INFORMATION

General Information and Policies

Rules, Guidelines and General Information

For Health & Safety reasons the following Rules, Guidelines and Information Sheet must be observed by Parents, Carers, Visitors and swimmers – Completing and signing the initial enrolment form and/or renewing a place confirms that you have read these Rules and will comply with the following:

  • Please ensure your child does not eat at least 1 hour before their swimming lesson. Failure
    to do so could result in your child being sick and they could choke. If they are sick in the water
    the session will have to finish immediately and the pool will have to be closed for 24 hours.
  • Please ensure your child arrives on time for the lesson. Lessons last for 30 minutes.
  • Swimmers must blow their noses and go to the lavatory before their lesson. If possible, please
    have a shower first.
  • All jewellery must be removed, hair tied back – preferably a hat worn. Goggles may be worn
    but please ensure these fit properly and are adjusted in advance of the lesson.
  • Swimmers must enter poolside and sit and/or stand and wait at the shallow end five minutes
    before the start of their lesson. This is to allow the previous class to exit smoothly and safely.
    Please do not congregate by the poolside door.
  • Swimmers must not run on poolside.
  • Swimmers must not enter the water until the teacher has instructed them to do so. During
    their lesson swimmers must look at and listen carefully to swimming instructors at all times. It
    would be appreciated if parents did not wave at or distract their child during their lesson.
  • We prefer boys to wear tight (lycra type) trunks and not baggy, Bermuda-style shorts and girls
    to wear a one-piece costume and not a bikini or costume with skirts or frills. No tops or T-
    shirts or all-in-ones please.
  • Please do not bring your child swimming if they have an eye or ear infection or have a heavy
    cold.
  • If your child has been suffering from diarrhoea and/or vomiting please leave a period of at
    least 48 hours before bringing them swimming.
  • If your child has a verruca it would be appreciated if you could keep it covered whilst in the
    changing room, corridor and poolside area to avoid spreading. Whilst the Swim England
    guidelines state that a plastic sock is not necessary, we would prefer it if you could cover it
    with a plaster as an absolute minimum – we are happy for socks to be worn ☺. Alternatively,
    a treatment with a formula such as Bazuka is normally sufficient as it acts as a seal if applied
    properly.
  • No talcum powder to be used in the changing rooms.
  • No food or drink to be consumed on poolside
  • Parents must not come on to poolside for any reason and must not disturb the teacher during the
    lesson. It would be appreciated if you have any questions or queries, they are raised in advance
    of, or after the session, by phone call, email or text rather than at the start or during the lesson.
    We would be delighted to give feedback on any child’s progress but not during a lesson please. If
    we are distracted whilst talking the swimmers’ health and safety could be compromised and
    essential lesson time would be missed for everyone in the class.
  • Please do not use the electric socket in the corridor for drying hair with a hair dryer. This is a
    health and safety issue.
  • Clothing, shoes, valuables, belongings and/or any items left in the changing room whilst
    unattended is the responsibility of the parent or adult bringing the child to their swimming
    lessons. JH Swim School cannot be held responsible for any losses or damage.
  • Parents/Carers are responsible for and must supervise their children and siblings whilst in the
    changing rooms, corridors, gallery area, outside areas and the car park, before and after
    swimming lessons. Please do not allow siblings or babies in car seats to sit on the gallery wall.
  • In accordance with the Swim England Safeguarding Policy it is not permitted to take photographs
    or video pictures or film with any camera, ipad, mobile phone or any other device with
    photographic facilities.
  • Parents must notify Jane if there has been any change to the swimmers’ health/medical
    condition during the course or if they have been prescribed any medication.
    This is particularly important with regards to any hearing and/or sight impairment and if your
    child is subsequently diagnosed with any processing or learning difficulty, or any special need. If
    your child requires additional support in the classroom whilst at school we would appreciate it if
    you could share this information with us, in confidence, of course. This includes any support for
    any social or emotional need. We are able to adapt our lessons accordingly and explain and
    demonstrate instructions slightly differently. We do this for several children where we have not
    been informed of any special needs but suspect there are. It makes it so much easier and safer
    if we are given the full picture from parents from the outset. Their progress may be affected if
    we are not in full possession of the facts.
  • Parents/Carers/Visitors or responsible persons accompanying children to the pool should take
    under eights into an “opposite sex” changing room where there is no other responsible person
    to take the child into a “same sex” changing room. A similar analogy can be made if a parent’s
    child of the opposite sex needed to use the toilet in a supermarket, train station or public toilet
    etc., or get changed in a health club/leisure centre group changing room. The toilet or changing
    room you would use would be of the same gender as the adult.
  • Please kindly note that refunds will not be issued in the event of non-attendance unless
    exceptional circumstances, e.g. operation or accident, broken arm etc., and if given, this will be
    given in the form of a credit against the following term’s fees. Fees are non-refundable once a
    payment is made for all renewal places or new swimmers. In the event of a pool breakdown,
    every endeavour will be made to make up these lessons by putting on additional weeks.
    However, if there are no available weeks to facilitate this then a credit will be issued off a future
    term’s fees.
    This list is not exhaustive and subject to amendment at any time – Should you require
    clarification on any point mentioned or any other issue please contact Jane.

Safeguarding & Changing Room Policy

JH Swim School are proud to be a Swim England Swim School Member and as such we adhere to their Changing Room Policy which forms part of their current Safeguarding Policy (Wavepower). The changing rooms at Davenant Foundation School are group changing rooms consisting of a female group changing room and a separate male changing room. There is no public use during our hire periods of the pool or its changing facilities. Under the duty of care to safeguard children JH Swim School has a responsibility for the well-being of children in the changing rooms.

Parents should NOT be in the changing rooms whilst the children are changing, unless their
child is of an age where help is required from parents or accompanying adults or if the child
requires additional specific assistance. This is usually at an age of seven or eight years of
age. In such circumstances the parent must be the same gender as the child unless the
facility has family changing facilities or a changing village which Davenant does not have.
At JH Swim School we are aware that this is not always feasible and often there are mums
(or female accompanying adults) bringing their sons, and dads (or male accompanying
adults) bringing their daughters. Often children younger than 7 or 8 are able to change
themselves but for those who need assistance, our Policy, as recommended by Swim
England, is this: the changing room used should be the same sex as the parent/adult helping.
This is the same principal you would use if you were using toilet facilities in a restaurant,
supermarket, cinema etc.,
Boys over the age of eight should NOT go into the girls changing rooms and girls over the
age of eight should NOT go into the boys.
Furthermore, we also recommend that children do not get changed on poolside or in the
gallery area in front of others.
The above policy is not only to safeguard children but to safeguard parents and any adults
who are accompanying children to avoid them being placed at risk or become the subject of
an allegation.
This may appear to be a wordy statement but this is to clarify and confirm our position
regarding safeguarding in the changing rooms, to follow best practice and to avoid any
misunderstanding.
A copy of Wavepower can be downloaded from the Swim England website. If you have any
concerns about the changing for your child please contact Jane on 07956 833586 or Swim
England Swimline on 01509 618700