Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, if they have long hair. We have lycra and silicon caps for sale, please email or see Claire.

Group lessons are 25 minutes long.

Single or shared private lessons are 15 minutes long. At SwimSense we specialise in learning to swim and improving technique. We find after 15 minutes children have exhausted their concentration and are physically tired with the 1-on-1 attention. Research shows this is the best concentrated amount of time when learning a new skill.

You have the option of enrolling your swimmer in a shared private lesson. This means two swimmers can share a lesson, which can be beneficial in a number of ways. The lessons can be more economical but also be challenging and they can learn from each other. This option works if you have found a partner for your swimmer but do ask as we may have an appropriate partner to suit. Please ask us if you are interested.Be aware though that it is important that both swimmers benefit from sharing the lesson, which means the teacher may require one swimmer to move lessons if they are not well matched.

6 months. We do allow some 5 month old babies but please enquire for suitability.

We find from the age of 2 upwards, goggles to be extremely beneficial to their swimming development. These are available for sale at the pool so please email or see Claire.

The teachers all follow similar technical aspects of swimming at SwimSense, however all teachers have different teaching styles. This also depends on your child’s needs. At SwimSense we cater to the individual swimmer. This may mean a teacher gets your child to do a different drill/activity to the next swimmer. Sometimes this variation in method is the ‘key’ to unlocking the understanding it takes to complete the skill.

If you have any questions of your child’s teacher, please do this within the 15 mins (or 25 mins for pre-school group) allocated for the lesson. The teacher will have another lesson to take at the end of your child’s 15 minute session.

Our preschool programme has two lesson options to choose from. We have group lessons with 4-6 swimmers depending on their age and stage, and these run for 25 minutes. The group lessons are brilliant for many reasons as swimmers have the time to practice a range of skills within that time, and they also learn by osmosis with others in the lesson. We recommend group lessons during the preschool years for many reasons.
Some preschool children may benefit from a private, or shared private lesson. These lessons have 1-2 swimmers and run for 15 minutes. Please discuss with us the best option for your child.

Swimming is a complex motor skill that requires a 'building block' of movements before swimmers can put the swimming stroke together. Due to this reason, we feel swimmers learn best in small groups and if they are kept busy with movement that is of high quality, balanced with constructive feedback, they will make faster gains with their technique. Research from the Oxford University shows that short bursts of learning gives the brain time to embed the learning. If a child swims with consolidated movement for 15 minutes, they begin to get tired after this time and repeat movements that are of poor quality. Short, effective feedback with perfect technique helps to create strong, efficient swimmers.

We have had many swimmers over the years make gains through our style of lessons. If a child focuses on only 1-2 aspects of a motor skill at one time, assimilation of that movement becomes more efficient. World Wide Swimming recommends two lessons per week for ultimate development, however we understand this is not usually feasible. The second swim can be a ‘play’ swim. When children explore how their bodies move within the water, they develop a relaxed relationship with the water. If children are relaxed and comfortable in the water, a challenging skill such as learning to breathe in freestyle will be that much easier for them. A major barrier for children can be learning to have the water so close to their mouth and once they become comfortable with this, their freestyle will be so much more efficient. We can not emphasise the importance of 'play' swimming enough.