Editorial:

BeBe Swimming and Aquarius Swimschool are part of the BeBe Group, local swimschools of which over eight years, Lisa Bousted, Owner, has really gone from strength to strength.

Lisa is a swimming teacher and STA tutor from Barnstaple with over 10 years experience. She has many pools in the Devon area, with Barnstaple, Ilfracombe and West Buckland being local to us. Within the pools her teaching experience ranges from babies’ only weeks old to adults aged 70+.

Lisa has recently qualified as a Austswim swim teacher and Infant Aquatics Austswim Teacher in Australia where she has recently been on a work visit. She is also a member of the World Aquatic for Children & Babies and was a delegate in Sweden at their 2005 world conference and presented representing the UK at their 2007 conference in Florida.

A mother of four children, she is passionate about little ones learning to be safe and being able to swim in water from a young age. She truly believes it is possible for a young child to be taught skills that will give them a fighting chance in the event of an accident as well as teaching them a foundation of skills towards early swimming.

Within the swimming world she is highly regarded as an expert in her field. Using this knowledge she has joined forces with Karen Pickering MBE, Olympic World Champion, to create and develop The Baby Swim Foundation Programme.

Karen Pickering was an outstanding member of the British Swimming squad from 1986 to 2005 and has a collection of winning medals that include 8 World Championship medals (4 gold), 14 European Championship medals, 38 National Championship titles, and a Commonwealth Games medal haul of 13 including 4 Gold.

The Baby Swim Foundation is a FREE network accessible to everyone wanting information about baby swimming and topics relating to this. It is a new, unique and exciting scheme aimed at babies from birth. It was created because there was a gap within baby swimming, that addressed the needs of the baby and parent. The teachers involved are very passionate about swimming, they are people who want to learn from each other, who want to share and explore old and new ideas. The Baby Swim Foundation Programme will continually be developing, making it the most comprehensive, up to date programme there is.

Its purpose is to teach you and your baby vital lifesaving & foundation swimming skills working towards actual long term surface swimming. The scheme is split into four levels and when your baby passes a level, you can purchase a certificate. These certificates are really special as they detail what your baby has achieved; therefore they will still have meaning when your baby is all 'grown up'.

Why not visit the BSF website and leave comments on the forum or email any questions that haven't been answered on there. The BSF is a world wide network with the programme being run in other countries throughout the world.

If you would like more information on this exciting programme contact Lisa on:
01271 329750 or visit www.babyswimfoundation.co.uk