08 Jan 2020
24 Month Report
It’s been a whole 2 years since SafelySwim first opened its doors to help those around Dover learn to swim in a fun and educational manner at The Duke of Yorks Royal Military School. Since that day, it has been a great team to be a part of. In the last 6 months, we have welcomed 3 new instructors, our first permanent office and 9 school contracts. We have also reached 250 group lesson spaces, our third Competitive Training Camp and completed our first Splash Morning and Breakfast. In this blog, I am going to share what we have already achieved, what we are doing right now and what we are going to be doing over the next 6 months.
New Admin Team
June 2019 was our busy and stressful month as my time was completely spent on creating and delegating weekly roles to our new ‘Admin Team’. Giving out important roles that I loved and wanted to keep, but no longer had the time to complete myself was a real struggle. However, since then we have doubled in size and I personally have seen a great improvement in customer feedback and SafelySwim responding to emails faster than ever! Now all the accounts and enquires are dealt with by other team members, as well as class movements, health and safety Documents and Human Relations tasks.
Distributing these tasks to our dedicated Admin Team has really opened up my time and allowed me to grow and develop our School Swimming Sessions, going from a total of 3 hours, to a whopping 7 hours for the new school year. Having a clearer diary has allowed me to continue to do what I am passionate about and given me more time to help and support the local schools by offering a better service, higher teaching quality and office support.
New Team Members
September 2019 was a eventful time for the SafelySwim team as we welcomed new faces into our swimming team. Katie, Ashleigh and Ellie have now had 3 months with us and have taken up their roles at SafelySwim with passion and enthusiasm. They display the qualities SafelySwim values, and are as passionate as we are about SafelySwim’s goals and ambitions. They have excelled in their Private Lesson abilities, covered classes and supported the team around poolside with knowledge and feedback. I am really grateful for all their help and drive to make SafelySwim the best possible place to learn to swim.
First Office Space
Also, in September we welcomed our first office at The Duke of Yorks Royal Military School. It’s hard to believe how we went on so long without a communal area for productivity or a cup of cold water! But now, being there nearly everyday has allowed me, India, Lee and Esther to work closer and communicate better about those in our Group, Private and Competitive swimming sessions. I hope this improvement has made a noticeable impact with those that have live accounts with us and that concerns, feedback or general emails are being responded to quicker, more efficiently and effectively.
Stage & Distance Awards
October 2019 we finally welcomed our Stage Award Certificates and Medals, it was a long process to source and approve but finally we have the perfect awards for those that achieve great things at SafelySwim. One of the proudest moments I have had these past few weeks are children moving from our Stage 1 to our Stage 1+, collecting their medals and certificates at reception. Before getting into the pool, they are wearing their medals with pride showing everyone on poolside, in the changing rooms and at school of their swimming achievement! I am so proud these children are achieving great things and excited to be able to give more awards and ways to credit talented and hard working pupils and swimmers.
Learn to Compete
In November 2019 we introduced our new Learn to Compete sessions on a Saturday morning 8:00am - 9:00am. These sessions are for those wanting to improve their technique, fitness and start learning the fundamentals of competition. I am very proud to have already noticed a great improvement in those that regularly attend our Saturday morning sessions, their progress has been unbelievable. The extra hour has allowed them to develop their technique so that their energy is longer lasting, more efficient and swimmers are able to understand new drills and feedback on their technique. This was a great move and something we aim to continue for those in our Stage 5 classes and above.
First Splash Morning
December 2019 rolled around pretty quick, with our first Splash Morning and Breakfast. We had an amazing turn out and have had some awesome feedback. The kids loved the activities we laid out, the treasure hunt in the pool, the games we started and the breakfast afterwards. We are hoping to bring this back for Easter as I believe it is a great opportunity to start building a team that works together, knows and welcomes each other. Possibly it will be the beginning of our own Junior Squad!
Team Development
Currently we are working on continuing staff development to help mix and inject new ideas and techniques to assist those in our Group Lessons. Currently we are working on our Wednesday evenings and are hoping to create the perfect formula. Doing this will open up much needed Private Lesson time with our original 3 tutors so they are able to work more freely and be able to offer more support as and where it’s needed throughout the session. It also gives parents an option of tutors, I understand that someone’s working techniques do not work for everyone and offering a wider range of class tutors will help children and parents find a instructor that meets their requirements.
Reception Changes
We have also made a few new changes to the reception area, making for a permanent space for Esther. I already feel it’s worked and the new editions have made it more welcoming and less confined. I would love to hear your ideas!
Over the course of the next few months I hope to gain more awareness of SafelySwim in the Dover area. For our Learn to Compete sessions to grow by another hour to allow an older category start at 7:00am. To finally be able to offer a technique medal and Safe Diving Award for those that have perfected strokes and safe dives.
Thank You
As always I am really grateful for all of the parents and students that support us each and every week. Those that continue to share their thoughts about us, refer us to their friends and write amazing online reviews. I personally love every moment reading, hearing and watching all of this go on and I couldn’t be more proud. The team at SafelySwim and I, say thank you and we all wish you all Happy New Year!
