British Swim School

About British Swim School

For nearly 40 years, British Swim School has been dedicated to teaching water survival skills to children as young as three months old. FoFranchises Under CEO Rita Goldberg launched British Swim School from her home in Manchester, England in 1981 and developed the unique and highly effective teaching methods that are a recognized trademark of the brand today. In April 2019, multi-brand franchising organization, Buzz Franchise Brands, acquired British Swim School but our mission has never changed. Following the mantra, ‘Survival of the Littlest,’ we are dedicated to teaching water survival skills to individuals of every age and ability.

British Swim Schools offer swimming lessons for babies, children, and adults, focusing first on water survival skills needed to survive a water accident before moving onto stroke development and more advanced skills. Dubbed as one of the fastest growing franchises in the U.S., we teach over 13,000 swimming lessons per week!

British Swim School is headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA and currently operates over 215 schools in 22 U.S. states and Canadian provinces. There are tremendous franchise opportunities available throughout North America!

Why British Swim School?

Recently named #203 on Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 and #14 among the Top Franchises Under $150k, British Swim School is the North American leader in “learn to swim” programs. The company was revolutionary in developing a water survival program that enables young children to first survive a water incident and then develop the life-long skill of swimming. For almost 40 years, British Swim School’s gentle, fun and effective instructional program has made it the preferred choice for parents and students of all ages.

No buildout costs – British Swim School has created a model that allows you to skip over the enormous amount of stress and disappointment that is inherent in commercial pool construction, by utilizing the plethora of “empty” pools across the country. This enables a faster start-up and shorter path to profitability.

We help you find multiple pools – British Swim School partners and contracts with fitness centers, schools, hotels, and other venues with underutilized, indoor pools. This means you can rent pool lanes for specific days/hours to hold lessons and don’t have to worry about the ongoing maintenance of managing a swim facility.

Making a living saving lives – Swim instruction provides an essential life skill to combat drowning, which tragically remains a leading cause of accidental death for children. British Swim School owners are passionate about combatting child drowning, and love the fact that their business truly helps make a difference!

Survival of the littlest – The British Swim School mantra, “Survival of the Littlest,” not only applies to our program aimed at enabling water safety for even the youngest children, it also reflects the growing number of British Swim School franchise owners who began their journey as new entrepreneurs with a single location business and have actively developed their respective franchises into a multi-unit success stories.

A Stroke Above the Rest – We strive to make swimming an educational and enjoyable experience for every child. Using revolutionary teaching methods, we aim to give every child a chance to learn the skill of swimming.

Warm Pools – Unlike many other programs that teach children to swim, British Swim School finds and rents pools that are specifically catered to the needs of the children. We make sure the pools are warm and a comfortable environment in which a child can learn to swim.

Gentle Instruction – Our instructors are chosen with great care and consideration. Each instructor is experienced, passionate, and genuinely cares about the child with which they are working. They have a love of swimming and teaching and are driven to make learning to swim an enjoyable experience.

Revolutionary Techniques – British Swim School is the leader in “Learn to swim” programs. It was revolutionary in developing a survival program that enables the very young to survive an accident in water. It’s gentle fun program makes it the nations leader and preferred choice for all parents.

Types of Classes We Offer

We offer a variety of classes for children and adults of all ages and skill levels. Beginning at just three months, we teach children all of the essentials of swimming, starting with how to float on their backs and eventually moving on to swimming each of the four strokes. Many of our classes are based on skill level, and once the child’s skill level exceeds that of any of the classes, they are welcome to join our superstar swim team, The Barracudas.