Swimming from birth, without the use of floatation devices, will hopefully make your child supremely confident in water. Having said that, they still need very careful supervision around it - perhaps even more so as they're often quite happy to jump in!

Sadly, drowning is still the third largest cause of accidental death for children in the UK. Therefore a vital part of our course is the safety techniques we teach from birth. These include exercises like falling in off the side, coming to the surface, turning round and holding on to the nearest solid object.

In 2008 alone, we were incredibly proud to know that we could take some of the credit for having helped saved three children's lives. One fell into a canal (in January); another into a flood swelled stream where he managed to swim to the side and hold onto a root. Then, when little Elizabeth Jelley fell into her unheated family pool, wearing her best party dress, her lucky escape was splashed across the whole of the national press!