Level Water believes that children with disabilities deserve the opportunity to learn to swim, a skill that many children with support needs miss out on because they cannot progress in group swimming lessons.

We work in partnership with local pools and governing bodies to create this opportunity, providing inclusive, accessible and engaging swimming lessons at a reasonable price. 

Swimming is a vehicle to developing long-lasting physical, social and emotional health and changing lives for the better. Creating more opportunities for equal access to swimming enables disabled children to develop a life-long love of the water.

At Level Water, we're working to solve disability learn-to-swim - not just support it. We believe that disabled children belong in mainstream swimming lessons - not removed, sidelined, or offered a separate “disability hour.”

Everything we do is built on partnership. We don’t buy pool time, run swim schools, or hire teachers ourselves. Instead, we work with community swimming pools to embed inclusion into their everyday lessons by training teachers with our CPD and subsidising lessons for parents. This is possible thanks to the support of our generous fundraisers.

We have also recently launched co-funded full-time Inclusion Specialists: these are specialist adaptive swimming teachers whose careers are committed to becoming the most expert, joyful, and added value disability teachers that they can. Each week, because of our fundraising, they teach 30 - 50 children with a wide range of needs, building true expertise. 

Our ambition is simple: fairness. In these towns, disabled children can now access expert, affordable lessons at any time on the timetable. That’s not our vision. That’s our minimum.

We work in partnership with local swimming pools to deliver adaptive 1-to-1 swimming lessons for children who cannot swim and cannot access mainstream swimming lessons. 

The first step is to apply to join the Level Water waiting list via our website. This will add your child to the waiting list and we will then be in touch when a suitable lesson in your area is available. 

Swimming lessons take place weekly, usually 1-to-1 and with a qualified Level Water swimming teacher. We do encourage children to take part in small groups if possible (up to four children) as this is often a more fun and engaging experience for children and we can see faster progress and the added bonus of positive relationships between families developing. This is a case-by-case basis based on age, swimming ability and support needs.

The first step to accessing our adaptive 1-to-1 swimming lessons is for parents/carers to apply via our website: Learn to Swim — Level Water: The Power of Swimming. This adds the child to our wait list and we will then make contact when we have a suitable offer. 

The application process takes approximately 5 - 8 minutes to complete. Children can join the waiting list from age 3.5 and can start Level Water lessons from age four.

You will receive an automated email confirming that you are on the waiting list.

Sadly, the demand for our adaptive 1-to-1 swimming lessons is higher than we can meet and we have long wait times for many of our pools. We will contact you when you are at or near the top of the wait list and we have a suitable lesson offer. 

The first lesson will be a dryside meet and greet between the parent/carer, child and swim teacher. This will include a tour of the pool and facilities and an opportunity to learn a little about each-other and how to suitably adapt the swimming lesson to meet the child’s needs.

It's impossible for us to say how long it takes to move up the wait list as it depends on a variety of factors such as how many spaces are made available to us at the pool and how quickly our current swimmers progress. 

We are working hard all the time to create more swimming provision for children with disabilities and support needs.

Sadly, the demand for our adaptive swimming lessons is extremely high and we have long wait times for many of our pools. It's impossible for us to say how long it takes to move up the wait list and waiting lists move more quickly in some areas than others. Sadly, we are not able to help all of the families that apply to us.

We work in partnership with local swimming pools, we currently have around 250 pools to choose from. To see if Level Water lessons are available in your local area, please take a look at our map: Level Water Active Sites - Google My Maps. 

We are aware that there are some areas where Level Water lessons are not yet available and we are working hard all the time to create more provision for children with disabilities to learn to swim. 

1-to-1 swimming lessons are usually 2-3 times the cost of group lessons, often making them prohibitively expensive for families who really need them. We think this is wrong.

Level Water 1-to-1 lessons cost the same amount as standard group lessons at the same pool, enabling children with disabilities to access an inclusive swimming lesson at an affordable cost.

Depending on where you live, this is typically £30 - £50 per month. The cost varies per pool, but specific costs can be obtained from your local pool directly: Level Water Active Sites - Google My Maps.

When you start Level Water swimming lessons, you will usually set up a monthly or termly direct debit to the swimming pool. The swimming pool then invoices Level Water for a subsidy for every lesson. 

Our lessons are delivered by qualified swimming teachers employed by our pool partners. Before delivering Level Water lessons, swim teachers must undergo our CIMSPA accredited training course in adaptive swimming, so they can confidently support children with disabilities. We also provide ongoing mentoring so teachers feel supported and can keep developing their skills.