Edinburgh Leisure
  • No Joining Fee
  • Ask Us
  • Venues
  • Activities
  • Join Us
  • Book Now
  • Careers
  • Get Involved
  • Search
Read More
  • Book a Swimming Session
  • Learn to Swim
  •  Swim Coach Education
  • Swim Classes
  • Our Coaching Venues

Learn to swim 

Swimming with Edinburgh Leisure is a safe and positive experience for all children in Edinburgh, of all ages and all abilities. 

We have over 20 years of experience in helping the children of Edinburgh learn to swim, so we know a thing or two about children in the water. Our swim teams are led by highly qualified SSTQ and Level 2 teachers who are continually up-skilled, developed and monitored by a team of professionals.


Find out more about:

Our Classes 

Booking & Class Availability 

Learn to Swim FAQs 



Our Classes

We offer classes for all ages (from birth to adults), including lessons for children with additional support needs in a choice of centres. We have lessons in 9 pools across the City. Click from the list below to find the right class for your or your child:

Find Swim classes for Early Years (Ages 0 to 4)

Find Swim classes for Juniors (From P1 to age 18)

Find Swim classes for Adults 

Find Swim classes for ASN (Ages 3 to 18)

Getting back to the water after a long break means stepping back initially to build water confidence again so please don’t worry if your child has regressed a little during lockdown. Be patient and they will soon be back to where they were.  



Reach your targets quicker with our expert 1-2-1 lessons!

Hone your skills in the water with our 1-2-1 swim and dive lessons. 

Whether you are looking to build confidence in the pool or perfect your technique our enthusiastic team will help guide, support and encourage you to achieve your goals - fast. Our lessons are open to all ages and abilities, although the swim 1-2-1 session times are more suitable for adults.  

1-2-1 Swim Lessons available at the Royal Commonwealth Pool.

1-2-1 Dive Lessons available at the Royal Commonwealth Pool.

Prices are £20 for a 25 minute session or £40 for 50 minutes.  Bookings can be made up to a week in advance (or 8 days in advance if you have a membership card). Book via our App, or click here to book online.

Learn to Swim - Early Years

Our Pre-School programme specifically designed for ages 0 - 4 years aims teaches you how to safely handle your baby in water and gently introduces your child to the exciting world of aquatics. It will take your child through a seamless journey to becoming a safer independent, confident swimmer.

Swim Baby

A fun relaxed class for both you and your baby. The use of songs and structured play will encourage safe handling of your baby in the water and will ensure a great start to your babies swimming journey. This class is suitable for children from 0 to 1 year with a parent/carer accompanying them in the water.

Swim Toddler

The class again uses songs and structured play to encourage your toddler to become more independent and confident in the water. This class is suitable for children aged 1 to 2 years with a parent/carer accompanying them in the water.

Swim Nippers

For children aged 2 to 4 years with a parent/carer accompanying them in the water. Children's  water confidence and independence will grow and grow through structured play, songs, and games. 

Swim Pre-School

For children aged 3.5+, your child will work independently learning through structured play and will develop their water confidence and ability to perform a range of aquatic skills without the support of buoyancy aids. 




 As well as our swim lessons we have a fantastic range of classes for babies to 5 years old - follow this link to find out more.



Learn to Swim - Junior

Children will move from a basic understanding of the strokes and how to move through water through to developed stroke techniques, tumble turns and race starts. 

They'll be confident swimmers and able to develop both skill and fitness. They'll also have the skills to diversify into other aquatic options such as diving, water polo and synchronised swimming should they wish to do so. 

Swim Skills 1

An introductory level aimed at developing water confidence of children with little/ no prior experience of learning to swim. This class is for children 5 years (or have started primary school) and over who are new to swimming or for those who are not yet swimming confidently over 3 metres unaided.

Swim Skills 1+

This class is a continuation of Swim Skills 1, where children will further develop water confidence and develop core aquatic skills without aids. This class is for children aged 5 years and over (or have started primary school) who can swim confidently for 3 metres on their front and back unaided.




Swim Skills 2

In Swim Skills 2, children will increase the competency of the core aquatic skills and develop basic stroke technique. This class is suitable for children who have an understanding of stroke technique and who can swim 10 metres Front crawl and Back crawl as well as attempting Breaststroke and Butterfly leg actions.

Depending on the venue, this level may take place in deep water so children need to be both confident in the water and able to tread water when out of their depth.

Swim Skills 3

Children who are competent at swimming 15m in a 'recognisable' stroke e.g front crawl, back crawl or breaststroke, will be introduced to a more advanced stroke technique




Swim Skills 4

Children who can maintain the correct technique over 25m in Front crawl, Back crawl and Breaststroke and can demonstrate basic Butterfly. Children will continue to develop a quality technique while gradually increasing distance.


Club Ready

Suitable for children who can demonstrate good technique over 50 metres in Front crawl, Back crawl and Breaststroke and 15 metres in Butterfly. 


Junior Skills & Drills

For those who wish not to follow the path of Club Ready, Junior Skills and Drills is a great session to continue working on technique, maintaining fitness and developing other areas of advanced aquatics. 

Rookie Lifeguard 

The Rookie Lifeguard Programme teaches children how to enjoy water safety, whether in shallow or deeper water. It is a comprehensive and exciting scheme, equipping children with lifesaving skills and builds confidence in and around water. This class is best suited for children 8 years plus who are at Swim Skills 3 plus swimming level.


Artistic Swimming 

Edinburgh Leisure are pleased to announce the introduction of Artistic Swimming into our aquatics programme. If you love swimming, gymnastics and dance this class is for you. Participants will learn fun, new ways to move in the water; building on aquatic skills already accomplished -hand stands, somersaults, sculling and treading water- and link skills together to make more complex sequences. Working together as a team to synchronise skills with music and other swimmers. Interested swimmers should be level Swim Skills 4 and above or must be able to swim 50 meters on 3 strokes (Front Crawl, Breaststroke and Back Crawl).


New pilot invitation only classes at Portobello

Club Ready Juniors

These special sessions are the next stage for children who are currently in Swim Skills 4.  

Children who reach 60% of their competencies will be invited to progress into this stage, where they will attend an extra session as well as remaining in their current Swim Skills 4 class. 

This session is delivered by a coach where children will develop their swimming skills further and prepare them for club swimming.

Strokes, distance and technique will be developed as well as an introduction to starts, turns, diving, racing and a club environment.

Entry criteria: Minimum 60% competency completion in SS4 class.

Attendance: 2 sessions a week.


Club Ready

This class follows on from Club Ready Juniors, children will be required to attend 2 sessions a week, one in a teaching environment, the other in a coached environment. 

The coached session will further the children’s swimming technique and stamina, as well as their starts, turns, diving and racing, all which will prepare them for club swimming. 

Club Ready is suitable for children who can demonstrate good technique over 50 metres in Front crawl, Back crawl and Breaststroke and 15 metres in Butterfly.

Please note that children will need to be able to maintain criteria over a 50 mins session.

Entry criteria: Completion of Club Ready Juniors.

Attendance: 2 sessions a week.




Learn to Swim - Adults

We believe everyone should have the opportunity to swim and we are proud to offer adult swimming lessons in selected venues. Whether you’ve never swam before or are looking to improve your stroke technique and fitness, our lesson programme will support you. For adults looking to refine their stroke technique further and build their fitness beyond swimming lessons why not try out our Skills and Drills classes, a class designed to improve your technique, make you a stronger swimmer and introduce you to key aquatic drills.

Beginner

Our beginners classes look to build water confidence, introduce a range of aquatic skills, and develop the basics of all swimming strokes. This class is for adults who are new to swimming or for those who are not yet swimming confidently.

Improver

Our improvers class aims to develop more efficient swimming technique in the four strokes. This class is for adults who – want to develop their swimming skills over a greater distance and be more proficient in deep water.

Stroke Development

Our stroke development class refines effective technique in the swimming strokes, develops effective starts/ turns, and involves more advanced aquatic skills. This class is for adults who can swim lengths of different strokes.





Learn to Swim - ASN

The water provides a fantastic environment for children with additional needs to experience freedom of movement, buoyancy and stimulation. Our experienced teachers will work with you to determine the best approach to swimming lessons for your child. We have a variety of ASN specific classes which are details below, however where appropriate we may recommend and encourage integrating within our main group lessons. 

At this time we are unable to provide a teacher in the water so if your child requires this level of support a parent/ carer will be required in the water

Adult Stroke Development ASN 

Our stroke development class refines effective technique in the swimming strokes. This class is for adults who can swim lengths.

Swim Skills ASN & Carer

A class specific to children within Swim Skills who require additional support in the water by parent/ guardian.





  • Who We Are
  • What We Do
  • Work With Us
  • Data Protection
  • Privacy Settings
  • Ask Us
  • Customer Feedback
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Freedom of Information
  • Supported By
  • Edinburgh Council

© 2022 Edinburgh Leisure
Registered Office: Craiglockhart Leisure & Tennis Centre, 177 Colinton Road, Edinburgh, EH14 1BZ
Tel: 0131 458 2100
Registered Scottish Charity No: SC027450 | VAT Reg. No: 703 7623 49
Company Reg. No: SC179259

{MODALTITLE}

{MODALBODY}
...

Privacy Settings

Any website will use types of information gathering tools, for example cookies, to function. These are mostly used to make the site work for you and do not usually directly identify you, but they can give you a more personalised web experience. You can choose not to allow some types of tools however this may impact your experience of the site.

Accept all settings

I agree to accept all the settings below


Essential needed to use our website

These are necessary for the website to function. They are usually set to enable a response to actions made by you for example requests for services such as logging in, filling in forms or paying for something. This includes third-party services specifically Google Maps, ReCaptcha, Sagepay and Paypal.

Performance to improve our services to you

This allows us to, for example, count visits and sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. It helps us know which pages are most and least popular and how visitors move around our site.

Other Third-Party to enhance your experience

This is based on uniquely identifying your browser and device. It may be used to build a profile and collect information about your visits. If you do not allow this you’ll not be able to see our social media feeds and you will experience less targeted advertising. This category includes for example Facebook pixels, other social media feeds and Google Analytics.

These settings will be stored in a cookie on your device. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org.