To redeem an Active Kids voucher, complete our online form. You will need the voucher ID number and your children’s information.
Find out more about the Active Kids Rebate and redeeming your vouchers with Carlile Swimming.
Our lessons are run year-round, with the exception of a two week break over Christmas and the New Year period. In addition to our regular lessons, every school holiday we conduct a School Holiday Swimming Program, where for a reduced fee, your child can receive intensive tuition each weekday. Our School Holiday program provides a boost for those swimmers who are on the cusp of moving to the next level.
Yes, beyond the industry standard. Carlile Swimming teachers and coaches complete an extensive and proprietary in house training program to teach the Carlile way. The Carlile Teacher Training System ensures new teachers undergo 30+ hours of training, including class observation, online theory and supervised teaching before they get to teach their own classes. In addition to this internationally recognised training, our teachers and coaches are all required to attain a nationally recognised qualification within their first 6 months of teaching.
All teachers and coaches with Carlile Swimming also have regular and on-going professional development focused on the programs they teach.
Water temperature is maintained at the optimum level for teaching children to swim, ensuring they stay warm and comfortable during lessons. Experience has shown that cooler water makes learning difficult and causes children to lose interest in attending classes.
An extra lesson each week accelerates learning and our experience is that children who swim more frequently progress faster through each level. During the school holidays we offer our Swimvac Program, where for a reduced fee your child can receive intensive swimming tuition each week day. Check with reception about booking a second swimming lesson or to find out more about Swimvac.
Think about swimming lessons as a long-term process, rather than an event. To ensure continuous skill development, lessons need to be a regular part of your child’s weekly routine. As children learn, they progress at their own pace and master the skills appropriate for their age. We consider a child to have learned to swim well when they can perform the promotion skills of our Shark Squad – these include swimming 400 metres freestyle, 200 metres backstroke, 100 metres breaststroke, and 50 metres butterfly, all with correct starts and turns and maintaining good technique over those distances. At this point, children have developed long term skill retention and will have a skill for life.
Winter is a great time to keep your children active, healthy and building on their swimming skills. We find that swimmers who drop out of our program during winter often have difficulty picking up where they left off. For preschool children in particular, consistent year round practice is crucial to avoid regression – this is because their muscle memory and long term skills retention are not fully developed. Our indoor pools, with consistent warm temperatures, make lessons comfortable all year round.
The best person to talk to about your child’s progress is the Supervisor. Our Supervisors are always available to liaise between parents and teachers and answer any of your concerns. Please feel free to let them know of any special needs your child may have. Supervisors are easily recognisable by their royal blue shirts.
Feedback is important and that’s why we aim to provide all of our parents with a detailed update on their child’s progress every 3-4 months. This is delivered personally to each parent by one of our Supervisors, or via skills update emails and also on the Parent Portal.
Although we use some aids, such as hand floats and kickboards, we don’t use arm bands and back bubbles in our classes. It is easy to develop a false sense of security when using these and this can be dangerous. They also tend to keep a child’s head and body in a semi vertical position, which develops bad habits.
Establishing and maintaining water quality is critical to our business. Our pools are equipped with state-of-the-art filtration and disinfection systems. Water quality and chlorine levels are checked and adjusted regularly throughout each day.
Parents and guardians are advised to be present before, during and after their child’s swimming lessons.
Moving from the Waterbabies class to the Tadpole class will be a major step for your child, especially since this may be the first time they will venture into the pool without you. Our Supervisors are there to assist in making the transition as easy as possible for you and your child. They can offer advice about what to expect and what you can do to prepare your child, so please feel free to discuss any concerns with them.
When you arrive at the pool please check in at reception and they will help you find your class. On your first day aim to arrive at least 15 minutes early. This will allow you and your child to get used to the environment and possibly see your child’s teacher beforehand. Please do not enter the pool until requested or stay in the water after the class has finished. There are warm showers and change rooms available at all of our facilities.
At Carlile Swimming we are committed to the safety and wellbeing of children. We take a preventative and protective approach to Child Protection including staff training and development, a values-based culture, the provision of Child Safety Contacts and working with independent Child Protection experts. Learn more about our approach to Child Protection.
There is strong evidence that children who participate in regular swimming lessons at an early age are better prepared for learning in other spheres.
Indeed, the benefits go beyond learning a skill that could save your life. Australia’s Griffith University conducted a ground-breaking four-year research study and found that 3 to 5 year olds who attend regular swimming lessons were:
At Carlile our Water Confidence and Preschool Programs emphasise safety and survival skills, such as breath control and submersion, turn around swims back to the wall and backfloating. Ultimately, children who are comfortable and confident in the water at an early age are better prepared in the case of an emergency.
You are welcome to change your lesson time as your schedule changes. You can do this yourself via your Parent Portal which lists all the classes that are available.
We always aim to challenge children and continually make progress when possible. However, progress may not always be continuous. It can come in spurts and children will occasionally plateau in their learning. Sometimes, they may even appear to regress. It is not uncommon for some skills to take a while to master, particularly if they are learning a new or difficult skill.
Being patient and trusting the process is important, but if there are specific concerns, they can be addressed with the on-deck Supervisor. It’s also important to remember that children are accomplishing something by maintaining their existing skills – many younger children will regress if lessons and regular practice stop for more than a couple of months.
At Carlile Swimming there are no lock in contracts. You can leave the program at any time, however you must notify us in writing, 7 days before the end of the current month so that we can cancel the following month’s direct debit. Cancellation forms are available at reception or you can provide your cancellation in writing here.
We are unable to provide refunds for cancellations made after the current month’s direct debit has been run.
Every new swimmer will be assessed by one of our friendly Supervisors to establish which class level best suits their abilities prior to their first lesson. These assessments take roughly 5 minutes. If your child is between three months and two and a half years or has little or no experience assessments are generally not necessary.
We do not provide credits or refunds for missed or unused lessons. For lessons missed due to public holidays or pool closures, the monthly fee will be reduced accordingly.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re offering all our customers a special make-up program. As part of our COVID-19 Protocols, we’re encouraging our families not to attend classes if they are unwell. We do, however, realise that missing out on the benefits of regular swimming lessons isn’t ideal. Therefore, we’re introducing a temporary make-up program to provide our families with some flexibility during this period.
For more information on how to access these classes, click here.
Learning to swim is an important step in a child’s life. Understandably some parents want to film or photograph their child’s progress. However, the presence of cameras can cause concern for some parents. In order to respect everyone’s privacy, parents wishing to film or photograph their child at the swim school are asked to consult with the Supervisor, prior to doing so.
Learning to swim doesn’t just happen naturally. Carlile’s nurturing approach, refined over years of industry leading innovation, allows children to build the skills they need at one level to confidently springboard to the next. Your child will learn to swim well and love the water.
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