Aquatots

There is a one off payment of £297. This includes the cost of all the relevant certificate's you will need to be able to teach your classes safely including first aid training, water rescue and your DBS check. This payment also includes your course manuals, tuition, exams and on going assessments within the training, plus upon qualification your teaching kit and uniform. Other courses within the training including learning how to teach older beginners and underwater photography are also included, as well as the camera and kit you'll need to take photos.

This is a contributory payment towards the full cost invested into your training (and future training) by the company and partnership.

The majority of our trainees successfully complete the course and are then welcomed onto the Aquatots Teaching Team. Across the weeks of the course, your learning and progression will be regularly assessed. In the unlikely event you do not meet the minimum score requirements across the course modules, Aquatots reserves the right to withdraw your place on the course. In this case, and also if you choose to withdraw your place, the course payment will not be refundable.

A vast majority of Aquatots classes are run at the weekend, so your working pool hours will fall on a Saturday or Sunday, or possibly both if you are keen! Cover opportunities when teachers are unwell or have advance pre planned holidays do come up at the weekends and during the week, so the hours you work outside of your core pool can be flexible. Upon qualification you will be allocated at least one pool to teach at, and using our online Teacher Area, will have the opportunity to apply for future vacancies that are advertised to all teachers.

You will need to agree that whilst working as an Aquatots Teacher you will not be able to engage in any other swim related work and that the Aquatots programme may only be taught to Aquatots customers.

As well as an attractive hourly rate for teaching babies starting at £26 per hour (£22 per hour during the initial probationary period which is usually passed after 2-3 terms, sometimes less) there is also the opportunity to earn more from performance bonus' and the opportunity to earn commission sales on various merchandise (usually 20% on each item).

Hourly pay also increases again upon completion of additional training to £29 per hour when teaching Toddler levels and £32 per hour when teaching Child levels. Your teaching pay rate is per hour taught in the pool, and is also inclus’ive of the admin duties outside of the pool relating to your classes. This includes tasks such as contacting your swimmers with important reminders about their classes, helping them during the rebooking period, sorting of pre-printed certificates and responding to potential swimmer queries.

Below is an example of what a typical teacher could look earn across their first year of teaching for Aquatots. This is for illustrational purposes only, and we strongly advise that you consider the hours you are available to work vs what you would like to earn, as well as any calculations in regards to personal finances and Universal Credit claim considerations. Amounts will vary depending on the hours available (which are discussed at interview) and the amount of cover you are able to commit to boost your earnings.

First Year of Teaching

Term 1 and 2 (New Baby Teacher), based on teaching Saturday mornings 8.30am till 12.30pm

• Teaching 4 hours a week @ £22ph = £88/£792 for the term
• Underwater photography earnings @ £2 each, 16 photographs = £32
• Rebooking commission, £1 per swimmer, 50 swimmers = £50
• 10 hours cover work @ £22ph = £220
• Total term per, across 3 months = £1,094 (£364.67 per month)

Term 3 (assuming now Toddler level trained), based on teaching Saturdays 8.30am till 5pm

• Teaching 4hrs baby a week @ £26ph = £104/£936 for the term
• Teaching 4hrs toddler a week @ £29ph = £116/£1044 for the term
• Underwater photography earnings @ £2 each, 30 photographs = £60
• Rebooking commission, £1 per swimmer, 80 swimmers = £80
• 16 hours cover work (8hrs baby, 8hrs toddler) @ £26ph/£29ph = £440
• Total per term, across 3 months = £2,560 (853.33 per month)

Term 4, based on teaching Saturday afternoon 12.30pm till 5pm, and Sunday morning 8.30am till 1pm

• Teaching 4.5hrs baby a week @ £26ph = £117/£1053 for the term
• Teaching 4.5hrs toddler a week @ £29ph = £130.50/£1174.50 for the term
• Underwater photography earnings @ £2 each, 30 photographs = £60
• Rebooking commission, £1 per swimmer, 80 swimmers = £80
• 25 hours cover work (8hrs baby, 8hrs toddler) @ £26ph/£29ph = £687.50
• Total per term, across 3 months = £3,055 (1018.33 per month)

 

• Year 1 total - £7803 per annum

Second Year of Teaching

Term 5, 6, 7, 8. Assuming similar hours continue for the next year as per term 4 (chances are they may be greater, especially if Child level training achieved and hours take for those classes at £32ph), total annual income is projected to be £12,220 per annum.

Both years fall below the threshold before tax is payable, so assuming you don’t have any additional taxable income from elsewhere, the above illustrations will not be liable for income tax. If you are unsure, please check with HMRC or a financial advisor.

Once qualified as a Baby Teacher, there are many opportunities for you to train further as an Aquatots Toddler or a Child level swim teacher. After gaining the required experience at your allocated pools, and attaining competency and performance scores, you will be presented with the opportunity to undertake further level teacher training, including, but not limited to Toddler Teacher training. As a Toddler Teacher, you will be able to deliver swimming lessons from levels 1 through to 14, effectively having the opportunity and potential, to double your earnings as a teacher. Toddler levels are in ever increasing demand from our swimmers, so we would expect you to undertake this training within a year of starting your career with us.

Further down the line after gaining confidence and experience, you may be invited to train as a Child Teacher, or an Aquatots Teacher Trainer. There are many opportunities for you to increase your earning potential, teaching hours and challenges. Further training and progression are all available at no extra cost other than your time whilst we help you achieve your full potential and invest in your future with Aquatots.

Yes - there are a number of mandatory training sessions you will need to attend to keep yourself in teaching status. Each term you will be required to attend a pre-term Meeting (2hrs) and midterm Regional Meeting (1hr), both designed to keep you fully up to date with the latest news and procedures. For your convenience, they will be held via Zoom. The exception is our Autumn (October) term where the pre-term meeting is replaced with our Annual Update. This is a yearly, compulsory meeting which you will need to attend in person (usually around the Selsdon/Croydon area). The day is fully catered and is a wonderful opportunity to meet your teacher colleagues.

Not at all! Circumstances regularly arise where teachers are unable to make their own classes - such as illness, emergencies and planned appointments. Covering other teachers is actively encouraged as it prevents cancellations and increases your own earnings and experience at the same time.

Yes - you need to be able to be a reasonably confident swimmer - able to swim 50 metres within 1.30 mins, and put your head under the water whilst holding your breath. It is important you would be able to assist if a swimmer got into difficulty in one of our larger, deeper pools.

You are expected to teach the full term at your allocated pools, but sometimes that isn't possible when life events get in the way. We would always encourage you to commit to teaching the entire term for your swimmers benefit and continuity. However, if you need to take time off from your pool(s), you will need to find cover from another Aquatots teacher.

You will need to register with the HMRC for a UTR (Unique Taxpayer Reference) as you will be joining as an LLP partner, not a PAYE employee. This means that once a year you will need to file an online tax return with the HMRC, where you declare your years earnings and pay any tax and NI owed.

We will provide you with an easy to follow walk through document and the figures you need to enter. The whole process is simple and should take no more than 30 mins. Full training will be provided in your business module, and continued support from your mentor when the time comes to file.

There are some tasks involved when it comes to looking after your swimmers including keeping an eye on your class name lists, texting swimmers a welcome message before term starts and any useful information throughout the term, as well as fielding their questions in and out of the pool.

Different points in the term will require varying levels of admin. For example the first few weeks you will need to keep an eye on your class lists and encourage un-booked swimmers from the previous term to re-join, week 7 you will be taking and then securely sending swimmers their underwater photos, and the end of term you will be ensuring your swimmers have re-booked onto the next term.

There are also tasks behind the scenes that need completing regularly such as submitting your invoices for payment, and in the rare event of an incident that needs reporting, you will need to fill in forms such as accidents and class cancellations.

Your Aquatots email address will need to be checked on a regular basis.

No, we are a completely independent baby swimming company, established in 1997 and still owned and managed by our original founding owners. We are 100% committed to keeping it that way - maintaining our family run business, for Aquatots families.

Aquatots is passionate about being independent, and preserving the passion and family atmosphere that fuelled our successes. We do not insist for large upfront start up fees and on-going payments associated with franchised operating models. Start-up fees, can be in the excess of many thousands of pounds (often in the ten's of thousands!). Unlike a franchise, you do not have to buy into the business, and we will not charge you to use our lesson plans, promotional material or levy further business fees. Once you have completed your training, you will start earning, unlike a franchise where you may possibly be looking at 12 to 24 months before starting to break even.

The course fee we ask for, is a token payment made by the teacher. The interview process, filters and selects the most positive and passionate applicants for training. Aquatots invests heavily into each trainee throughout their training. Its costs several thousands of pounds to train and qualify each new teacher. The cost, is our investment into moving our business forward into the future. Upon completion of your training, you will be ready to join the family of Aquatots teachers already delivering our award winning training curriculum to our loyal customers.