Puddle Ducks Reviews 131

We attend the Strathmore installations and we love it. Our teacher Andy is super fun, patient and focuses in giving each kid the attention they need. my little one is learning these paramount life skills while having fun! We totally recommend Puddle Ducks

Lily absolutely loves it! she is only 6 weeks old now and we have been twice both times with Diana as the teacher and she has been so patient with me as holding a wiggly little baby is hard. I cant wait to watch Lily's swimming skills to improve and watch her grow into a water baby!

I recently attended the baby swimming class with my 4-month-old daughter, and overall, it was a wonderful experience. From the moment we arrived, I felt very well taken care of — both the lady who welcomed us and the instructor were extremely professional, friendly, and attentive.

The class itself was amazing! My daughter and I enjoyed our first day so much — it was fun, engaging, and made us both feel very comfortable in the water.

However, the only downside for me was the changing area. It’s really small, with only two changing beds and very little space or privacy for parents to change as well. There’s also just one bathroom with a mat on the floor to change your baby, which isn’t very practical.

Considering the price we pay for the classes, I think it would be fair to expect a bit more space and comfort in the changing facilities.

I had been looking into taking my son swimming for a while, when Puddle ducks reached out to offer us a free trial! That was perfect as meant we didn’t have to commit straight away. I was a bit nervous but was made to feel so comfortable during the first session. My Son ABSOLUTELY loved it and it was a no brainer to sign up. The team kindly reserved a spot for us and gave us a couple days to make the decision on joining.
It’s been a perfect bonding experience for me and my son now that I have gone back to work, we now look forward to doing swimming together on Fridays 🥰

The team at the Newport puddle ducks branch are outstanding. The instructors have really put my daughter at ease after she lost all of her confidence in the water during her experience with her last swimming lessons. They are really friendly and fantastic with the kids. Would recommend to anyone.

My son has been going for 3 years and is sooo confident in the water! I love their gentle and fun approach. Very attentive to how the child is. Would defo recommend. Also love the courtesy class thing if you ever miss a lesson and let them know

We’ve had such a great experience with Puddle Ducks. The admin girls are absolutely brilliant – always so helpful and quick to reply to any questions or changes. It makes organising lessons so easy and stress-free. The classes themselves are lovely too – well structured, fun, and perfectly suited to each child’s stage. You can really tell how much care and effort goes into every part of the experience. Highly recommend!

We came for a free trial and have booked on for paid lessons now. We were made to feel so welcome and comfortable and the teacher, Beckie, was so lovely and patient with my toddler who refused to get in the pool initially. We had so much fun and Beckie made what could have been a stressful experience so relaxing and enjoyable.

first class cancelled due to cold water temperature, water still freezing in second lesson and pool was very loud. teacher great but not a good environment.

A while ago, we booked a lesson with Puddle Ducks Merseyside. When we called, we were told that we needed to purchase a full block of lessons, but if we did not wish to continue after the first one, the remaining balance would be refunded. We agreed and paid.

On the day, our 3-month-old baby was unwell and unable to attend. We tried calling several times with no response. We then sent an email apologising, explaining the situation, and asking if it would be possible to receive a refund.

We never received a reply. My wife and I decided to log into their website and mark the class as “not attending,” which, according to Puddle Ducks, is labelled as “holidays.” We did this as a courtesy, simply to let them know we would not be attending, as we understood the instructor would plan based on the number of babies present.

Still, no response. Three days later, we sent another email asking for an update. Again, nothing.

Nevertheless, I later checked my bank account and saw that another £66 had been deducted without explanation. I called them with no answer and requested a call back.

A day or two later, I finally received a call. They refunded the £66 but claimed they had never received my earlier emails, only noting that “holidays” had been booked. I explained the situation and asked if they wanted me to forward the original emails. They agreed, so I did, also requesting a call back.

It then took almost five more days before I received another call. This time, they repeated that there was no way to issue a refund because I had booked “holidays,” and again claimed the first two emails were never received. I pointed out how unbelievable it was that they somehow missed two emails but received the third.

I explained that I had tried to call, had sent several emails, and that the only reason I marked “holidays” was out of courtesy to notify them we could not attend.

Puddle Ducks showed no interest in what I said and offered no consideration. They kept repeating the same line about “holidays” and refusing a refund. It is perfectly possible to manually override a system and issue a refund, but they refused.

Worse still, during our conversation, they repeatedly put themselves on mute. I could clearly hear when they weren’t listening, and after long pauses of silence, they would give the same robotic answer. It felt like speaking to a chatbot, not a person.

At no point was I rude — yet what I received in return was dismissive, unprofessional, and deeply disrespectful.
Puddle Ducks refused to consider our situation, showed no empathy, and tries to hid behind their "half" policy instead of providing genuine customer service and be truthful to their word. This is not the service you expect from a company working with babies and young children. Very disappointing.

Edit:

After reading the reply receiving, I have to say that no one contacted me directly nor offered to refund the money I paid for.

Absolutely life changing!

Having never been taught to swim myself it is something I felt was really important for my little one. We first attended the younger group where I went in the pool with him at Seven Springs. The class was well run and gave him a huge amount of confidence in the two sessions he had. The teachers were so friendly and he loved them and it’s very clever how the basics are made into games so they don’t even realise they are learning! I was nervous about him moving to swim academy as he is very shy and I worried he wouldn’t go in the pool on his own. He did and within a few weeks my child who would scream if water touched his face became completely confident with his head completely under water and his favourite thing is now demonstrating the mushroom float!! What I would say is don’t attend these sessions if you are looking for a few lessons and then your kid will swim. They are a commitment and they are taught super slow to make sure that the skills they need are almost second nature. Yes, the classes are expensive but you 100 percent get what you pay for and I would pay anything for my child to have such an important skill. Special shout out to Louisa, Janet and Sam at Bowles who have made Harri so confident. He looks forward to his lessons so much and beams the whole time he is there. The ONlY thing that lets them down a little is the admin who are a bit slow to respond sometimes and often don’t answer the phone. Always helpful when you do speak to them though.
Another thing, obviously not within puddle ducks control but you do sometimes get a naughty kid in the class who attention seeks and can be quite dangerous not listening which can then take away from the kids who do want to learn. Luckily they don’t usually last long and Louisa deals with it like an absolute super star!!

We’ve been with Puddle Ducks for about a year now and can’t be happier. The Ham pool coach is fantastic - inspiring, supporting and skillful and thorough at the same time; he develops a special bond with kids which is so important when they gain confidence in the water. Admin team makes the experience smooth, with bookings and rescheduling accommodated. Great pool too. Every lesson is a delight.

We’ve tried a few different swimming lessons and Puddleducks is by far the best. It’s engaging for the kids and gets results. My daughter loves her lessons.

Fantastic lessons for babies and toddlers. Fun lessons with songs and repetition, with clear messaging and instruction about pool and water safety. The staff are lovely and it’s really flexible to rebook if you are away one week.

Puddle Ducks went above and beyond to ensure my little boy had an excellent start to his swimming life. Sadly we had to swap groups due to my return to work last year, but I'll never forget how precious those first few lessons were and how attentive and thorough the teachers made each lesson. A 5 star experience and would highly recommend to anyone thinking of starting lessons with their little one.

We’ve been with PuddleDucks for nearly 20months (my son started at 4months and we continued to 2years).

Overall we have really enjoyed swimming at the Northwich pool. The tuition has been good from Kirsty and Melanie. At the baby/toddler stage the experience is much more about giving adults and children the skills to be in the water together and build confidence to say go on holiday or the local pool for example. This is not a swimming lesson as such!

We chose PDs on a friends recommendation and have had a good experience. However, I do have a couple of gripes.

1. It’s sooo expensive £20.50 for 30mins is too much (£84 per month). Other classes swim/football for similar ages are c. £36pcm. Other baby classes are more like £8 per session for longer class. Ultimately the cost is the reason we are stopping. It’s impossible for us to continue whilst I’m on Stat Mat Pay with my 2nd child. Maybe it would be good to offer ‘place holidays’ so that you can stop for a while and rejoin when you can afford it again?

2. Payment chasing system is odd, on a number of occasions we have had abrupt emails from their booking system saying that we hadn’t paid and we were on our last lesson even though there was money in the account and payment details hadn’t changed. Again this has been what has prompted us to not return, funnily they have saved me admin!

3. Generally the instructors are brilliant! Can’t fault them, however, we have had a number of trainees (with no notice, explanation or discount) who have been extremely poor for weeks on end and even though supervised they have not been that well supported in sessions. They have been too quiet and you can’t hear them and they don’t know the songs/curriculum and we have had to help them through.

4. The group sizes are hit and miss, I’ve been during the week and had a private lesson, but on our regular weekend slot it’s full with 10 families in there. It feels a lot and often means the instructor can’t feedback or give advice on how to improve.

5. Changing rooms really need a swimwear spinner to dry of costumes and trunks.

We have enjoyed it but we can’t throw money at this experience anymore.

I don't think Puddleducks is suitable at all for beginner school-age swimmers who haven't already been attending swimming lessons since they were babies/toddlers. My son started aged 4 and despite being constantly reassured by Puddleducks that his class was suitable for total beginners who couldn't already swim, the class assumed eveyone understood the basics of swimming already. Everyone else in the class had clearly been swimming for some time, the difficulty level wasn't appropriate for beginners and unfortunately it wasn't a safe environment. Instead of building my child's confidence we had to stop classes after an incident that has severely impacted his confidence and my trust in swimming lessons.

We’ve been so impressed with Puddle Ducks and the progress both of my grandchildren have made. From the very first lesson, the instructors have been incredibly supportive, encouraging and knowledgeable. It’s a lovely balance of fun and structured learning, and it's been wonderful to watch their confidence grow in the water each week.

One of them started out quite nervous, but thanks to the gentle, consistent approach of the teachers, they now look forward to every session and are swimming so much more independently. The facilities are clean and child-friendly, and the staff are always welcoming and professional.

It’s been a real joy to be part of their swimming journey, and we can’t recommend Puddle Ducks highly enough!

Puddle ducks is so supportive. Rachel in particular is amazing and she has been so supportive of our daughter

My son has been swimming with puddle ducks since he was 9 weeks old, he is now nearly 16 months. Laura has been amazing with him from the very beginning. My son loves the water and is always eager to get in the pool. It is great for teaching pool safety and water play is his favourite thing, because of his introduction at such an early age. It is also a great bonding experience where you aren't worried about whether you have done the washing up or not just enjoying the time with your little one!