Welcome to Dinkies Swim School

Our regular lessons operate on a rolling monthly basis, and four weeks’ written notice is required to cancel your child’s place.

Notice must be sent by email or by replying to a booking or payment email from Dinkies Swim School. Your notice period begins on the date we receive your written cancellation.

Your child’s place and payment responsibility will continue throughout the four-week notice period. Any Direct Debit falling due during this period must still be paid.

Cancelling your Direct Debit does not cancel your child’s place and does not count as giving notice.

If your notice period ends partway through a month, your final payment will be calculated so that you pay only for the lessons taking place during the four-week notice period.

Cancelling your Direct Debit does not cancel your lessons or replace the requirement to provide four weeks’ written notice.

Any lesson fees falling within your notice period will remain payable.

If a Direct Debit is cancelled, rejected or otherwise unpaid, Dinkies Swim School may recover any reasonable bank or administration charges we incur as a direct result, up to £10.

Monthly payments reserve your child’s regular place in their class.

Unfortunately, we cannot normally provide refunds, credits, transfers or catch-up lessons when a participant misses a lesson because of holidays, minor illness, family commitments, transport difficulties, school events or other personal circumstances.

This helps us keep lesson prices as affordable as possible while ensuring our teachers and pool hire costs are covered.

If your child develops a serious or long-term medical condition that prevents them from attending for an extended period, please contact us. We will consider the circumstances individually, and medical evidence may be requested.

If we cancel a lesson because of teacher absence, a pool problem or another issue within our control, affected customers will receive a refund or account credit for that lesson.

If the lesson continues to operate but an individual participant does not attend, a refund or credit will not be provided.

If circumstances outside our reasonable control prevent a lesson from taking place, we will contact affected customers as soon as possible.

Depending on the circumstances, we may rearrange the lesson, provide an account credit, transfer the lesson to a suitable alternative venue or provide a refund.

If the lesson remains open and runs as scheduled, refunds or credits will not be provided if a customer chooses not to attend because of the weather.

Children who are not fully toilet trained must use our approved double-nappy system:

1. A disposable or reusable swimming nappy; and
2. A properly fitting, swim-school-approved neoprene nappy cover worn over it.

Children who are fully toilet trained do not need to wear a disposable or reusable swimming nappy. However, they must still wear a properly fitting neoprene nappy cover where this is required by their class or venue.

Approved neoprene nappy covers can be purchased from Dinkies Swim School for £10 before attending. You may purchase one elsewhere, but you are responsible for checking that it is suitable and swim-school approved.

Please take all used nappies away with you.

Entry to the pool may be refused if your child is not wearing the correct approved nappy system.

A refund, credit or alternative lesson will not be provided when entry is refused for this reason.

Please do not attend swimming lessons if you or your child has:

Vomiting or diarrhoea;

Conjunctivitis;

Chickenpox;

Impetigo;

A contagious infection;

A significant ear infection;

A high temperature; or

A severe cold or illness that would make swimming unsuitable.

Vomiting and diarrhoea must have stopped for at least 48 hours before attending swimming lessons.

If your child only has a mild cold but is otherwise well, has no temperature and is behaving normally, they may be able to attend. Please use your judgement and seek medical advice if you are unsure.

Refunds, credits and catch-up lessons are not normally provided for lessons missed because of illness.

Try to avoid giving your child a large meal immediately before swimming.

A light feed or snack may be suitable depending on your child’s usual routine. Swimming can be thirsty and tiring work, so we recommend bringing a drink and a snack for afterwards.

For parent-and-child lessons, one responsible adult may enter the pool with each child.

The accompanying adult must be at least 16 years old and physically capable of supporting and supervising the child safely.

Parents, guardians and grandparents are welcome to take part, and you may swap the participating adult between different weeks.

Whether additional spectators are permitted depends on the individual venue. Please check your booking information or contact your local Dinkies team before attending.

An accompanying adult is required in the pool throughout all parent-and-child lessons.

For independent swimming lessons, parents or responsible adults must remain in the location specified by the teacher or venue and be available throughout the lesson unless we confirm otherwise.

Please arrive approximately 10–15 minutes before your scheduled lesson. This allows enough time to change without overcrowding the changing areas.

Lessons normally last between 20 and 30 minutes, depending on the class, venue and circumstances.

Late arrival will not extend the lesson, so please make sure you are ready at the scheduled start time. Do not enter the pool until invited by your teacher.

Please ask the teacher before taking any photographs during a lesson.

Photographs must show only your own child. If another child is visible, the image must not be shared or published without permission from that child’s parent or guardian.

Video recording and underwater photography are not permitted during lessons.

Photography, filming and the use of camera-enabled devices are strictly prohibited in changing rooms and toilet areas.

Classes can be booked through the website and are on a first come first served basis. Once you have a space in our lessons your space is yours until you tell us you no long

Available classes can be booked through our website on a first-come, first-served basis.

Once you have secured a regular place, it remains yours until you provide the required four weeks’ written notice, Dinkies Swim School ends the booking, or your fees are not paid when due.

Some classes operate waiting lists. Please contact your local Dinkies team if your preferred lesson is full.

er require it or your fees are not paid at the required date. We do have waiting lists for some of our classes, please click here to contact your local teacher and pop your name down on a waiting list.

If a pool becomes unavailable for an extended period, we will make reasonable efforts to provide lessons at a suitable alternative venue.

We will notify you of any significant change to the venue, day or lesson time. We cannot cover any additional travel costs associated with attending an alternative venue.

If the proposed alternative represents a significant change and you do not wish to accept it, you may cancel the affected booking without serving the usual four-week notice.

Please tell us about any medical condition, disability, allergy, additional need or medication that could affect safe participation in lessons.

Information will be treated confidentially and shared only with relevant team members where necessary to provide lessons safely.

Please let us know about any changes as soon as possible. We may request medical clearance if there is a reasonable concern about whether participation is safe.

Dinkies Swim School is committed to safeguarding all children and adults at risk. We follow Swim England’s Wavepower safeguarding policy and procedures where applicable.

The current Wavepower policy is available at:

www.swimming.org/swimengland/wavepower-child-safeguarding-for-clubs/

If you have a concern about the safety or welfare of a child or adult at risk, please contact:

Dinkies Swim School Designated Safeguarding Lead

Rachel
Email: rachel@dinkiesswimschool.co.uk
Telephone: 07928 750174

Alternatively, contact the Swim England Safeguarding and Welfare Team:

Telephone: 01509 640700
Email: safeguarding@swimming.org

If a child or adult is in immediate danger, call 999.

We need to hold certain information about swimmers and their parents or guardians so that we can manage bookings and provide lessons safely.

We take the security and confidentiality of this information seriously. Personal information will be handled in accordance with applicable data-protection requirements and will only be shared where there is a lawful and necessary reason to do so.

Please see our Privacy Policy for further information.

Our FAQs provide a helpful summary. The complete Terms and Conditions of Booking apply to all bookings and contain the full details of our payment, cancellation, attendance and safety policies.

These are available when booking lessons through our book now page. Please read the complete Terms and Conditions before booking.