Proud of our complete swimming journey
Puddle Ducks teaches children, from birth to 10 years, to swim independently, beautifully and confidently, and to love and respect the water. We teach essential life skills and water safety to over 19,000 babies, toddlers, pre-school and primary school children across the UK, every week, offering the complete swimming journey from birth to age 10.
Classes are packed full of fun - watch as your little one develops into a confident swimmer without even realising they are learning to swim! We recognise that every child is different; our expert teachers individually tailor activities to suit your child’s ability and confidence levels. We often see children achieving their 10m award before they start school.
Charlotte who used to teach for Puddle Ducks, has 3 daughters all swimming through the Puddle Ducks
Programme. Georgie her eldest has just completed the Level 4 programme and Charlotte had this to say:
“Swimming was always on my priority list when Georgie was born and I’m so glad I found Puddle Ducks. The teachers and poolside assistants have been fantastic with her every step of the way. The lessons are so fun and have taught her so much over the last 8 years. From her first surface swim at 10 weeks old, 5m at age 3 all the way up to 50m! Every milestone was special. It's so reassuring knowing she can swim well for her own safety but also so lovely being able to have so much fun on holidays. Thank you Puddle Ducks - you've been a huge important part of her life”
Proud of our leading industry teaching standards
We are totally committed to delivering classes of the highest standards and the best possible value to our customers. All of our programmes have been written and developed by swimming experts and our technical team continually develop them based on the latest research, demonstrating our leading industry standards.
Puddle Ducks teachers undergo rigorous training programmes to ensure that they meet the toughest swimming teacher standards. But it’s not just about knowledge - dedication and fun are an important part of the mix. Teachers spend 300 hours completing their training, 50 hours in the classroom and the rest in the water. Our programmes and teacher training are continuously developed in the latest techniques, ensuring our teaching standards remain the highest, meaning you really are being taught by the best!
Newly qualified teacher Natalie said "Training to be a Puddle Ducks teacher was the best decision I have ever made! I had no previous swimming teaching experience so it was all brand new to me, my team and all the senior teachers that delivered the training were just fantastic. I was supported all through my journey and no question was ever to small to ask. All my co-teaching with our experienced teachers was always fun (although nerve wracking to start!), the feedback they gave was detailed and so helpful to me during my training period. I’m so proud to be a Puddle Ducks teacher and to be part of the Puddle Ducks team, I love teaching my classes and the relationships I’ve built with all my customers and colleagues."
Proud of our child-led approach
Our approach to swimming is fully child led. Your child is truly at the centre of what we do. Our teachers are especially trained to identify your little one’s own stage of development and confidence. They will then tailor the activities to suit your child, ensuring that they are happy, developing at their own pace and gaining confidence. We also believe is giving your child choice. If your little one isn’t ready to do an activity, we listen to them and adapt the activity to something they are comfortable with. We want to build their confidence, not break it by getting them to do something they’re not ready for.
Ali Beckman is the Technical Director and Head of Teaching at Puddle Ducks. Along with her role at Puddle Ducks, Ali is also President of the STA; The Swimming Teachers’ Association which is an international award-winning charity working towards the objective of preserving human life by the teaching of swimming, lifesaving and survival techniques. Ali talks more about the child-led approach to lessons, and what makes Puddle Ducks different to other swim schools.
Proud of our class sizes“I’ve often been asked to define our unique approach to baby swimming and it’s actually easy; child-led. It’s what we’ve always done. Our babies and children have always been at the centre of everything we do but that doesn’t mean we can’t do it better.
All our teaching is consistent with research developments in infant physiology and infant psychology and with technical advances in swimming. This not only keeps us ahead of the game, it means we have to be prepared to change when new developments are brought into the mix.”
Our lessons are taught in specially selected pools with class numbers carefully considered. We carefully evaluate the pool size and environment before deciding on our class numbers meaning swimmers can really get to know their teacher, and what a sense of pride your teacher feels watching a floatie progress through the programme to take those first independent swims and all of the other wonderful milestones along the way. Our class sizes will ensure you feel a real connection to your teacher and swim in a calm and safe environment.
Emma Downes has worked for Puddle Ducks Worcestershire for 10 years this year and teaches both a Swim Academy and Baby & Pre-School lessons, and says "I absolutely love my job, it is so rewarding, a fun and friendly environment to work in, I look forward to coming to work to see my swimmers every day”
Proud of our pools
Our lessons are taught in specially selected pools, and pool relationships are absolutely key to our business and we work hard to ensure partnerships are long-term and happy. We have dedicated pool operating expertise that allows us to fully understand and manage our relationships with pool operators, ensuring the highest standards for customers. Our Health and Safety record is impeccable. We pride ourselves on our approach to Health and Safety through our business operations and processes, training and inspection. Katherine Sloggett our Operations Manager, works with the pool owners to ensure the smooth running of the pools and says “Our pool owners are all dedicated to ensuring our lessons can run in their pools, we keep in regular contact and any issues are dealt with quickly and efficiently. We work together to ensure our pool operating procedures and risk assessments are robust, with the ultimate and joint goal of running our lessons in a safe and secure pool environment”
Proud of our team values
Our team members are bound together with a complete love of their job and shared experiences. Working for Puddle Ducks is a fabulous job that fits around family life. Puddle Ducks was founded in 2002 by Tracy Townend and Jo Stone after they met at ante-natal classes. As their friendship grew they realised they shared more in common than the birth of their first children - they shared an ambition to succeed in business; the need to strike a work-life balance; and a desire to pass on the joy of swimming to babies and children.
This resonates with several of our team members, with teacher Rachel first discovered Puddle Ducks when she brought her little boy, Leo, to classes at 3 months old. they loved Puddle Ducks from the get-go and it became their favourite family activity of the week. 
Rachel took the plunge with Puddle Ducks to become a baby and preschool swimming teacher in 2015 Rachel said "I love that I can make a difference to the lives of little people and their mummies and daddies by helping them to learn a life skill, gain water confidence and develop swimming abilities and see these grow at the pool week on week. My little swimmers make me feel so proud"
Proud to be part of the Puddle Ducks family
We love hearing from swimmers and their parents about what makes their lessons so special. Beatrix’s mum Jemima and Rory’s dad Steve told us about their love of Puddle Ducks:
Beatrix started her journey with us at just a 9 weeks old and now aged 4 is in our Swim Academy classes and her little sister Tabitha swims in our Floaties class. Jemima Beatrix and Tabitha’s mum said “I first came to Puddle Ducks when Beatrix was just 9 weeks old. I believe her swimming lessons had a noticeable effect on her development with physical strength, coordination and confidence. It's been a hard year for our family with dad losing his sight, and Bea's sister Tabitha arriving 6 weeks early at just 3lb1. The whole Puddle Ducks team, especially at the Whitehouse Hotel, have been so fantastic at helping us keeping Beatrix on track through it all giving dad extra support so he could be in the pool whilst mum was in hospital with preemie baby. I don't believe it to be a coincidence that Tabitha has learnt to roll and push herself up just after starting her own Puddle Ducks journey.”
Rory started his swimming journey with us at 11 months old and has now moved up to Little Dippers and mum Dani has even joined our team as a Poolside Assistant starting at our Feckenham pool and now working at our Croft House pool. Dad Steve said “As soon as we mention swimming on a Saturday morning, Rory starts singing the puddle ducks song with the biggest smile on his face. Seeing him laugh and have fun in his lessons with Hollie really is wonderful. I feel so proud to see him progress each week. Swimming with Puddle Ducks has always been, and continues to be, a great way to have fun as Daddy and son"