It’s Official, STAMARK is the Definitive Standard for Swim School Businesses

In the UK, anyone with an interest in swimming can set up a swim school. There are no legislative barriers or hurdles to face, no industry rules or single authoritative overseeing body to determine whether the particular organisation is ‘fit for purpose’. This general lack of restrictions has led over the last few years to an immense growth in private swim school tuition. As a consequence, local authorities have also been forced to look more dynamically at their own swimming programmes in order to compete in what now is a highly competitive baby swimming and learn to swim market.

These changes have created both positive and negative outcomes for the industry. It has fuelled greater access to activities, courses and job opportunities – all of which must be applauded. On the flip side, a lack of control and monitoring has resulted in a blurred picture of the true state of swim schools and the standards they operate to. To create greater clarity the STA developed the STAmark two years ago, which today is successfully benefitting many swim school operators and their customers, as well as improving standards. Here Steve Franks, STA’s Operations Director explains how the STAmark has developed and grown into the UK’s leading quality accreditation for swim school businesses in both the private and public sector.

“STAmark was created by STA to provide a framework that would support and encourage the raising of standards within this unregulated sector. We wanted to develop a quality accreditation programme that specifically addressed the business and operational needs of these swim school owners, in order to raise teaching standards, promote learn-to-swim schemes and ultimately give the public confidence in the swim school they attend. The award was also the catalyst for the STA supporting the BSI British Standards in the development of PAS 81:2005; STAmark is currently the only nationally recognised quality mark that is fully aligned with PAS 81: 2005 specification, and that externally validates and recognises safe practices and standards in swim schools and similar operations.”

“In just two years we have seen the industry embrace STAmark, and it is now recognised as the definitive standard for swim school businesses.”

Currently there are over seventy-three organisations that have either successfully achieved STAmark or are working towards the accreditation, all of who are operating out of hundreds of pools, improving standards for the tens of thousands of children they teach every week. These swim schools range from small businesses to large organisations, which operate both here in the UK and internationally, including Caribbean, Greece, Hong Kong and Middle East.

“One of the most significant outcomes of the development of this programme, is that until now, there had been no national register of swim schools who were operating in the UK; through the development of PAS 81:2005 and STAmark, this is now evolving and STA currently has a significant swim schools database,” added Steve.

So why choose STAmark?

The Award has been designed to support continuous improvement, and is underpinned by a series of key principles including:

• A framework for sustaining continuous improvement
• Recognition of good industry practice
• Self-assessment as a ‘tool’ for service improvement
• A sector specific standard leading to industry endorsement of the swim school
• Externally validates PAS 81:2005

Furthermore STAmark:

• Transcends politics by not being mutually exclusive – STAmark can be adopted by any swim school business regardless of which learn to swim programme they use
• Is able to support and underpin all other industry leading quality accreditations, including IIP, Chartermark and Quest
• Unlike other awards, is also accepted as evidence towards achieving Quest
• Helps swim school businesses reduce their insurance premiums
• Adds real marketing value to a business or schemes activities, and instils confidence in customers that the swim school or scheme is operating to the very highest standards

Here we speak to Swalings, to understand why they adopted STAmark and how it’s working for them as a business.

Caroline Swatton

Director & Founder of Swalings International School of Swimming

“For privately owned businesses, it is not always easy to keep on top of the latest regulations and rules; we are not drip fed information like government run authorities. Plus for many of us we are first and foremost swimming teachers, not business professionals — well at least not in the early days of setting up the business — so just like we seek professional advice from an accountant and lawyer, we need help and guidance on health and safety regulations, personnel matters, customer care, servicing planning etc.

STAmark helps you keep in touch by making these issues a fundamental part of the business planning and development process. As a result, it helps you look at areas that need improvement, and provides the guidance for you to give an honest all-round look at your business. Also, because it has been developed as a business planning tool for swim schools the content is relevant, and it is a good and practical plan to work to.”

Ultimately the STAmark provides an all-round quality assurance for the business owner and their customers. It puts you cut above the rest, and means you care. Private swim schools are not governed like local authorities, therefore by independently committing to STAmark you are demonstrating that you care about the quality of service you provide customers.

For us at Swalings, STAmark proved even more important. Achieving STAmark was fundamental to us getting insurance to work abroad – without STAmark we wouldn’t have been able to get insurance. By successfully achieving STAmark, we were able to prove that Swalings as a business had regulations and safety practices in place, which were externally verified and accredited by an international governing body.”

Swalings was one of the first UK swim schools to be awarded a STAmark distinction, and was the first to receive an International STAmark for its swim school in Antigua.

What is PAS 81:2005?

A PAS (Publicly Available Specification) is a ‘fast-track’ standard produced collaboratively by BSI British Standards and, in this case, the STA. PAS 81 provides recommendations on the minimum safety and operational requirements that should be considered by operators of swimming schools. Its primary aim is to increase safety, raise standards and to disseminate best operational and development practic in the interest of swim school owners and operators.

Developed by a steering group of industry experts, representing a range of key stake-holders, using rigorous BSI methodology and strict protocols, PAS 81: 2005 is a non-proprietary and non-prescriptive document, reflecting the most up-to-date guidance.

In line with BSI protocols the standard is about to go out to consultation with the industry, as part of its continuous improvement process.

Chris Bell, Account Development Manager at BSI British Standards, said, “PAS 81 was developed with wide industry consultation and has been received well since publication two years ago. In order to ensure that it continues to be relevant and best serves the needs of swimming schools and the public, PAS 81 will be sent out for stakeholder consultation in early 2008”.

To order a PAS 81:2005 publication, please contact STA or BSI direct.