March 2014

Summer Swim School

For the 6th Year running we will be running our hugely popular Summer Swim School.

It’s an intensive course of 5 x 45 minute lessons running from 4th to 8th August. This year is will again

be held at Duffryn High School, Newport, NP10 8YD (5 minutes from Junction28 of M4) . The course

costs £85 saving you £50 on the usual course price. Great if you want to get ahead over the holidays.

For our existing clients we have Intermediate 1 and 2, Advanced, and toddler classes.

Older toddlers will be working towards their next ASA Stage. Badges and certificates (£3.50 for the pair)

will be available on the Friday for toddlers that achieve them. We will also be running classes for older

children (under 7) as these were very popular last year.

Tell your friends that we will have an intensive Beginner course and toddler classes (for those that have

missed out on Water Babies).

It’s Springtime!

The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming and Spring is finally here after so much rain.

As usual lots of info in our newsletter, including rebooking (pay attention if its your first time) Swim

school, your Water Babies journey , term dates and anything else we needed to tell you. We’re a bit

short on stories so if you have a fab story you’d like to share please get in touch or if you have any other

ideas for content do let us know.

Hope you are looking forward to the Easter break and lots of chocolate eggs (why does Easter egg

chocolate taste so good?). Make sure to find time for a family swim to burn it all off!

Happy swimming from all of us at Water Babies xxx

Welcome Courtney and James

We’ve got two new faces in the office, Courtney and James, who have

joined us on an apprenticeship scheme. Here they are on their 1st day

(which happened to be photo shoot day). They both look amazing

under the water although most of the time they’ll be on dry land

answering your calls.

With the extra hands in the office we should now be able to respond to

your calls and emails more promptly. However as they’re learning the

calls may take a teeny bit longer!

Rebooking for Summer Term

Our automatic rebooking deadline is

Friday 4th April.

Note all payments will be processed on

Monday 7th April. Please contact us

before this date if you have a new card.

More information on how to rebook and

term dates are inside ...

ASA Awards—Congratulations!

Congratulations to all our brilliant toddlers who

have achieved their ASA Stage 1 awards over

the last few terms. We’ve even had a couple of

you pass Stage 2 which is fantastic.

All badges and certificates have now been sent

out to those of you that requested them.

Thank you for your patience it was a logistical

headache but all sorted out now and going

forward should be much easier.

If your toddler has passed Stage 1 or 2 and you

haven’t received your badge and certificate and

you would like one please let us know. They

are £3.50 inc P&P .

New pools

WE’RE always keen to bring Water Babies to as many new places as possible — so why not help us! If

you know of any swimming pools in your area, let us know. We try to research as many as we can but

sometimes one or two slip through the net. And, if you manage to point us in the direction of a new

venue (that we don’t already know about) and we end up securing Water Babies classes there, we’ll

give you an entire term free of charge. Happy Hunting!

Monday May 12, 19, June 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 July 7, 14, 21, 28 (Holidays May 26)

Tuesday May 13, 20, June 3, 10, 17, 24, July 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 (Holidays May 27)

Wednesday May 14, 21, June 4, 11, 18, 25 July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 (Holidays May 28)

Thursday May 15, 22, June 5, 12, 19, 26 July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 (Holidays May 29)

Friday May 16, 23, June 6, 13, 20, 27 July 4, 11, 18, 25, August 1 (Holidays May 30)

Saturday May 17, 24, June 7, 14, 21, 28 July 5, 12, 19, 26, August 2 (Holidays May 31)

Saturday Llanhennock & Duffryn classes May 17, 24, June 7, 14, 21, 28 July 5, 12, 19, August 2, 9 (Holidays May 31 and July 26)

Saturday St Martins classes May 17, 31, June 7, 14, 21, 28 July 5, 12, 19, 26 (Holidays May 24) 10 week term £135.00**

Sunday St Martins classes May 18, June 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 July 6, 13, 20, 27 (Holidays May 25) 10 week term £135.00**

Sunday Llanhennock classes May 18, 25, June 8, 15, 22, 29 July 6, 13, 20, August 3, 10 (Holidays June 1 and July 27)

**Spring term change at St Martins –classes will not swim on 3rd or 4th May but will swim on 26th or 27th April**

I WI WI WANTANTANT TTTOOO SSSTOPTOPTOP

If you’re ready to go it alone

please let us know by Friday

4th April 2014.

Get in touch and let us know. If we don’t

hear from you, we’ll rebook you and take

your payment. If you cancel after the date,

we’ll have to charge you an admin fee of

£30.

We’re not trying to be mean about this –

there’s loads and loads of work involved in

juggling you all around at rebooking time

(just ask Suzie!) and if we then have to do it

all again because people cancel late, it’s

double the work!

I WI WI WANTANTANT TTTOOO CHANGECHANGECHANGE

If you would like to change

your day, time or venue let

us know by e-mail or phone

ASAP.

Give us a call. We’ve got a selection of

classes, so I’m sure we can find you

something new that fits your routine. Unless

you tell us you definitely can’t do it, we’ll

hold your existing place until we’ve found

you somewhere new, and we’ll only take

payment once you’re sorted. Places are filled

up on a first come first served basis, so get in

I WI WI WANTANTANT TTTOOO SSSTAYTAYTAY

If you want to carry on to

the next level, you don’t

have to contact us! We will

assume you want to stay.

Put your feet up! Go on, you deserve it. As

this is the most common option, we’ll do all

the work for you, taking payment from the

last card you used on the day mentioned

above. If you’ve had a new card since you

last paid for anything, please get in touch to

give us new details.

All you need to know to stay with us!

The automatic rebooking date for the Summer term, starting Monday 12th May, is on

Friday 4th April . Payment will then be taken on Monday 7th April. It is an 11 week term, so

course fees will be £148.50 . If you have new card details please would you contact us

with them ASAP.

If your circumstances have changed and you can’t continue to make your current lesson,

please make sure you get in touch as soon as you can. We have lessons seven days a week

and will try our best to find something else that works for you.

Rebooking Information

Your cut-out guide to all the Summer term dates

Important information: The deadline for cancellations and changes is Friday 4th April 2014. Changes and cancellations after this date will incur a £30 admin fee as per your terms and conditions. We really don’t like to do this so please contact us before the deadline. Once the course has started we unfortunately cannot refund fees. Please be informed the fees will be taken from the card used in your last transaction (including Photo Shoots and product sales) unless you tell us otherwise us. Please contact us if your card details have expired.

After your first beginners term comes the

Intermediate 1 Level

We introduce a new swimming position and help you and your little one enjoy going underwater together. We

also teach your baby to hold on to the side unaided and develop their reaching out skills. Using our fun array

of toys, we learn new songs and skills to encourage independent kicking. We increase the depth and distance

of underwater swimming.

Intermediate 2 Level

Babies will swim longer distances underwater, and they'll start to swim to the side and secure themselves. We

begin to work on their arms and they even get to have a go at diving. We use our fabulous wibble wobble

mat! We teach you a beautiful glide swim technique and add more songs and skills such as ‘horsey, horsey’

and ‘five in the bed’. There is also lots of monkeying around to be done!

Advanced 1

Time for Woggles and sea horse races! And watch out for the tigers roaring around the pool! We will

encourage more independent surface swimming and complex swims underwater with Mum or Dad. We begin

to work on push and glides. We aim to get your little ones swimming solo on the woggle and have some fun

new skills and songs to learn, like ‘row, row, row the boat’ on the mat!

Advanced 2

A new warm up song and lots of bubble blowing to be done, we link lots of existing skills together and

introduce new ones. We love ‘twinkle twinkle’ and get independent back floating well on its way! With many

release swims and turning around under water to collect dive rings. This level has all the progression needed

to move onto the toddler stages.

Toddler 1

The toddler classes are more fluid in their structure and can be adapted to the ability of each individual

child. Now that your little one is a bit bigger and more aware of their own skills they will begin to show

more independence in the water. Jumping in from the side, running across the mat and using bubba out in

front, helps streamlining and with tiger arms all the time, we start the base of stroke techniques! Toddler

classes are still all about learning through play. This way your child continues to have fun while learning

Toddler 2-5

Although at times may be challenging, its also very rewarding. You will see them swimming completely on

their own, while we introduce new strokes, games and characters. During this period of learning, progression

slows down somewhat as they learn to control their bodies and get to grips with what this means for them in

the pool. For this reason all our Water Babies mums and dads remain in the water as who better to help them

through this stage than you.

Toddler 6-12

Preschool aged children, are really moving along with swimming! They will swim good distances on their own

use skills to perfect diving down to the bottom of the pool and practise a range of different strokes. Around

toddler 6 our Water Babies are able to achieve their ASA Stage 1 awards which we will assess them for during

lessons. Don’t worry we’ll make it fun!

It's not all about the splish-splash you know; a guide to your Water Babies journey

Nappies

We have started to notice that some babies and toddlers are not wearing the required nappies to class as per our terms and conditions, which state:

All babies/toddlers, regardless of age or whether they are potty trained, must wear our double nappy system: a disposable paper swim nappy with a

Happy Nappy on top. Water Babies reserves the right to refuse entry to any child who is not suitably attired.

We have recently had several accidents in the pool caused by older toddlers. It is very distressing and embarrassing for the child and parent, not to men-

tion the others in the pool when such accidents occur. We also need to close the pool in these instances and may need to cancel all classes for that day.

However we acknowledge that we now have 4 and 5 years old swimming with us who have been potty trained for a long time.

If your child is at least 3 years old and have been dry for at least 6 months then they may swim in just a Happy Nappy.

Your Instructor has been reminded to do a nappy check at the start of the lesson and not to allow entry into the pool without the correct nappies. She

does have a limited supply of Happy Nappies should you need to borrow one until you can buy a new one if you have outgrown yours.

We can get them up to adult size so we should have one to fit even the biggest toddlers!!!!!!!!!!!

Keep in touch

Please keep us updated with your mobile numbers if we ever have to cancel

your lesson at short notice we will use a text message service so please en-

sure that we always have your up to date mobile number.

We will also use our Facebook page to post reports as

soon as we are aware of any problems, so you can

check before you travel. Please “like us” , our page is

Water Babies Wales SE.

We also post other news, events and compe-

titions on our Facebook page so get on there

soon, you don’t want to miss out!

Please make sure

you let us know if

you change your

number

Contact Us

It is really very important to us that you are enjoying your lessons and

that you and your little fishy feel you’re gaining the maximum benefit

from your Water Babies experience.

If you feel that there is room for improvement then we would really

welcome your comments. Equally if you would like to tell us something

positive about teacher or your lessons then we’d love to hear from you

too. Please do not hesitate to contact us on 01633 278504* or drop us

a line on glideswim@waterbabies.co.uk

*Please leave a message if we don’t answer the phone straightaway,

we are there 9-5 everyday but sometimes we are all on the phone at

the same time. We will call you back!

Photo shoot

What a wonderful time we all had at our St Davids Day photo shoot. Some of the lovely babies that came along

are pictured here. Our next photo shoot is the weekend of 31st May/1st June at Duffryn High School just off

junction 28 in Newport.

If you’re not booked yet or you fancy coming along again it’s a great opportunity to get a lasting memento of

your little one under the water, taken by one of the country’s most experienced underwater photographers.

Your photo shoot will include a warm up like we do in class and up to 3 ―dips‖ in front of the camera. On each

dip we take up to 3 photos. Once you’ve dried off after your shoot you don’t have to wait to view your photos

you can view them almost straightaway! If you fancy something different bring along some fancy dress, fairy

outfits look particularly cute, we can also do sibling and family shots . Call us to discuss your ideas .