(Please take time to read this carefully)

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Q. Does my child need armbands? A. No, although if your child wants to wear armbands we will work with them & remove them as soon as possible. Q. Can we sit on the poolside? A. All spectators must use the viewing screens please. Exceptions to this are preschool children, and any children with special needs or medical conditions. Q. Should my child eat before swimming? A. No. You shouldn't eat less than an hour before going swimming. Eating later than this can cause cramp and vomiting. PLEASE DON'T EAT BEFORE SWIMMING. Q Can we encourage our children during lessons? A. We encourage clapping and cheering if you think any child has done well. Q. Can we take photographs or videos? A. Due to child protection we can’t allow any photos or videos to be taken during lessons. We can arrange for a photo session, which also includes underwater photos and videos. Please ask at reception for details. Q. Should I take my child swimming in between lessons? A. Yes, the more time and experience a child has in the water, the quicker their confidence will build and the quicker they will improve. Q. How long will it take for my child to learn to swim? A. Every child is different and develops at different times. The earliest we expect to see children able to swim unaided & tread water is 2 years if they have been coming since they were a baby. Most children should be able to swim 10m easily on their front and back by their 5th birthday, if they have consistently had lessons since a baby. Q. How long should I keep my child in the swim school. A. This depends on how far you want to take their swimming. We would recommend reaching and passing Stage 7, by which time your child will be a strong and competent swimmer. As an absolute minimum, they should reach and pass Stage 5. If they want to go on further than this, we can take them up to Stage 10 through our Swim Academy. We have children who have been in the swim school for over 10 years, who are now very competent swimmers. We have children who go on to competitive swimming, or synchro and some who want to continue to build their water skills and swim for fitness, or enhance their surf lifesaving performances. Q. My child is very apprehensive or tearful about coming swimming. What should I do? A. Please let a member of staff know if you have problems getting your child into the swimming lessons. It is quite common for children to be apprehensive and even have a crisis of confidence well into their swimming lessons. But perseverance is the best way forward. It helps us to know of any problems your child may be experiencing, or may have experienced which may need careful nurturing. Please bring to our attention anything you feel is relevant. Details will be treated with the utmost discretion and confidentiality. We have parents who would be willing to talk to you about their own experiences if you need reassurance that your child should stay in lessons. Please ask at reception if you need any assistance with this. ENROLMENT This is a rolling enrolment, so you will automatically be booked into lessons each term if you keep your direct debit active and your direct debit requests are paid on time. CHANGES TO YOUR LESSON TIME If you want to change your lesson, please notify us by email, and we will do our best to move you as soon as possible. Lesson change requests are subject to availability, and we cannot guarantee having a space for you to move into. We are unable to make temporary changes as we don’t have the capacity to do this. If you ask to change and we can accommodate your request, you will lose your original place if you accept the new place. CANCELLATION POLICY If you want to cancel your enrolment, please notify us in writing (to this email address is acceptable) at least 5 working days before your next payment is due. For cancellations after this date, no refunds will be due for lessons already paid for. You will then continue with any lessons you have already paid for. BEHAVIOUR Please respect all users of the facilities. Fitness 4 U doesn’t allow aggressive behaviour or bullying. We may ask children and/or adults to leave who behave in this manner. There will be no refund of any unused fees in these circumstances. If at any time you have any concerns with any clients within the building, please feel free to contact a member of staff or send an email. Your comments will be dealt with in the strictest confidence. MOBILE TELEPHONES, TABLETS AND CAMERAS No photography is permitted of the children swimming in the pool. Please also refrain from using mobile telephones in any part of the building where it looks as though you are taking photographs. Please don not take photographs or videos of the viewing screens. For the privacy, safeguarding and security of our swimmers, families and staff, customers must remove or switch off Meta/smart glasses and any other wearable devices capable of recording or transmitting audio or video before entering the premises. Such devices must not be worn or used on the premises unless expressly authorised by Fitness 4 U. ASSESSMENTS We have assessment weeks towards the end of term. Please don’t feel it necessary to put pressure on your children during these assessment weeks. These tests are for the teachers, to get an accurate record of each child’s achievement and to award each child accordingly. We never “fail”a child on assessment weeks because there are so many awards they are aiming for. FEEDBACK If you would like feedback between assessments, please email in with the name of your child, and teacher as the reference. LOST PROPERTY We have a lost property box located opposite reception. Sometimes if items are wet, we will hang them elsewhere to dry. Please ask if you have lost anything. Anything that is left in the lost property box after the end of each term will be given to charity. OUTDOOR SHOES No outdoor shoes are allowed past the reception area. Blue overshoes can be purchased if you don’t want to remove your shoes. These are single use, so please discard after use. Thank you for your assistance in this. PERSONAL BELONGINGS Any items left in the changing rooms may be removed. Please leave any valuable items at home. No liability can be taken for any items lost or stolen on the premises. If you are looking for a cubicle and find clothes/belonging in one, please try another changing room. REFUNDS Refunds are not offered unless we are able to reallocate your place. If we successfully fill the space, we will arange a refund for the weeks filled. At the discretion of the management, a refund maybe offered minus a 25% administration and charges fee. If your child has a private lesson you are welcome to offer the slot to a friend, or we can attempt to fill it on your behalf. POOL SHARING One-to-one lessons may share the pool with groups or other one-to-one lessons. Groups may share the pool with private lessons or other groups. SICKNESS AND CANCELLATIONS There are no refunds or replacement lessons available if you are unable to attend for sickness or holiday cancellations. If we cancel a lesson, we will do our upmost to offer you a replacement lesson, if not, we will credit you for that lesson. At the discretion of the management, we may offer replacement lessons where someone is unable to go in the water for a number of weeks, such as a broken bone, perforated ear drum etc. If your child has been unwell: After vomiting or general sickness, please allow 48 hours before returning to lessons. After diarrhoea, please allow 14 days before returning. For any other medical conditions, feel free to contact us for advice and guidance. SUPERVISION OF CHILDREN Please could you supervise your children at all times when they are not in their swimming lesson. The responsibility of the staff supervising children is only during the lesson. The rest of the time the responsibility lies with the adult who brought the child(ren) to the swimming pool. Please note the car park is used for other businesses and there are large vehicles that regularly attend the site. The car park is not to be used as a playground and children must be supervised at all times whilst in the car park. No dogs on site please. FIRST AID There will always be a first aider on site, so please contact a member of staff for serious incidents. There is a first aid box with emergency supplies by the front door and also one in the reception office. If you use anything from the first aid box by the door, please let a member of staff know, so that we can ensure supplies don’t run low. FIRE EXITS The fire call points are located upstairs, near the top of the stairs; by the front door and by the back door. Exit routes are signposted by illuminated green arrows. Evacuation procedures will be placed above each call point and fire exit. The fire exits are located at the entrance and exit of the building. The assembly point is near the car park entrance opposite the Lanvale Estates Sign. Please make sure you sign in when entering the building - or are signed in by a member of staff - so we have an accurate record of who is onsite. Likewise, please sign out when you leave. If you don’t sign in, we won’t know you’re here, and if you don’t sign out, we may end up looking for you unnecessarily. Also, please only sign yourself out - not anyone else - as this can give us a false record of who is still in the building. In the event of a fire, please follow the green arrowed lights that will work in an emergency. Signs are in place at each evacuation point. Thank you from the Fitness 4 U Team.