PodLifeHead coach
Plans how the school teaches: how stages work, how lessons are adapted, and what we do when a swimmer isn't progressing. Also teaches 1:1 lessons every week.
About PodLife
Small enough to know every swimmer's name.
We teach swimming to anyone who wants to learn — babies from birth, children, teenagers, adults, and swimmers with additional needs — and we keep the school deliberately small. One pool, a handful of coaches, quiet hours, and families who stay with us for years because nothing about the lesson keeps changing.
Why we exist
Too many swimmers are told they aren't ready for lessons
Families come to us having already tried. A mainstream class of eight, a loud pool hall, a coach who means well but has thirty seconds per swimmer — and a swimmer who comes out dysregulated, or in tears, or simply never gets in. Then a polite version of "not ready yet", and a place on a list that never moves.
Water safety isn't an optional extra for a swimmer with additional needs. Drowning risk is higher for autistic children and children with learning disabilities, and a family trip, a school swimming block or a holiday can all depend on a swimmer having some comfort in water.
So we built the opposite of a big class: one swimmer, one coach, a quiet hour, and a plan that only changes when the swimmer is ready. Anyone can book — you don't need a diagnosis, a referral, or a reason beyond wanting to swim.
What that looks like in practice
Who you'll meet
The four roles at every session
Small teams mean you get to know people by name. The same coach teaches your swimmer every week, and the same faces are poolside every visit.
SEN lead
Reads every enquiry before the first lesson, speaks to families on the phone, and writes the individual plans for swimmers with medical or communication needs.
Lesson coaches
The people in the water. They hold the swim teaching qualification, the autism and sensory training, and the relationship with your swimmer.
Poolside assistants
The second adult on deck, there so nobody is ever alone with a swimmer, and so a lesson can carry on if a parent needs to step out.
Every coach holds a recognised swim teaching qualification, an enhanced DBS check with barred list, and up-to-date safeguarding and paediatric first aid training. Ask to see any of it — nobody has ever been refused.
Training & safeguarding
What our coaches are trained in
Teaching a swimmer with additional needs to swim is a specific skill. We treat it as one, and we keep paying for the training after the qualification.
- Autism awareness and sensory processing training, refreshed annually
- Makaton signs and picture-symbol communication in the water
- In-water rescue, spinal management and emergency response drills every term
- Safeguarding level 3, with a named safeguarding lead and a two-adults-always rule
- Paediatric first aid, including seizure and choking response
- Moving and handling, for swimmers who need support getting in and out of the water
Working with schools
We take swimmers who are on a school swimming block, teach them in a quiet hour rather than a class of thirty, and report back on the targets the school has set. SENCOs can talk to our SEN lead directly.
Working with therapy teams
Occupational therapists, speech and language teams and portage services all use the pool with their own families. If you'd like a session alongside your swimmer's therapy goals, we'll make the time.
Working with parent groups
Local SEN parent groups and charities can book relaxed pool sessions outside our lesson timetable. Get in touch and we'll tell you what's available this term.
Join the team
We're always looking for coaches who like the quiet hours best
If you teach swimming and you'd rather spend half an hour with one swimmer than thirty minutes with eight, we'd like to hear from you. Full training in how we teach is provided, paid, and we fund the qualifications you don't have yet. We also run training for teachers and schools who want to work this way — swim teacher training.
Come and meet us before you decide anything.
Book your first lesson and you'll meet the coach who would teach you or your swimmer, see the pool in a quiet hour, and get an honest answer about whether we're the right fit. Only pay if you want to stay.