GoggleSquad Swim School Frequently Asked Questions

Swimming lessons are 30 minutes long. Our Swim Club sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Notre Dame School are an hour long.

We don’t allow armbands because they tend to hinder rather than help. While they may provide a sense of security, armbands hold children in an unnatural position, often keeping their arms out of the water and making it harder to learn correct body position and technique.

Instead, we use a range of teaching aids like floats, noodles, and games that support children safely while encouraging proper movement and confidence in the water. Our instructors are trained to build water confidence gradually, so children feel safe while learning to swim with the right technique from the very start.

Swimming lessons for children during term time are almost exclusively in small groups, though we do offer private one-to-one lessons during the school holidays in our intensive crash courses, and for adult learners.

At least once a week is sufficient to see progress. As with any form of learning, consistency is key, so we love it when children attend their weekly lesson regularly and don’t miss too many lessons.

Unfortunately, we are unable to defer lessons. Should a learner take a holiday during a block which results in lesson(s) being missed, you will still be charged in full. Their place will be retained on the course for the block that has been paid for in advance. If you do not pay for an upcoming block of lessons in advance, your place on the course will be given to someone on our waiting list.

Swimwear, towel and goggles. For school-age learners swimming hats are mandatory, with long hair tied back. We supply all equipment required for lessons. 

We operate a very strict double nappy policy, which means we insist on a swim nappy and additional neoprene nappy over the top for babies and toddlers. If you think there is a risk that this could happen with your child, then please take the appropriate steps to ensure there is no risk of 'leakage'. This is an absolute non-negotiable condition of using our services. If a child turns up to swimming and is not in the appropriate nappy combo, they will not be able to participate in their lesson. Under no circumstances should regular nappies be worn while swimming.

We enforce a strict policy prohibiting filming and photography at our swim school. This rule is in place to protect the privacy and safety of all children in our lessons, and it is non-negotiable. No filming or photography is permitted anywhere on the poolside or anywhere else at our venues. If any person is seen taking photos or recording videos, or if this is reported to us and verified, they will be permanently banned from our swim school with immediate effect. No refunds will be issued to anyone removed for breaching this policy. We take this extremely seriously and will enforce it without exception. We appreciate the cooperation of the vast majority of our parents and guardians in respecting this essential rule. 

We cannot accept responsibility for any personal belongings lost or left behind at our swimming venues. Please ensure that all items - especially swimwear, towels, goggles, and bags - are clearly labelled with your child’s name.

Any items found by our instructors when they sweep at the end of a session will be placed in the venue’s lost property box where available.

Unclaimed items will be disposed of at the end of each term block. We recommend taking all belongings home immediately after each lesson to avoid loss.

Yes, generally you’re able to watch lessons from the poolside but please note, we have a strict policy of limiting attendance to one parent/guardian per learner to avoid overcrowding.

One-to-one and smaller classes allow for more attention and better instruction and support. We therefore strive to limit group lessons to no more than three or four learners to one teacher.

We welcome children with special educational needs and work closely with parents to understand a child’s individual needs to ensure we can support them effectively with their lessons. At present, we’re unable to cater for children with physical disabilities that require specialist equipment, as we rent pool facilities and don’t have full control over accessibility features. We’re always happy to have a conversation to see whether we’re a good fit and to recommend alternative options if needed.

We like consistency, so strive to ensure that learners have the same instructor every week. Invariably, this can change if an instructor is off sick, in which case we organise a cover teacher and a detailed handover so that that the cover teacher has all the information they need. Sometimes teachers have holidays or emergencies for which we arrange cover in the same way. Generally, we do this as a last resort and we always aim to communicate this before the lesson.

This isn’t uncommon, particularly at the start when everything is new and unfamiliar. Our instructors are trained to gently help children build confidence. We generally persevere as we know that most children tend to settle as they become more comfortable in their surroundings, but we’ll never continue with a lesson if a child is in distress and can’t settle. We’re always happy to have a debrief after a lesson to discuss our approach and to get input from parents or carers. in our experience, more children enjoy and look forward to GoggleSquad swimming lessons than don’t!

Yes, adult lessons are available for all levels. We teach adult lessons at our Cobham Notre Dame venue.

No, our adult classes cater for all levels and learners are placed with others at a similar level to ensure lessons are optimal for all!

We do our best to ensure learners are alongside others at a similar stage of their swimming journey so that classes are tailored to their needs, allowing them to consistently build up their skills with every lesson. If we think your child would be better suited to an alternative group once their lessons have started, we’ll discuss this with you promptly.

Yes, all of our instructors have experience teaching young children. We also have early years specialists who have deeper experience teaching babies and toddlers.