About British Swim School

Our Swim School Franchise

For over 40 years, British Swim School has been dedicated to teaching water survival skills to children as young as three months old. Founder CEO Rita Goldberg launched British Swim School from her home in Manchester, England in 1981 and developed the unique and highly effective teaching methods that are a recognized trademark of the brand today. In April 2019, multi-brand franchising organization, Buzz Franchise Brands, acquired British Swim School but our mission has never changed. Following the mantra, ‘Survival of the Littlest,’ we are dedicated to teaching water survival skills to individuals of every age and ability.

British Swim Schools offer swimming lessons for babies, children, and adults, focusing first on water survival skills needed to survive a water accident before moving onto stroke development and more advanced skills. Dubbed as one of the fastest growing franchises in the U.S., we teach nearly 17,000 swimming lessons per week!

British Swim School is headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA and currently operates over 215 schools in 22 US states and Canadian provinces. There are tremendous franchise opportunities available throughout North America!

Partnerships

British Swim School has formed corporate partnerships with Hope Floats Foundation, Stop Drowning Now and the United States Swim School Association, three organizations that share our mission to protect every life from drowning though education and water safety awareness. Together, we aim to significantly reduce the number of drowning incidents, not only in North America, but around the world.

• Hope Floats Foundation: Hope Floats Foundation is a nonprofit founded in 2016 committed to impacting the statistics on worldwide drowning. The Hope Floats model is a simple, sustainable way for swim schools to provide scholarships for high-quality swim lessons to underserved families in their community.
• United States Swim School Association: The United States Swim School Association is a non-profit organization founded in 1988 that was developed to assist the swim instruction industry to help maintain high ethical and professional standards in our industry and to provide opportunities for learning and sharing.
• Stop Drowning Now: Stop Drowning Now is an organization dedicated to saving lives through drowning prevention and water safety education. Their ongoing, year-round, educational campaign raises awareness of drowning risks and provides resources to educate the public about the elements common to every drowning incident.

Recent Accolades

As the premier survival and stroke development swim lesson provider, British Swim School is highly regarded as a leading brand in the franchise industry.

• British Swim School ranked number 203 in Entrepreneur magazine’s Franchise 500® for 2020, the world’s first and most comprehensive franchise ranking.
• British Swim School has been recognized as a 2020 FRAN-TASTIC 500 brand by FranServe, the world’s largest franchise consulting firm.
• Franchise Gator named British Swim School as the number 56 franchise opportunity overall on its annual Top 100 Franchise list for 2020, as well as number 8 on their Fastest Growing Franchise list.
• Inc. magazine listed British Swim School as number 2380 on its annual Inc. 5000 list in 2019, the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies.

A Member of Buzz Franchise Brands

Founded in 2012, Buzz Franchise Brands is focused on building companies that get people talking. The organization’s first brand, Mosquito Joe, was sold to Neighborly in late 2018 after growing to almost 300 locations. Buzz Franchise Brands currently operates pool cleaning and maintenance company, Pool Scouts and residential cleaning company, Home Clean Heroes. British Swim School is the third brand to make up Buzz Franchise Brands’ family of franchise brands.