Swim School member of the month: It's a family affair at Glover's!

Each month, we will be highlighting the work of Swim School members from around the country and what makes their Swim School successful. Here is the story of our first Swim School Member of the Month, Lancashire-based Glover’s Swim School.

There’s definitely a family feel to Glover’s Swim School.

Set up more than 30 years ago by owner Diane Glover, she has since recruited son, Tom, and daughter, Paula, into the business as partners – after initially qualifying as a swimming teacher when she first took them to lessons as babies.

And although Glover’s Swim School has grown over the years, the philosophy has always remained the same.

Diane set up the school after recognising a need for a swim school that gave children individual attention, water confidence and gentle encouragement – with a focus on ensuring correct stroke technique was taught from the earliest formative years.

Tom, who is head of teaching at Glover’s, said: “Our focus has always been on creating a positive learning environment for our swimmers to thrive in.

“We continuously look for ways of developing our teaching programme, always working on mastering the vital building blocks required to develop safe and technically strong swimmers.

“This has worked really well for us, allowing us to produce many swimmers who have progressed to competitive swimming and other areas of swimming.”

Passion for swimming

Diane added: “After a lifetime in the water, my passion for swimming was further developed through pre-school swimming lessons, on to swimming club and county level competitions, training up to 14 hours a week.

“Taking my own children into the pool as babies is when I qualified as a swimming teacher.”

When her own children began to compete, Diane coached at local swimming clubs for 12 years, gaining experience in coaching children up to national standard.

And Glover’s are continuing to thrive and help young swimmers to achieve their potential.

Recently, Glover’s ran a ‘Swimmer of the Year’ award for students across their different venues – and the one of the three winners was three-year-old Jasmine.

Tom said: “Jasmine, from our Three Rivers venue, swam with Glover’s through pre-school lessons.

“From initially achieving so much confidence in the water, floating and swimming short distances unaided in pre-school, Jasmine entered our after school lessons at Stage 2 – and within three months is already learning some Stage 4 skills!

“For a child of her age, her ability to focus and master difficult skills amazes us from one week to the next. Her achievements since joining Glover’s have been nothing short of outstanding.

Lifelong love of swimming

“Every week she turns up with a smile on her face and wants to learn – she’s a little star.”

Jasmine’s mum, Julie, added: “It’s amazing how well Glover’s Swim School taught her to swim at such a young age.

“From all the nursery rhymes in the water, gently getting her used to being in the water and the ‘monkey, monkey’ technique have built her into a very confident swimmer in the pool, water parks, sea and lakes!

“She’ll go on a slide, snorkel and even body-board in the sea! Any onlookers are in awe of her ability. So thank you for making us very proud parents.”

Alex Roberts, Swim England Learn to Swim Membership and Accreditation Manager, said: “We had some great entries for our first Swim School Member of the Month.

“Glover’s Swim School particularly stood out. They aim to create a lifelong love of swimming and want every child to look forward to their lessons and for it to be the highlight of their week.

“They focus on making lessons fun and engaging through games and a challenge-based approach to teaching.

“And they work closely with their regional Swim England Learn to Swim Manager to keep up-to-date with best practices.

“We want to continue to highlight the excellent work of our Swim Schools across the country, so if you want to be featured as our Swim School Member of the Month for March, please get in touch.”