Water Babies Reviews

Nic is a great teacher and our little girl is doing better than we thought she would. Nic also teaches our son and is very patient with him as he often struggles to complete some of the directions given to him

Water babies is simply fantastic. So well devised and structured and delivered by happy, caring professionals. It does so much more than teach swimming. Life lessons!

I would not recommend this company because of the lack of communication, lack of response and being overpriced! They could not make a replacement class after they canceled the class for 2 times and I literally paid for the classes that they canceled, because of the swimming pool condition that was cold for babies. At the beginning I asked to book me a place close to my house and I had waited for about 2 months then finally started classes, however, they could not give me a class at the same place after summer break as before and I have never could make a call to them and I had to wait for a week to receive a response via email. I would never recommend this company to the parents as a nursery practitioner.

Unfortunately for me the cons outweighed the pros. The lessons themselves were great and the instructor was lovely. Unfortunately my 3.5 month old was subjected to a very cold pool (other mums said they had put their babies in double fleece wetsuits!). The correspondence said I'd get help fitting nappies and wetsuits but I basically had to show up and work out what to do and where to go myself as no one was there. The change rooms are freezing cold too. My baby got a nasty cold after week 2. The parking is diabolical and very stressful. I felt heightened anxiety just trying to get there! I also found out that although they made me wait 5 weeks to start lessons, apparently I'd "missed" the first four weeks of lessons so "Unfortunately" we were behind! I've basically decided to not return and have since found a lovely (warm) alternative with another company. But I am out of pocket a lot of money and I do think they should let you pay for a trial lesson or offer free trials (like other companies do) before you commit. I do wish to reiterate the instructor was lovely - this is no fault of hers. But I feel very let down and honestly like I was duped.

I took my daughter to waterbabies lessons for 2 years. She loved it and she made great progress. It is completely overpriced but seeing the smile on her face was worth it! However, after one lesson a waterbabies staff member was in the changing room for some reason and she started shouting at me, as I was getting my daughter (and myself) changed. The changing room went quiet and everyone looked at me. I was so embarrassed and upset. As a teacher myself I would never speak to parents in such a way. If I have a concern I would speak to them privately, and calmly, not in front of everyone, and certainly not when the person is getting dressed. I was so upset and in tears when I left, and gave my notice to leave waterbabies, after spending all that money for 2 years.

I take my 2 year old (who has been doing water babies from around 7 months old) and I take my 5 month old to water babies. I love how the swimming is made fun, and learning through song which definitely appeals to my 2 year old. I love our instructor as well which makes the experience enjoyable for the adult too, the instructor is not judgemental, and doesn't push the child to do anything they don't want to do.

I recently enrolled my baby in swimming lessons with Water Babies and wanted to share our experience. The lessons themselves are quite good, and the teachers are friendly and professional. My baby seemed to enjoy the classes, and it was delightful to see the progress over time. However, I found the customer support to be below expectations. Navigating cancellations and rescheduling proved to be quite challenging. The terms and conditions are heavily emphasized in all communications, which made the process feel somewhat inflexible. When we had to miss lessons due to our baby's sickness, there was no straightforward way to reclaim those missed sessions. It appears that to make any claims or adjustments, you are required to commit to additional months, which can be inconvenient. The cancellation process was also more complicated than anticipated, and it felt like it was designed to be discouraging. Given that babies can often miss classes due to illness or other unpredictable factors, I hoped for a more accommodating approach. In summary, while the lessons and instructors are commendable, improvements in customer support and flexibility would enhance the overall experience. I hope Water Babies considers making their policies more parent-friendly in the future.

Katrina is a great teacher

We love Water Babies, and have been swimming for 3.5 years since my little one was 3 weeks old. The teachers are excellent, and the life and safety skills being taught is invaluable.

Pros: warm pool Cons: expensive, babies not learning from them,watch out - month notice is not a month but a calender month! Can write more but leave at this shameless..

Amazing experience! I fell in love with programme , the teaching and all the fun but progressive swimming skills. I had both of my boys starting from the age of 2-3 months up to the age of 4 when they were ready to move to mainstream lessons. They were so progressed, they had to skips a few levels. The teaching is inclusive, nurturing, fun and the lessons were the highlight of the week for us. Great time to bond, experience something fun and learn so much at the same time. I highly recommend for all babies in the world. Swimming is a second nature for them.

I enjoy swimming with the water babe it’s so much fun

A really good set of instructors who take the time to get to know our little ones and encourage them to do things themselves. They take the time to explain to the parents the lesson plan in more details to better understand your little ones learning.

I've been going to Waterbabies for almost 2 years. We are now going 3 times a week because the lessons are so much fun! Cate and Debbie are phenomenal teachers!

We love our waterbabies class and look forward to going every week. Our teacher Natalie is amazing, so much energy and so great with all the kids. It's just a shame sometimes the classes are cancelled due to maintenance on/issues with the pool- it can break the flow of learning but other than that no complaints. It's a highlight of our week :-)

I love the Hebburn pool and I especially love the teacher who is so wonderful with the children. Always with a smile... and above all she is also very good at getting explanations, given that I do not speak or understand much English. She is truly 100% professional I would not change her for anyone.❤️🙏

The swimming lessons themselves are fine. Very over priced for what you get but it seems everything marketed at babies is extortionate! The company however are terrible. My sons lessons kept getting cancelled last minute, I’m not allowed to have a holiday from lessons without paying yet the teachers who have no lessons during school holidays are allowed to go on holiday and cancel my sons lessons after 1 week back! Then I ring to cancel and they take money out of your bank without your consent for the final lessons. Then those lessons are cancelled but I won’t get a refund until 5 days after the date of all the cancelled lessons. Terrible customer service

The lessons themselves are great and both my boys are learning well and having fun however the lessons are cancelled frequently usually with less than an hours notice! Also my eldest can be nervous around new people and within a year he’s had 6 different teachers which has definitely set him back as he was thriving at the beginning when we had a consistent teacher 👎🏻

After my experience with Water babies I thought there was no way I was the only client treated the way that I was - I was right. I agree with the reviews which say it's not worth the money but a lot of us choose Water Babies as it's convenient for us, but please please please understand that if you miss a lesson or have planned absence you will have to pay for the lesson. Yes, Water Babies can offer "make up" lessons but if the lessons do not work for you then in their eyes tuff. I had to chase customer services on multiple occasions with them emailing back 3-4 days later, the last email I sent them they emailed me asking me to call which i thought was bizarre, but I did and no answer. Emailed back asking them to call me and guess what.... no call. I had to call them AGAIN. Spoke to the “customer service manager” and got no where, she was rude and blunt and kept repeating this is the rules of Water Babies "it's always been like that and it's not going to change". They wanted me to pay for a lesson which my toddler couldn't attend and couldn't make up and on top of that we had a sickness the week before so didn't attend the lesson - again a lesson down the drain. In the end I asked to speak to her manager, her response "gladly" then hung up. I got a missed call which I guess was the "manager" but no voicemail to confirm if it was or not. Straight after I got an email from them cancelling my membership! Please bear in mind this is without a conversation with me. The email was rude saying I should go elsewhere so that I can drop in and out of lessons and be less structured with her child's swimming lessons. I was shocked to the point I cannot for one second believe I was dealing with a manager. I work in Client relations and from my dealings with Water Babies I can tell they have no customer focus whatsoever. One day they will realise their client base is rapidly fading and that's when they will look into remodelling their customer services.

Love the lessons, Faye is brilliant