swim! Leeds Batley Bradford Road, Batley WF17 6JD

"We have had an awful experience here. At first I thought it was a great set up, not having to go in the pool with your child & watching from behind a glass window but the lessons have turned out to be terrible. For the first 2-3 months we had a different teacher each week. They finally sorted this but it was the worst teacher we could have asked for. The lesson consisted of fetching toys in the pool & nothing much else. The teacher could barely move without shivering, yawned most of the way through the lessons & winced any time they were splashed. We tried to stick it out but after another 2 months & lesson after lesson of a new child turning up, crying as they didn't want to do it so taking up most of the teacher's time, we asked if my son could move up to Swim 2. We were told that our child had to put their face in the water more. I'd like to add that I realise unconfident children need to learn but my child was never like this in the water, hence why we asked them to be moved & were a bit gutted with the reasoning. I then carefully watched for the following 6 weeks & not once in this time was my child actively encouraged to put his face in the water. My child did however build his confidence more by going swimming as a family & was soon jumping in the pool, unaided, fully submerging themselves & climbing back out to do it again. But yet they were still not moved up! I called to cancel our membership, they asked the reason why, I simply said we weren't happy with the lessons to which I received an ‘ok’. We've then had to continue for another 6 weeks notice period so thought we'd change teacher. This teacher is better in the water but the lessons are the same, consisting of go fetch with very minimal 1-1 & new unconfident children taking up most of their time. Again, this is fine for beginners in Swim 1 but does not offer any progression to children, like mine who are confident in the water. My husband then even talked to a manager about having our child moved up, they said they'd send someone to assess my child, but they didn’t & my child still continues to be in Swim 1 after 6 months, not being pushed to learn anything new. It has been such a waste of hard earned money."

"Overall it's a great swimming place. Only improvement could be the showers, they are a nightmare. Installed by a 6'6" guy saving money on pipes. Considering the whole place is designed for children the showers are appalling and only on for 5 second bursts. I am all for saving water but it's really hard work washing a child's hair in 5 second bursts!"

"Great lessons! The pool is the same depth throughout so ideal for kids lessons. The teaching method is great too; my 4 year old goes in the pool independantly with armbands on and a noodle. Maximum of 6 in a class. She has been far more confident with swim! than she ever was with a previous place where the parents went in the pool but there were no swim aids. The previous place also had an obsession with dunking the children underwater, whereas swim! encourage kids to put their faces in the water, as a long term preparation for underwater swimming. Just pleased to see my daughter enjoying swimming, rather than the previous place where it felt like a punishment at times."

"I received an email from Swim Batley to inform me of free introduction lessons over half term. I booked my son (6 months) onto one of these. We arrived at the session to be informed that there wasn’t a lesson due to filming and that everyone should have been contacted, we weren’t. My details were taken and I was told I would be contacted over the weekend to book back on, no mention of any reimbursement for the 20 minute drive to get there and the same home. Clearly Swim do not care about their reputation and do not want to build a new customer base."

"I joined Swim! when my little boy was only 4 months as we were keen for him to be confident in the water. We love the place from the changing rooms to the actual lessons. The instructors are all so lovely and confident in what they do. My little boy is now 10 months absolutely loves the sessions and super confident in the water even if he does spend the time just splashing me"