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Ogden Otters Swimming School
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Your first lesson

What happens on your first visit, from the car park onwards.

The short version

Park on site, come in about fifteen minutes early, get changed, and wait in reception until you're called.

You can watch the whole lesson through the windows or on the televisions, so you won't miss any of it.

  1. 1. Getting here

    We're on the A629, the main road out of Halifax towards Denholme, and we're pinned on Google Maps — search Ogden Otters and it will bring you straight here.

    There's a large car park on site, and it's free. You won't be hunting for a space.

    Address and directions →

  2. 2. When to turn up

    Come as early as you like. At busy times the seating in reception fills up, so about fifteen minutes before the lesson is usually about right.

    That gives you time to get changed and find a seat without anybody rushing.

  3. 3. Getting changed

    There are male and female changing rooms and a disabled changing facility. Each one has a private cubicle, a toilet and showers.

    The showers take a minute to warm up. Run one, give it a moment, and run it again — it gets there, it just needs waking up first.

    If your child is in a preschool class, all pre-schoolers wear a swim nappy underneath their swimwear until they're fully potty trained.

    What to bring →

  4. 4. The lesson

    Lessons are 30 minutes. Your child's teacher will be in the water with them — not stood at the side — so there's always somebody within reach.

    Nothing is forced on a first lesson or any other. If your child doesn't want to do something, that's fine. It gets done with them, not to them.

  5. 5. Where you'll be

    You don't have to miss it. There are windows to watch through and televisions in reception, so you can see exactly what your child is doing all the way through the lesson.

Two things worth knowing

Goggles

Goggles are entirely up to you. We'd rather take barriers to learning away than put them up, so we neither encourage goggles nor discourage them. It's a personal choice.

The assessment

If your child is going into a levelled class there's a assessment first, so they start in the right one. Babies, toddlers and transition classes go straight in.

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