Turtle Tots, the nationwide baby and toddler swim school is calling on pools throughout the country with underutilised capacity to explore partnership opportunities.
Turtle Tots, the nationwide baby and toddler swim school, is marking its 10th anniversary this year, as it welcomed the 60,000th young swimmer through its doors last month. The country’s leading swim school now operates in 58 locations nationwide..
Since the end of Covid in 2022, Turtle Tots, established by husband-and-wife team, Alan and Paula Reinhardt, has delivered 40% capacity growth and the duo have ambitious plans to deliver a further 40% increase in capacity by 2029. With waiting lists for the sought-after classes a consistent feature, Turtle Tots plans to meet this demand by increasing the frequency of classes with current partners and also establishing relationships with new facilities throughout the country.
The company’s growth has been aided in no small part by its commitment to ongoing development of its swim programme, which has been adapted three times in the last 5 years to reflect the latest research in baby and childhood development.
Also instrumental in the growth of the Turtle Tots brand in Ireland has been the attraction and retention of its 37-strong, highly qualified coaching team, more than half of whom have been with the company for over 5 years. The company prioritises training and staff development, with the management team largely promoted from within the business.
Turtle Tots also recently became the first swim school in Ireland to introduce group autism-friendly classes, thanks to training provided by Australian-based Autism Swim. The group classes cater for ASD children, between 2 – 6yrs, and are currently delivered in Dublin and Cork, with plans to deliver further autism-friendly-classes a key part of Turtle Tots growth strategy.
Speaking about the brand’s growth, Managing Director at Turtle Tots, Alan Reinhardt commented:
“When Paula and I first launched the Turtle Tots brand in Ireland we had a clear vision that we wanted it to become the country’s number one baby and toddler swim school. We were delighted to reach that milestone a few years ago and now as we celebrate our 10th anniversary our ambitions and appetite to continue to develop the company remain just as strong.
As an island-nation, we feel very strongly that all children should be confident swimmers and we’re so proud to know that 60,000 children have started their swimming skills with us. We’d call on any facilities throughout the country with underutilised pool capacity to contact us to explore how we could potentially partner with them so that we can continue to reach even more people.
Social activism is also very important to us, we’re delighted to have been able to donate over €250k to our charity partners over the years and we’re also committed to increasing the availability of the autism-friendly classes, as we recognise how important they are. Lots to do before we celebrate our next big birthday!”directly into new contracts and lasting partnerships.”
