What is Swim England?

Swim England (formerly the Amateur Swimming Association, or ASA) is the national governing body for aquatic disciplines in England, governing swimming, diving, water polo, artistic swimming, and open water swimming. For children's swim schools and aquatic activity providers, Swim England membership and affiliation provides a framework of quality standards, qualifications, and support.

Swim England's Learn to Swim programme is the most widely used framework for teaching children to swim in the UK. It comprises seven stages (plus pre-school awards) that take a non-swimmer from water confidence through to proficient swimming of all four competitive strokes. Many swim schools align their class structures, assessment criteria, and progression pathways to this framework, which provides parents with a recognised and transferable measure of their child's progress.

Swim England offers a range of coaching and teaching qualifications, from the Level 1 Swimming Assistant (Teaching) to the Level 2 Teaching Swimming qualification (the minimum for lead-teaching a class) and beyond to specialist qualifications in coaching competitive swimmers, baby and pre-school swimming, and swimming for people with disabilities. The SwimMark accreditation scheme recognises swim schools that meet additional quality standards around teaching, workforce development, and business operations.