Hi there and welcome to Aquatots Level 1 swimming course! My name is Dillon Duckling and I am here to help. You and your baby are just about to embark on a wonderful swimming journey together and it is our job to make that journey as educational and as much fun as possible for both of you. I have loads of tips to give you but first a little about the natural and unique Aquatots approach to swimming and the Aquatots programme.
Aquatots is an easy to follow, fun and safe swimming programme for babies, toddlers and children aged 0-7 years. Our programme is progressive and helps to develop your baby’s natural ability to swim from birth the natural way, without the use of armbands or buoyancy aids, and individualism is a key part of our philosophy. Your journey will be an educational one where your baby will gain water confidence and will learn amazing lifesaving skills straight away, which eventually leads to independent swimming of 5 metres or more in our Toddler swim levels, and 100 metres or even 1000 metres in our Child levels, should you choose to carry on! But we are getting ahead of ourselves, so let’s go back to the very beginning and all that we do in Level 1!
Every baby is different and we always take both age and ability into consideration. This is aided by our small class sizes, enabling our teachers to give some special attention to each baby. Your baby will only be encouraged to do the swims he/she is comfortable with.
The environment in which your baby learns is crucial when ensuring his/her first experience of water is a positive one. The use of really warm pools or hydro pools (32-33’c) coupled with the relaxed and friendly atmosphere we aim to create, should make the whole experience a pleasurable one for you both. We run small classes of 5-8 babies and the teacher will be in the water with you both, ready to assist and guide you along at all times. One parent must accompany each baby in the pool and some pools are big enough for some 2nd partners to join in too.
Learning to swim underwater, and later at the surface, is a very gradual process and naturally, we start very slowly with just a short dip on the third session. New skills are gently introduced every week, and your baby will very quickly get used to short swims and submersions, taught in a fun way, using word association and repetition. Regular play breaks enhance the learning process. Amazingly, most babies can actually ‘doggy paddle’ and swim one metre or so underwater by the end of the first term, but with a little help from you to come up and breathe, of course!
The Aquatots programme is divided into 5 curriculums with 29 swim levels and 4 foundation levels:
Baby program: Levels 1-7 are our Baby levels which are designed to introduce your baby to the concept of breath-holding underwater and many of our lifesaving skills. These levels are often taught in small hydro pools.
Toddler program: Levels 8-14 are our Toddler levels and these levels are designed to engage toddlers through educational play in the pool and to teach them to lift their heads out of the water to take a breath, enabling them swim 5 meters unaided. These levels are often taught in slightly bigger pools.
Child Program: Levels 15-29 are our child levels where we teach all four conventional swimming strokes as well as self rescue and survival skills. We also teach snorkelling and use underwater scooters in our child levels for more learning through fun.
Foundation Program: Levels F1-F4, for the older beginner aged between 1 ½ to 5 years old. So if you have any older siblings, it’s never too late to start! After 1 or 2 terms in our Foundation levels, swimmers are often fast-tracked into our regular swim program.
Aquanatal: These classes are for our expectant mums, helping them to prepare themselves and their 
baby for birth, and are also great for toning up after your bundle of joy’s arrival. We offer small classes in lovely warm private pools, teaching gentle aerobics, pelvic floor and breathing exercises, and most important of all, relaxation.
So you can see that our programme provides progressive swimming tuition all the way up to school age and beyond, and all lessons are fun, because that is the best way for the little ones to learn.
We hope and trust that you will both really enjoy your first term with Aquatots!
Dillon Duckling is very excited about meeting you both and introducing you to the wonderful world of swimming, and underwater swimming too! Just as he is taking his first forays into the water with his Mummy, so will your baby with you right from day 1.
We will begin by showing you how to enter and exit the pool safely and then introduce your baby to some simple lifesaving concepts like holding on to the side of the pool with our skill ‘Swim and hold on’ and floating in the pool with the skill ‘Backfloat’. We will also show you how to prepare your baby for their first submersion by using our ‘Aquatub’ and your teacher may even give you some homework to do. Finally, your class will finish with the singing of songs during ‘Playtime’. Key words and repetition are constantly used throughout to help your baby understand what we want them to do and all of this happens on day 1.
As we progress through the term we will practice all of the skills previously taught and we will introduce at least one new skill every week to keep the babies stimulated and the parents engaged. This approach allows the babies to gradually learn new skills and progress quite quickly to more advanced skills.
On day 2 we test your baby’s ‘Diving reflex’ and also show you how to do a fun and safe entry from the side of the pool, incorporating the lifesaving skill of holding on to poolside. On day 3 or 4, if your baby is ready, your teacher will perform your baby’s first submersion for you while you watch with pride. This is a very exciting day for you and your baby, and possibly your teacher’s favourite day too. The following week, you will be invited to swim your baby yourself, with your teacher right beside you to guide and assist you through the process of course.
There is so much more to look forward to in level 1 including lifesaving skills like ‘Piggybacks’, social resting exercises like ‘Big circle, little circle’ and family swims like ‘Single handed swim’. We will also offer you underwater photos in this level and there is more information about those below. Finally we have a special surprise for the parents on the last day of term, involving the use of goggles, but we are keeping that one to ourselves for the moment.....
Each term, we provide you with an informative and education story about your Aquatots Animal for your swim level. And, look out for the fun videos too, showing your little swimmer their animal character in action.
** Adaptions to the Aquatots Programme ** To allow Aquatots to operate within current social distancing guidelines, you may find some of the skills detailed below are presented to you differently and in a small number of cases a skill may be removed from the lesson plan until guidelines change. Rest assured in the meantime your lessons will be packed with fun and comprehensive skills for your child to progress just as quickly in the Aquatots programme.
Here are some of Dillon’s favourite skills introduced in level 1. We have only listed 5 because there are so many to choose from and Dillon thinks these are the most exciting ones:
Baby’s first swim
This will be the first time your baby goes underwater for a short and gentle submersion. Your teacher will do this for you but you play a very important role in it. When it is your turn to try, your teacher will instruct you on the techniques and key words used and will guide and assist you individually.
Swish swish
This is a lovely resting skill which is lots of boisterous fun for your baby and might even help to tone up those upper body muscles of yours (depending on the size of your baby of course!).
Big circle, little circle Stage 1
This is another fun resting exercise for your baby and is great for socialising the little ones. We start in a big circle and kick towards the centre of the pool where there will be toys waiting. We follow this with a backfloat out towards the circles edge, combining a couple of skills already taught.
Noisy bubbles
This is a technique that we will teach you to use in order to get your baby’s eye contact and attention in the water before any submersion, ensuring that your little one is listening to the key words you will say.
Single handed swim Stage 1
This swim is done later in the term and involves your baby swimming from the teacher to you. Once mastered, this will become the swim you do with another family member and your baby on holidays to impress all of the onlookers who will gasp in amazement at your baby’s swimming ability.
So, with your first class just around the corner, Dillon has put together some good advice for you with his top tips as well as a checklist to make sure you have evertyhing you need to make your first swimming sessions a relaxing and enjoyable experience for you both. Dillon says "succesful swimming starts with proper preperation" so please click the link below to ensure you have all the information you need to make day 1 a great success:
Dillon's Top Tip's & Swim Checklist
Unique to Aquatots are our underwater photos. Many other swimming companies will hire in an outside photographer which can unsettle the babies, and will charge a large sitting fee as well as an additional charge for individual photos. We prefer to offer underwater photos taken during your class, by your teacher at a very reasonable all-in price. Please click on the link below for further information about Dillon’s photo day!
To make life a bit easier for Mummy & Daddy, Dillon Duckling has put together a starter pack just perfect for you to start swimming. It has everything you need for your visit to the pool so just take a look at what you will get.
Complete Your Aqua Wrap System - That will be all of your swim wear sorted!! If you've already got
your Happy Nappy, this pack gives you the 100% soft cotton inner nappy and bio-degradable liners to wear underneath. No need for a disposable swim nappy with these so we can save Mummy & Daddy a few pounds, and it is better for the environment too.
Roll & Go Change Mat - All Aquatots pools will have baby changing mats on site for 
your use but if you want that added softness, and the hygienic, water proof protection of your own mat in something easy to carry about when swimming away from lessons, this is perfect. These mats are easy to clean and ideal for wet patches such as public pools and the beach.
Anti Chlorine Shampoo & Shower Wash - It's important to shower before swimming and also that 
we all have a little rinse off after swimming to remove any chlorine, so this is just the job. Suitable for babies & adults (so you both can share it and carry less), it contains organic natural extracts of blueberry & coconut plus of course a no tears formula just for you. It's also good for Mummy & Daddy's hair if they colour it.
Aquatub - Aquatub you ask? What's that for? Well it will all become clear very soon but we have a video clip on our YouTube Channel which Mummy & Daddy can watch to show them how it works. Believe it or not, that simple, but specially designed Aquatub will be the first step in teaching you to hold your breath underwater, and can be used both in the pool and at home.
Duckling Badge - Reaching the end of your first ever Aquatots term is something to be really proud of. To go with your end of term certificate, start collecting these groovy Aquatots badges which Mummy or Daddy can sew onto your towel at the end of each level.
So Mummy & Daddy, make sure you've got everything you are going to need for your first class and Dillon will see you there!!
You may like to know that we offer a ‘Refer a friend’ discount of £10 off your next terms fee for every level 1 swimmer you recruit. If you want to know more, please click here.
Once you and your baby have digested the delights of Dillon Duckling’s Level 1, we have Sidney Cygnet waiting for you both in Level 2 with lots of new skills to learn and some new stages of ones you will both know already!
In level 2 we will introduce your baby to the lifesaving idea of turning underwater and holding on to a point of safety. Can my baby do that? Well the answer is yes, but with some help from you of course. We practice ‘Ready turn’ during the warm up section of your class and you will be amazed at just how much your baby will be able to do.
Remember that ‘Single handed swim’ that I was talking about earlier? Well next term your teacher will teach you how to do it yourself so that you can impress the onlookers on holiday and terrify the lifeguards.
Oh yes, then there’s the big one, letting go of your baby underwater, just for ½-1 second to start with. Don’t worry, it’s easy, and your baby won’t mind a bit. They will hardly notice, as this is done so softly and gently, and for such a short period of time. Once practiced, you can use this technique to get more photos of your baby underwater in Level 2, but this time with no hands! Now that would be one for the family album.
Sidney is really keen to meet you both and to show you just what a Cygnet can do so don’t forget to re-book into Level 2.
Don’t forget, if you have any queries, please call our Aquatots office on 020 8688 6488 during office hours or email us any time on info@aquatots.com.