Water Babies, Ireland’s leading baby and toddler swim school is expanding in the West of Ireland and looking for swimming instructors to teach both small babies and toddlers, following the award winning Water Babies training programme in Sligo and Mayo. Water Babies teach a core skill to over 3,000 babies in Ireland every week, a skill which can potentially save their life.
Water Babies are family-run businesses, passionate about making parents and babies journey through classes truly amazing. Lisa Cobbe who currently runs Water Babies in Galway & Sligo says “Water Babies is a magical experience for parents and children and fully qualified instructors work incredibly hard to enhance the experience. With a core philosophy of teaching Parents to teach their baby how to swim, Water Babies instructors always explain why they’re doing everything, as well as carefully demonstrate exactly what they do.”
Caeleen Jones, originally from Zimbabwe, was a book keeper/accountant and became a Water Babies instructor after her bringing her son to Water Babies classes: “I started swimming with Water Babies when my son was seven weeks old, and just loved the structure of the classes, and we always had so much fun. It became a highlight of our week, and when I realised they were looking for new instructors I asked for more information and decided to give it a go. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”
Caeleen added “Water Babies is a magical job. I love watching a baby hold on by themselves for the first time as it always makes parents eyes twinkle with pride. First swims with babies too are also amazing, as parents watch their babies underwater for the first time, but overall there really isn’t one thing I can say I love the most, because it is all AWESOME! “
Applicants to Water Babies must love babies and toddlers, love the water and believe passionately in what Water Babies do. Plenty of enthusiasm, reliability and flexibility are also essential qualities. They must have own means of transport and be willing to commute and work weekends. In return Water Babies can offer excellent rates of pay, a comprehensive training package and exciting career opportunities.
To apply, email surfing@waterbabies or call Water Babies on 086-7924688 and they’ll send you a full job description and details. www.waterbabies.ie
Water Babies
- · Water Babies is the world’s largest baby swim school, teaching more than 33,500 babies each week through a growing network of family businesses across the UK, Ireland and Sydney, Australia
- · Water Babies in Ireland now has four regional franchises teaching over 2,500 babies & toddlers each week across Dublin, Cork, Galway, Sligo, Wexford, Waterford, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Louth, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow, Carlow and Kerry.
- · Having fun and enjoying the water is our primary aim – we never want our Water Babies to actually feel like they’re in a lesson. Most will happily be swimming distances underwater by about 30 months, then naturally start swimming on the surface as their strength increases.
- · Water Babies were named “Best Activity Provider for Tots & Toddlers” at the first annual Families First Awards which were held in Dublin in May 2012 and then won the award again in 2013. Water Babies was also named ‘Best National Baby & Pre-Schooler Development Activity (0-5years)’ by ‘What’s on 4 Little Ones’.
- · In the last five years, Water Babies has won seven national consumer awards in the UK: Best Swimming Class, Best Baby Development Activity, Best National Baby & Toddler Development Activity (2010, 2011 and 2012) and Most Outstanding Activity Leader for the Under 5s Nationwide with What’s On 4 Little Ones, and Best Children’s Activity with Tommy’s
- · In 2013, Water Babies raised over €33,000 for Crumlin Children’s Hospital, Temple St Children’s University Hospital and Tallaght Hospital during Water Babies Splashathon which took place in April.
- · Since 2009, Water Babies has raised almost €100,000 for Ireland’s National children’s hospitals.
Babies have natural reflexes that mean they instinctively hold their breath when submerged. However, the Water Babies course actually teaches babies to control their breathing instead of relying on reflexes, thus negating the risk of water inhalation and giving the babies a sense of being fully in control
The core points of difference between Water Babies classes and mainstream baby swimming lessons are:
o We teach babies from birth. Two days was our youngest client, but normally they start at around six weeks
o The course is highly structured, including clear progression, aims and objectives and a detailed lesson plan for each of the 40 weeks
o We teach without the use floatation devices. This is in order to prevent children developing a false sense of security and because the water naturally supports their body weight
o Children lack the strength or co-ordination to swim on the surface until at least two years. From birth we enable them to swim short distances underneath, allowing them to move freely without constraints of gravity
o Being totally happy underwater creates a complete sense of confidence when on the surface
- · All Water Babies instructors must first complete their full mainstream swimming qualifications with either Swim Ireland or Irish Water Safety before commencing the intensive 25 days Water Babies training course. All instructors must also be qualified lifesavers, renewed bi-annually and be Garda vetted.
- · In July 2011, Water Babies signed a Skills Pledge with the UK’s Institute of Swimming (IoS) to provide premium education and training in baby and pre-school swimming, developing the only ASA externally accredited programme for under four year olds
- · In June 2012 Water Babies teamed up with The University of Manchester to undertake a research study which will be the first of its kind to examine the physical and psychological impact of structured, taught baby swimming classes on parents, babies and the family unit as a whole.
- · Water Babies is the only swim company to have its own in-house, award-winning underwater baby photography unit. Last year, we took more than 73,000 individual shots.