Our Baby & Preschool  programme is totally unique and has been refined, tweaked and extended numerous times, keeping up with advancements in the swim industry.  All our teachers are highly qualified, enthusiastic and trained in Aqua Sensory TM.  Classes are child-led, we strongly believe children should be in control of when they want to go underwater.

Each week has a different theme such as Disco, Teddy Bears Picnic, Space, Dinosaurs, Fairground, Message in a bottle & Construction, with specialist props and equipment galore! It ensures you & your baby don't get bored, but we keep the same pattern to each class so your child knows what's happening next and feels secure in their schedule. 

Our baby and preschool classes are small - with a a maximum of eight parent & child pairs at Birchington Vale & 5 in our transition classes. We have four different age levels: 

Tiddlers: Enjoy learning different holds and watch your child gain confidence in the water as they propel themselves with speed and excitement. During this age many of our swimmers become independent in the water by holding onto “catamarans” (two short woggles under their arms) as they hunt for toys and complete swimming missions. They learn how to blow bubbles, rotate in the water & jump in from a large float.  Age range 1-2 year olds.
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Toddlers: Let’s scoop our arms, point our toes and kick our feet. Our older toddlers learn to blow bubbles with their mouth and nose, balance on seahorses, rotate from the steps and swim between the teacher and parent. We encourage them find their happy on their back, a fundamental necessity in finding the confidence to float. Age range 2-3 year olds.

Preschoolers: High fives all round as we work on long kicking legs, scooping arms, faces in the water, balancing on our backs and developing different floating positions. We can be like rockets and push off from the wall in a streamlined position, and turn in circles. We learn how to “find our feet” (get from a horizontal to vertical position.)Age range 3-4 year olds.

Transition:  Once children are happy and confident in the water, putting their faces in and lying on their backs they start to get a sense of their own buoyancy and are ready to move to the transition class. We follow a similar programme to Stage One but with parents to assist.  After this your children are ready to move seamlessly into Stage One, our first fully independent class. Age range 3 1/2-5

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