Water Babies, the nation’s leading baby and toddler swim school, has proven to be the top of the class in 2014, with it seeing a healthy increase in its financial results, franchisees and market reach.

This year, Water Babies saw adjusted earnings of 14%. Paul Thompson, co-founder of Water Babies said: “We have had a really successful year and we’re delighted, not only with our financial results but also because we have increased the number of pupils, teachers and franchisees in our family. We can also announce the exciting news that Water Babies can be found in three new markets – Canada, The Netherlands and New Zealand. We will look to continue this expansion into 2015 and beyond!”

2014 has been a record breaking year for Water Babies with the number of babies and toddlers taught every week totalling 42,000, a 17% increase since 2013. In Ireland, one of its franchisees is now giving specialist swimming classes to more than 2,000 babies a week, which has never before been achieved.
Earlier this year, Water Babies made headline news, when it broke the record for the youngest Water Babies pupil – with baby Phoenix Charles Elwell having a lesson at just one day old.

Water Babies currently employs 350 teachers and 90 Dipographers – Water Babies teachers who’ve received extra specialist training to enable them to know how best to swim babies in front of the camera to get the best possible photos, and to also interpret a baby’s often subtle body language, expressions and even noises to recognise when they’re happy and ready to be dipped underwater. All of Water Babies teachers and Dipographers have been given more than 340 hours of intensive training, which is enough hours to train a private pilot… five times over!

With its latest franchisees on board, Water Babies now boasts a strong network of 58 franchisees across the UK, Ireland, The Netherlands, Canada and New Zealand. The fact that the company has never advertised for franchisees is testament to the power of word of mouth, Paul Thompson explains: “We’ve never advertised for franchisees, so our growth is completely organic and a result of people approaching us. We’re very particular as regards franchisees; as well as the obvious safety considerations, we want to protect the reputation we’ve worked so hard to establish.”