How a Growing Swim School Scaled to 2,000+ Children
Eliminating 40 Hours of Weekly Admin with CoursePro
Adam Comfort | Director, Comfort Aquatics
Background
As a swim school operator, coach and former Swim Manager at Virgin Active, where I also led the integration of CoursePro into the business as Project Manager, I’ve seen first-hand how quickly admin can become the biggest barrier to growth.
Comfort Aquatics now delivers learn-to-swim programmes across five locations, supporting over 2,000 children every week with a teaching team of 50 instructors. But getting here wasn’t about demand – it was about removing friction.
CoursePro played a critical role in allowing us to scale sustainably without drowning in admin.
CoursePro played a critical role in allowing us to scale sustainably without drowning in admin.
The Challenge
Before CoursePro, bookings and re-enrolments were managed through Excel spreadsheets, manual invoicing and endless email chains.
Every change meant:
Editing Spreadsheets
Moving or re-entering names
Raising Invoices
Waiting for bank transfer
Chasing Payments
Updating registers manually
Notifying Staff Seperately
As numbers grew, this became unmanageable.
“You’d constantly be asking yourself -did I delete that person? Did they book? Where did I put them?”
Re-enrolment was the single biggest drain on time.
“If you’ve got hundreds of kids rebooking, changing days or moving levels, trying to manage that on a spreadsheet is a huge task.”
The Turning Point
From admin-heavy management to self-service systems.
With CoursePro in place, we moved to:
✔ 100% online joining and payment
✔ Automated confirmations and communications
✔ Live availability (parents can only book remaining spaces)
✔ Real-time registers and assessments
✔ Central reporting across all locations
Parents now book, pay and re-enrol themselves – securely and instantly.
“Someone makes an enquiry, we send them to the portal, they book, they pay – job done.”
No spreadsheets. No invoicing delays. No payment chasing.
The Parent Experience
Convenience parents genuinely value.
One piece of feedback summed it up perfectly:
“I’ve just re-enrolled my child’s swimming lessons for next term from a sun lounger in another country.”
That’s the difference.
Parents no longer need to
- Queue at reception
- Call during office hours
- Wait for invoices
- Chase confirmations
They don’t need to contact us at all. It’s book, pay, done.”
The Staff Story
Admin removed. Teaching protected.
Traditionally, swim schools rely on offices full of admin staff just to stay afloat.
Today
- We don’t have a physical office
- Our admin team works remotely
- CoursePro handles the heavy lifting
“We don’t even have an office. Everyone logs into CoursePro and gets on with their role.”
For instructors, CoursePro is simply part of how swimming works
Individual secure logins
Digital registers and outcomes
Clear visibility of their classes
“I don’t think the team could even imagine running the swim school without it.”
New instructors pick it up quickly because it reflects real teaching workflows.
“It’s intuitive. They log in, take registers, update out comes. Simple.”
Visibility, Control & Reporting
Better data. Better decisions.
With five locations, visibility matters.
CoursePro allows us to:
Track learner numbers per pool
Identify underperforming locations
Understand instructor popularity
Monitor attendance and engagement
Support safeguarding and accountability
“One pool might be full, another struggling – now we can actually see that.”
Reporting also supports staff management by highlighting where registers or outcomes aren’t being completed properly.
Scaling Without Burnout
Admin time turned into growth time.
Our growth journey:
11 learners to 1,100 in one year
Stabilised through the pandemic
Expanded again post 2022
Now at 2,000+ learners and growing
CoursePro removed the bottleneck that usually stops swim schools scaling.
“We wouldn’t have been able to grow or take on new pools if we were still stuck doing admin.”
The Financial Impact
We estimate CoursePro saves around 40 admin hours per week.
Using a conservative UK basic wage proxy of £12.50 per hour:
They don’t need to contact us at all.
It’s book, pay, done.”
Or more simply:
“40 hours of admin is another teacher a week.”
The Outcome
Less admin. Better swimming Stronger relationships.
CoursePro didn’t just replace spreadsheets.
It changed how we operate.
“It’s not about saving money. It’s about using your people properly.”
How a Growing Swim School Scaled to 2,000+ Children
Eliminating 40 Hours of Weekly Admin with CoursePro