SwimWay Autumn Term 2019 Team Training

On the first Sunday of every term, the SwimWay Team gets together for an afternoon of in-depth training. Covering health and safety, operational matters, methodology, client interaction and customer services. It is an incredibly valued part of the SwimWay ethos and contributes to our drive to always improve our services.

Operations, Methodology and Customer Services

SwimWay MD Dan Pastor and Head Coach Tamsin Watt kicked things off by welcoming new team members Sophie Kane and Dovile Sudeikyte. While it is always sad to say goodbye to old colleagues, we find an injection of fresh blood always brings positive energy to the company. Sophie and Dovile have had an amazing start with SwimWay, quickly endearing themselves to their students, parents and coworkers. We are looking forward to a productive term ahead with them both!

Dan then briefly ran through the upcoming term dates. He also reminded everyone of our policies and procedures regarding notice, absences and uniform. He mentioned the upcoming ventures that SwimWay is currently working hard on, and praising the team at Kew Gardens for an incredibly strong performance last term.

Tamsin took over and talked about SwimWay’s aim to provide high-quality value-added swimming lessons. She outlined three main ways in which we can achieve this:

  • Offering customer-focused service from both teachers and office staff
  • Providing the highest level of health and safety possible
  • Always looking for ways to improve our lessons and customer service

She and Dan then led the team through various role-play scenarios. The aim of these was to explore ways to deliver high-quality lessons, whilst demonstrating knowledge and ability to accept productive feedback and learn from each other.

One role-play took the instructors through how to approach the first lesson with a new student (a 3-year-old child with no previous swimming experience). We saw many different interactions dealing with introductions and welcoming not only the child but the parent too, creating a positive environment, playing games to comfort the child, etc. Of course, there were some added challenges such as potential health and safety incidents, tearful children, unwilling participants, worried parents, etc.

Some interesting points and observations were made with these and a few other scenarios. There is so much that can happen, and the role-play was a fun way for everyone to watch, listen, participate and learn.

Health & Safety Training

Our resident Health & Safety consultant Dave Perry is always looking for ways to keep these training sessions interesting. So this term he decided to utilise Kahoot, a fun quiz programme designed to teach through play.

There were two interactive quizzes. One covering the SwimWay Safeguarding Policies and a second giving an overview of general first aid topics. The team responded well, and the quizzes inspired interesting questions and discussions on these topics. A fun way to learn!

He then split the group into teams and led them through a question and answer session covering policies and procedures for the following incidents:

  • Diarrhoea
  • Emergency Calls
  • Head injury with bleeding
  • Nosebleed
  • Dizziness
  • Child “not feeling great”
  • Broken Arm
  • Seizure in the water

While these types of incidents are extremely rare, you can never ignore the possibilities of them occurring. SwimWay team training sessions will cover all bases. Thus ensuring our instructors are always prepared.

Finally, the ever-important practical CPR session concluded the Health & Safety training. This specifically covered child and infant CPR, adult sudden collapse and adult drowning. As they cover this every single term, the team was ready and raring for this part of the training with little prompting from Dave!

Team Bonding

Once the training was done, everyone who was able made their way to the local for a couple of drinks and a chit chat! This is an important aspect of these meetups, as it is a chance for everyone to meet and interact face-to-face. Everyone’s spirits were high, and it was a fun end to a hard day’s work!

Click here to find out more about SwimWay’s dedication to health and safety excellence.