British Swim School Ready to Make a Big Splash in the Boston Area

British Swim School, the pioneer of gentle, non-traditional infant water safety programs, will soon gain a new home in the Greater Boston area. The international swim school recently signed a deal with entrepreneurs Tapanee and Andrew Thompson which will bring a needed service to the youth of the Greater Boston Area. In late October, the first location will officially be open for business at the Residence Inn located at 7 Lan Drive in Westford.

As the leading cause of death among children ages 1-4, drowning claims an average of 3,500 lives every year in the United States. British Swim School has made it their mission to help prevent these tragic deaths with a two-step curriculum that teaches children and adults of all ages water safety and survival skills first, swimming skill development second. This will be the first British Swim School location in the Boston area. The Thompsons are also in negotiations with Atlantis Sport Club in Bedford, MA to open their second location near the end of November.

“Andrew and I cannot wait to begin offering swim lessons to the kids in the community,” says owner Tapanee Thompson. “Water survival skills are so vital and every child should learn them early on. In fact, our children will be our first students to join the program. That’s how much we believe in it.”

After 14 years of working in finance, Tapanee plans to be the day-to-day operational owner of the business, while her husband will be involved in the long-term development plans of bringing new locations to the Boston area. The Thompsons knew they wanted to own a business and liked that a franchise concept already included a structured business model. They decided to open up a British Swim School once they saw all of the benefits the concept provided for young children.

While parental supervision is always the number one safety measure, research shows that participation in formal swim programs such as British Swim School can reduce the risk of drowning by 88 percent among children who are most at risk for deaths caused by drowning. Conducting an average of 250,000 swimming lessons each year, British Swim School reaches more than 8,000 students per week, some as young as three months old.

The brand has recently announced the launch of a new mobile application that will be used to better communicate with parents whose children are enrolled in the swim program. British Swim School’s app allows for a more direct line of communication between parents and staff members. Through the app, parents can schedule lessons, pay their participation fee, receive water safety messages and monitor their child’s goals. For parents with multiple children involved in the swim school, there are different tabs for each participating child so that every child’s goals and levels are kept separate. This allows for easy scheduling of classes that meet each child’s skill level.

To accomplish its mission and fill an increasing demand from parents seeking a program that aims to teach their child to survive a water accident, British Swim School developed a franchise opportunity that is rapidly expanding throughout the country. While other swim concepts require a large expense for pool construction, British Swim School’s business model allows franchisees to lead classes from pools in existing fitness chains, residential buildings, therapy pools and hotels, which drastically decreases the initial investment costs. In the third quarter of this year, British Swim School signed six new franchise deals and projects to bring on an additional 15 new franchisees by next year.

British Swim School is the first and largest concept of its kind to have created a unique water safety program with teaching methods that serve as a trademark for the brand alone. The company operates lessons out of multiple national fitness chains and hotel pools year round and, based on the premise that children progress at different rates, does not run on “set courses.” Each child, regardless of age, is placed in their correct skill level and will have certain achievable objectives. The child will be graduated from that level and moved onto the next without a waiting period, as found in a course driven program.

About British Swim School

For more than 33 years, British Swim School has been dedicated to teaching water survival skills to children as young as three months old. Rita Goldberg, a former national swimmer in Britain, founded British Swim School in 1981 and developed the unique and highly effective teaching methods that are a recognized trademark of the brand alone. Headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., British Swim School currently operates out of 80 pools in 11 states in the U.S. and Turkey. Since first launching a franchise program in October 2011, British Swim School has been ranked in Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500, Top 50 New Franchises, and the Top 10 Types of Franchises to Watch in 2015. British Swim School is aligned with the Safer Water Safety Foundation, whose mission is to protect every life from drowning through education and heightened water safety awareness. For more information about British Swim School and the franchise opportunities, visit www.britishswimschool.com or www.franchise.britishswimschool.com, and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BritishSwimSchools.