On Monday 15th June, Swim England released the ‘Return to Pools Guidance’. The entire document contains 5 sections: Guidance for Clubs, Guidance for Operators, Guidance for Community Swimming, Guidance for Users and Guidance for Swimming Lessons. Of course, most of the information is not of interest to many as it is irrelevant, but for me, I was so excited to read it. Although, I was not anticipating 29 pages just for swimming lessons!
What this means for me and my business?
Having had time to read over the document and digest the information, I have summarised the differences for my learners and the differences for myself below.
Learners
- Learners will be required to arrive to lessons in their swimming costumes and where possible leave in their costumes
- For children that are usually supported within the water, a parent/guardian/competent family member will be required to be in the water for the duration of the lesson
- Spectators for lessons will be limited to 1 person per learner
- Parents will not be allowed poolside unless assisting from within the water
- To allow ease of lesson takeovers all feedback of lessons will be sent to parent/guardian via email or text within 24hours
- Cash payments will not be accepted for the time being, please pay by card (contactless) or BACS
- Where possible the learner should bring their own equipment to lessons
Teacher
- I am now required to only teach from poolside for the foreseeable
- I will be using my Samsung tablet to show visual demonstrations to learners instead of physical demonstrations
- There will be a change over time of 10 minutes between lessons to allow me to clean and sanitise all equipment
- Lessons will be 25 minutes long not 30 minutes to allow for the changeover time for the time being
- My equipment for lessons will be limited and on a rotation for each day I teach to ensure I can sanitise as necessary between lessons
We are hoping to get back into the pool on July 4th and there may be further guidance to add once the pools are back up and running as the pools themselves may have their own restrictions. Before we return I will be sending out brief contracts for clients to sign, that will be kept with my records to say that you’re happy to adhere to these changes. In the meantime please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the information above. You can also browse the Swim England Guidance in full at https://www.swimming.org/swimengland/pool-return-guidance-documents/?fbclid=IwAR2WHOdX2C-CNgPU-LcSH0Sug2MmwmccmG0GyRBtrJbCOc-ZxRi4qegJR2Q
A lot will change as expected and we will of course adapt.
