A Difficult Week for Swimming Lessons: Why Safety Had to Come First

The snow closed all 6 sites at Sue's Swim School

I won’t pretend this week has been an easy one.

It was meant to be our first proper week back into routine, seeing familiar faces on poolside and getting children back into the water. Instead, the cold weather and snow turned it into a week of cancelled sessions, uncertainty, and a lot of disappointed swimmers.

With around 1,300 children swimming with us each week, I know how disruptive that has been for families, and I genuinely am sorry for that.

Why We Had to Be Cautious

Whenever the weather turns like this, our first thought isn’t about timetables or logistics. It’s about whether children, parents, and staff can get to and from lessons safely.

For every site, we look at the whole journey:

• Are the roads gritted and passable?

• Are school entrances, car parks, and walkways safe?

• Can staff realistically and safely travel?

• What guidance are we being given by the schools themselves?

If all of those things line up, lessons can run. If they don’t, they can’t, even if we desperately want them to.

We contact sites as soon as we hear about potential issues and carry out risk assessments for every location. Sometimes we’re hoping conditions will improve right up to the last minute, because cancelling lessons is never our preference.

What This Week Looked Like

Across the week, a large number of sessions had to be cancelled.

Out of our usual programme, only a handful of sessions were able to run safely at the start of the week. As the snow eased and conditions improved, we’ve slowly begun reopening sites one by one.

Even now, we’re still feeling the knock-on effects. At least one pool remains closed due to complications caused by the cold weather, and that continues to affect lessons despite everything else starting to move again.

A Small Clarification

Most families were completely understanding, and I’m genuinely grateful for that.

We did, however, hear from a small number of people, around 20 to 50 out of 1,300 swimmers, who felt that the closures were our decision alone.

I want to be clear, but also honest: they weren’t.

Every closure followed guidance from the schools and was backed up by our own site-specific risk assessments. We would never close lessons without good reason, and we would never put children or families in a situation that wasn’t safe.

From a Family-Run Business

Sue’s Swim School is still very much a family-led business. Cancelled lessons affect us too, and none of these decisions are taken lightly.

But business will never come before safety. Ever. When families trust us with their children, that responsibility matters more than anything else.

Looking Ahead

We’re continuing to reopen sites as soon as conditions allow and as venues confirm it’s safe to do so. As always, we’ll keep communicating clearly and honestly, even when the news isn’t what anyone wants to hear.

Thank you to everyone who’s shown patience, kindness, and understanding this week. It’s noticed, and it really does mean a lot.

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone back on poolside very soon, safely and with warmer days ahead.

— Andy