About us

water babies head office and franchise team

Water Babies has been inspiring a lifelong love of water for over 20 years

Since 2002, Water Babies has taught over half a million children the life skill of learning how to swim, helping little ones to build their water confidence both in and of the pool.

It’s now grown into the world’s largest baby swim school, today teaching more than 80,000 babies every year through a network of family businesses across the globe. 

With the support of over 52 franchise outlets and around 600 teachers, Water Babies has won numerous national consumer awards including:

Water Babies received the Investors in People Platinum Award in 2025.
Water Babies became the highest-ranking baby swimming school franchise, and child’s activity franchise, ranking second in the Elite Franchise list of the UK’s Top 100 franchises in 2025. 
What’s on 4 Kids Activities award for Most Loved Baby Activity in 2024.
Won platinum for Best Pre School Toy with our Swimvincibles chunky wooden puzzle in the Loved By Parents awards in 2025.
Water Babies also achieved the British Franchise Association (BFA) Brand Awareness & Franchisor Trailblazer in 2024.
Became a certified B Corp™ in 2023.
Won the Editor’s Choice award for Sustainable product with our Water Babies fish.

Our awards

loved by parents best pre school toy winner

bfa awards franshisor trailblazer winner

loved by parents platinum winner of best baby bath toy

loved by parents awards bst jigsaw winner

Water Babies Family

None of this would have been possible without the passion, dedication, energy and truly special people who make up the business. From teachers in the pool, to franchisees, administrators & head office staff, the list is endless for how many people contribute to helping families teach their children to swim. Every person is unique, and their dedication to delivering a premium customer experience to all is second to none.

There are over 1000 Water Babies employees, who are all passionate about what they do and the important work we do for families. We want to create an eco-system of opportunities for everyone in the Water Babies family to ensure they all succeed.

water babies head office and franchisees at head office

Our Story So Far

22 years ago

Paul Thompson is the Founder of Water Babies. His dedication to helping give children the best start in life began with a choice. Continue a successful (but rather boring) life as a chartered surveyor, or follow his true passion. To break free from the mundane and do something he really loved.

He wanted to teach. He had a dream of becoming an underwater diving instructor. So much so, after a particularly mind-numbing meeting at work, he knew what he had to do. He quit his job the next day, and quickly set about moving his family with wife, Jess and their baby daughter to the Caribbean to start a new life.

Everything was going swimmingly until an out of season hurricane destroyed the village they were living in. Luckily, no-one was hurt, but it forced them to move back to the UK.

The idea

Paul spent the next few years devoting his time to his daughter as a stay-at-home dad. He took her to every group activity around as he soon realized the importance of structuring the day with fun, interesting and educational things to do.

One of these activities was a baby swimming lesson. And it clicked. His passion for the water combined with the love for his daughter led to such as incredible experience, he knew he wanted to share it with every parent and child across the world.

In 2002, Water Babies was born. Small, makeshift, huddled around a kitchen table with a phone, Paul and Jess created their lessons and started signing people up. Within a month they had 100 customers. Shortly after, Water Babies started spreading throughout the UK.

water babie teacher and baby in hold on position

Our journey

As the business has grown, so have our aspirations. We’re passionate about what we do, and believe in giving the greatest swimming experience to kids.

With lessons across the world in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Canada and the US, we’re continually seeing how we can provide all children with our lessons, wherever they are in the world.

Staying together

With every challenge the business has faced, Water Babies has worked collaboratively to ensure we succeed. This foundation was never more important than in 2019, when the coronavirus pandemic hit. Water Babies lessons had to stop, we were all separated in our homes, and the future felt uncertain. But we were resilient. And committed to ensuring we still supported the thousands of families swimming with us, bringing them everything from live free swimming skills you can do in the bath, to hosting crafting sessions and informative talks with some of our amazing partners. It really showed us the power of connection, and bringing the magic of Water Babies to people’s homes.

The pandemic was especially difficult for Water Babies, as we lost our CEO Stephen Franks to COVID-19 on the 30^th April 2020. Steve was an incredible leader to Water Babies, our people, our global network of franchisees for over 11 years, and achieved so much in his lifetime. He was dedicated to ensuring we give children the best start in life, and everyone at Water Babies vows to continue Steve’s vision and determination to promote the best possible start in life for children, particularly the early years where we focus our work and carry on his legacy. You can read our full tribute to Steve Franks here.

Making waves

After 22 swimcredible years, Water Babies founder Paul Thompson decided to hang up his trunks and pass the goggles to new owners. In 2024, Water Babies was acquired by Elmsley Capital (Elmsley) and Westerly Group (Westerly). This change of hands will provide a springboard for Devon-based Water Babies Group Ltd to build on its success in the UK and existing international markets.

Elmsley and Westerly have a history of partnering together to support and grow established brands within the youth enrichment space, and Water Babies will leverage their collective experience in positioning the business for further international expansion within the U.S. market. Paul remains involved in the business as a Non-Executive Board Director.

With this exciting new chapter in the Water Babies story, it provides excitement and ambitious goals about the potential to grow his vision globally.

Growth

Water Babies is now a global phenomenon. Providing more families than ever the chance to learn a skill for life. We’ve become the world leader and authority in baby swimming, providing highly-trained teachers and the most highly-developed swim programmes for pre-school aged children.

Watch this space for what we have next!