08 Jan 2021
36 Month Report
It’s been 3 years since SafelySwim began and a lot has changed since our first session. Looking through our 12 and 24 month reports (links below) and comparing them to the last 6 months, despite being closed due to the coronavirus for the majority of it, we have still managed to find new challenges and have fun doing it. Here’s what’s happened.
Introduction of our Learn to Compete
In January 2020 we created additional sessions to provide more training for those in our Stage 5 classes, and our competitive swimmers who needed more technical time in the water. Our Learn to Compete sessions started to take off with new students joining every few weeks, these sessions only started in November 2019. Our Learn to Compete sessions are helping to build fitness, technique and race-preparation for those in our Stage 5 classes and above. The goal is to start building SafelySwim’s own competitive squad that will take part in galas across the country. Being able to offer a competitive squad at SafelySwim will give more opportunities for those who progress through the stages and need help taking the next step in becoming a competitive swimmer.
School Swimming
Also in January, we welcomed the addition of the Wednesday afternoon sessions for School Swimming. Having all of our Monday and Friday sessions fully booked with local schools, the new schools that wanted to join us were unable to fit in. Thankfully we were able to start offering school sessions on Wednesdays as well. It is crazy how only a year ago we only ran school sessions on Mondays, whereas now we are seeing multiple schools re-booking on a termly basis with added sessions throughout the week for a larger range of year groups. Great to see and be a part of!
Water Bottles and Swimming Hats
After many months of searching and working with suppliers, February saw the arrival of our new water bottles and swimming hats. We spent a considerable amount of time ensuring that the quality and durability of these items were up to the standard SafelySwim expect. If you would like one of our water bottles or a SafelySwim swim hat, they are now available at reception or online!
School Swimming Gala
Before we closed due to covid-19, we supported the local Dover SSP Swimming Gala at the Dover Leisure Centre at Whitfield. The gala was for local schools to compete against each other to win trophies for their school. We were grateful for the opportunity to help support the event, as well as to see so many familiar faces from our customers that attend SafelySwim each week.
Baby & Toddler
A big question that has been asked thousands of times since we started, do we offer anything for those under the age of 3? We are proud to have started our very own Baby & Toddler sessions for parents and their newborns, right up to the age of 3. The first two terms of these classes have been extremely popular. We hope for these lessons to continue in 2021.
New Team Member
Despite everything going on with Covid-19, we have welcomed Liberty England to our team of Swimming Tutors. Liberty has a background in competitive swimming and wants to continue to work in the industry and help others become water confident, but also, has a passion to help us build our competitive squad. We welcome Liberty to SafelySwim and I know our customers will do too.
Speed Through Technique
When we returned in August, Monday evenings brought a new range of classes to our weekday lessons. We introduced new STT and LTC sessions to help create additional spaces. Both of these sessions are now extremely popular and are a priority to many individuals who wish to compete when galas restart. We now have 3 STT sessions a week, and two LTC sessions.
appDot
Throughout the past year and during both lockdowns, appDot, our parent portal, class organiser, and secure customer database has had a major make over. We are working to license our custom built web app to other swim schools, clubs and sporting activities to help aid their work to decrease their administration.
Returning Safely
Finally, we are working with the Duke of Yorks Royal Military School to help aid our return so that everyone continues to remain safe when on campus and using their facilities. Any update to our return will be posted on our social media channels as well as by an email to those who were booked into lessons before we closed. We hope to see and hear from you soon!
