incident occurred in class WE MUST BE INFORMED, ON THE DAY IT OCCURRED.
This Is so we can deal with it and fact find from all involved in a timely manner.
7. Rescheduling and cancellations of bookings:
Cancellations: please inform us 24 hours prior to cancelling a class.
Rescheduling of catch up may not always be possible but I will endeavour to try and offer another time. The class may be a higher or lower class though depending on availability but cannot be guaranteed.
If you have had an accident and cannot attend for a few weeks if you have a Dr.. Note we will refund you in these exceptional circumstances
Generally Bookings are non – refundable.
8. Photography and Videography:
The Swimming Academy may occasionally take photographs or videos for promotional purposes. This will be agreed by the centre only.
Normal photography is not allowed due to GSPR and privacy policies,
Sometimes it is easier to video a child to show them what requires correcting.
If you do not wish to be photographed or filmed, please inform us in writing.
9. Termination of Lessons:
– The Swimming Academy reserves the right to terminate lessons if a student repeatedly fails to abide by these terms and conditions or behaves inappropriately.
10. Changes to Terms and Conditions:
THE SWIMMING ACADEMY (TSA) reserves the right to modify these terms and conditions at any time. Any changes will be communicated to participants or their guardians in writing.
LOST PROPERTY:
The swimming academy will collect any lost property the participants may forget and take home to help clear up after lessons.
If you have lost something, contact The Swimming Academy to see if we have it first and then if not contact Ashville College.
At the end of the term I will bring everything collected to see if anyone would like it and if not it will be given to charity.
ADULTS: Please do not approach the teacher if you disagree with their swimming lesson – in the first instance contact myself.
If the child has a nose bleed in the class this is not the teachers fault – this is something which very rarely happens and is not the fault of the teacher.
Only approach if your child requires comfort and cannot be comforted by the teacher or if they have had an accident -again in very rare circumstances.
It is extremely distressing for the teacher if they are approached by a parent to complain about them in class in front of other parents and children and could lead to the class being stopped.
Child Protection:
Staff have a duty to act if they suspect a child in their care may be suffering from abuse or if a child makes a disclosure about abuse. In such an event, the member of staff will follow the Child Protection Policy. We follow the Wavepower 03/01/2024 Child safeguarding policy and procedures.
Insurance:
All participants are covered by our public Liability Insurance
NOP & EAP:
The swimming Academy have written their normal operating procedures and Emergency operating procedures and health and safety risk assessments.
CERTIFICATES ND BADGES:
Assessments usually 2 weeks before term so we can prepare any certificates you my wish to buy. These are cash only and are set at £3 per certificate including a badge.
PRIVATE 1:1/ 1:2/ 1:3 – 30 minute LESSONS:
These are paid for at 6 weeks bookings due to pool bookings. Please inform me 24 hours prior if you cannot make this lesson and I will endeavour to find a more suitable time if possible.
CANCELLATIONS:
If you have paid and wish to cancel, you may within the 7 days cancel in writing. We will refund the fee minus £10 for administration costs.
After 7 days refunds can be made minus 20% of the course fee if you have not had any swimming lessons.
If one swimming lesson has been taken and you change your mind, we will not refund.
Illness and sickness:
Do not attend swimming lessons if you or the participants have diarrhoea and sickness, ear infections, chicken pox etc.
D&S requires 48 hours clearance.
Teachers:
All are Level 1 and 2 ASA/SWIM ENGLAND OR STA trained.
All are DBS checked and have passed their Safeguarding training. Most will be lifesaving trained but in most instances there is a lifeguard at present at all times.
Occasionally we have teachers who are level 1 and are being trained with a Level 2 teacher on hand.
SOMETIMES TEACHERS FALL ILL AND CANNOT MAKE THE CLASS.
WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO CHANGE THE TEACHER IN THESE CIRCUMSTANCES.
REFUNDS WILL NOT BE ISSUED.
TEACHING METHODS: We are a ‘hands on’ approach academy and in certain instances, if participants do not understand particular strokes, we do endeavour to teach them however this may require us touching the child to place certain parts of the body in the correct swimming position. This is not sexual.
For example: Breaststroke – the hardest stroke to understand and teach: we will show them how to complete their leg and arm action. If they do not understand we will place their legs and feet in to the correct swimming position so they understand what is required from them.
Some participants may not like to be touched- please inform us before any classes to let us know.
NAPPIES:
Please place nappies in the bins provided and do not leave them in the changing rooms.
Please do buy swim nappies for your child as they are suitable for swimming in the water and not normal nappies which are not waterproof.
CHANGING ROOMS: Please change in the most suitable changing room. This does get difficult as the child develops and is with the guardian of the opposite sex. Please ensure privacy is given at all times and you respect the space of other people in the changing rooms. There are lockers in the changing rooms which require £1 coin to operate.
Please shower before and afterwards.
No footwear is allowed on the poolside – please wear overshoe covers to come on to poolside to collect your child.
You must be in the viewing area so in the event of any issues we can contact you quickly.
If the child requires to contact you they will beckon you to the window to ensure you know where they are at all times.
Teachers cannot take the child to the toilet.
Photography is not allowed on poolside due to GDPR.
22.FIRST AID KIT, LIFESAVING EQUIPMENT AND ACCIDENT BOOK
First aid and pool lifesaving equipment is administered by the lifeguard or teachers and are provided by Ashville sports centre.
The swimming academy also has a first aid kit.
The accident book is held behind reception which the staff will fill out .
23.SYLLABUS & AWARDS
TSA will keep a record of the child’s progress and give out awards in line with the SWIM ENGLAND AND STA standards. The certificates and badges are an extra cost of around £3 and to be paid via cash on the day of achievement day.
The swimming academy is affiliated to SWIM ENGLAND and to STA.
If a child is new to us and have no awards, they will be placed on SWIM ENGLAND e award system unless you have informed me otherwise.
There are merits to both systems.
The younger the baby/child there are more awards on the STA system.
I also teach water safety and RLSS Rookie lifesaving in and around the swimming awards, so your child becomes more aware of water and being safe around it.
I firmly believe just teaching swimming to a child is not always good enough and believe in the education of water safety and lifesaving to add to the child’s skills and awareness – plus it adds more fun to the lesson!
24. END OF TERM PLAY
At the end of term we do allow half the swimming session to be taught swimming and half play so the children can have some more fun and show off their swimming skills to you!
Other floats may be in the water for them to play with.
I would discourage them to bring their own, so we do not have WW3 with their own toys!
25. PARENTS SUPERVISION
We expect the parents/carers to be on site and on hand for your children at all times.
Please supervise your children at all times and do not allow your children to run around in the centre and to observe Ashville sports centre rules at all times for their safety.
We follow the NSPCC guidelines for lost children and the centre has a similar policy.
If you lose your child alert the centre and myself immediately.
26. Registers: Will be taken by teachers and/or lifeguards at every lesson wherever possible.
27. EVACUATION;
If there tis an accident or a fire there are two different alarms signals.
The lifeguard, centre and myself/teachers will evacuate the participants and put foil blankets around participants who have been swimming and are wet.
The requirement is to stand at the Tennis courts please see map, for registers to be taken.
The centre will liaise with myself to inform us if we can go back in.
In these extenuating circumstances if the child has only been swimming for 10 minutes a refund will be given.
If they have been swimming for more than 11 minutes to 30 minutes no refunds will be made.
The red square denotes the muster point for evacuation.
By enrolling in our swimming program, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to abide by these terms and conditions. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
We are happy to help at any time,
The Swimming Academy
07515737174
Paula Barcroft 17/05/2024