An online swim school booking system, scheduling platform and parent portal — built for how UK swim schools actually operate. Term structures, GoCardless Direct Debit, registration and waiting list, Swim England progress tracking. Whether you teach 5 students or 500, you get the full platform.
Used daily at Vale Swim Academy, Nottingham — managing 350 customers and 200 swim students.
Most swim schools start with spreadsheets, Wix booking forms, and the GoCardless dashboard. This works until you hit 20–30 students — then the cracks appear:
Generic booking software (like Wix or Calendly) doesn’t understand UK swim school operations. You need software that knows:
Every search uses different words for the same thing. UK swim schools type “swim school booking system,” “swim school scheduling software,” “swim lesson registration software” and “online swim school management software” into Google — and most general booking tools answer none of those queries properly. Here is how ClassBase covers each one.
Parents browse classes, join waiting lists, and book lessons online. Public booking pages for trial sessions, intensive courses and pool hire. No phone calls, no email back-and-forth.
Set term dates, define class templates, generate all weekly sessions in one click. Half-term breaks and bank holidays auto-skipped. Re-run for the next term in 30 seconds.
Public sign-up forms collect parent + student details, medical notes, and Direct Debit consent. Auto-creates customer + student records, sets up the GoCardless mandate, and adds them to the waiting list or class.
Cloud-hosted, runs in any browser, no installs. Use it from poolside on a phone, the office on a laptop, or anywhere with internet. Same data, same login, every device.
Per-lesson booking for trial classes, drop-ins and intensive courses. Stripe instant payment at booking, capacity limits, automatic waiting list when full, refund-to-credit on cancellation.
Class capacity, attendance, progress tracking, billing — all from one place. Each class shows its enrolled students, who’s on the waiting list, and current term’s attendance, in one screen.
A lot of UK swim school operators search Google for “free swim school software,” “swim school software free download” or “free open source swim school software.” Here is the honest answer.
There are free generic tools (Google Forms + Sheets, Trello, Bookwhen’s free tier) and some open source booking systems on GitHub — but none of them understand UK term structures, GoCardless Direct Debit or Swim England Learn-to-Swim. They cost zero in licence fees and tens of admin hours per week to make them work for a swim school. That is not free.
Every feature is included. Import your data, set up term scheduling, run real lessons, take real bookings — all on the trial. If it doesn’t fit, walk away with no charge. Most schools know within 2–3 days. Start the free trial →
A solo teacher with 30 students pays £25/month flat — less than 85p per student per month, with all features included. Compare that to the £330+ onboarding fee that some incumbent platforms quote, plus monthly per-swimmer charges that grow with your school. ClassBase pricing does not penalise growth.
Not calendar-based booking. UK swim schools run on terms — Autumn, Spring, Summer — with half-term breaks that vary by local authority.
Why generic software fails: Calendar booking systems (Wix, Calendly, Acuity) don’t understand terms. You rebuild your schedule every 12 weeks.
ClassBase approach: Set term dates, configure class templates, click “generate sessions.” Done in 10 minutes.
Not Stripe subscriptions. UK swim schools use GoCardless because parents prefer Direct Debit — lower fees, higher success rates, familiar to UK customers.
Why generic software fails: Stripe subscriptions don’t handle variable amounts or UK Direct Debit preferences.
ClassBase approach: Parent joins waiting list → space opens → notification sent → they accept → Direct Debit mandate created automatically. Zero admin time.
Not generic attendance tracking. UK swim schools teach to Swim England Learn to Swim framework (Stages 1–10) or STA.
Why generic software fails: No swim-specific frameworks. You track progress on paper clipboards that get wet and ruined.
ClassBase approach: Teacher taps skills on phone poolside. Parent logs into portal that evening, sees exactly what their child achieved.
Not just “customer login.” UK swim schools deal with specific parent queries that repeat constantly: “When’s my next lesson?” “How’s my child progressing?” “Can I change my Direct Debit date?”
Why generic software fails: Customer portals show generic “bookings.” Parents still email you for everything.
ClassBase approach: 80% of parent queries answered via portal. No more “when’s my next lesson?” emails.
Unique to ClassBase. Many UK swim schools hire their pool for private sessions, parties, or swim clubs to cover costs.
Why generic software fails: No platform handles both lesson scheduling and facility hire. You run them in separate systems.
ClassBase approach: Lessons and hire on one calendar. When a lesson is scheduled, that slot is blocked for hire. No double-booking. See how it works →
| Feature | Soakly | ClassBase |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | £50 base + 40p/swimmer | Flat tiers: £25/£49/£79 |
| Private pool hire | ✗ Not available | ✓ Built-in |
| Monthly rolling billing | Termly only | ✓ Termly OR monthly |
| Waiting list automation | Manual follow-up | Auto-notify + auto-DD |
| Cost at 500 students | £200/month | £49/month |
| Feature | Swimsoft | ClassBase |
|---|---|---|
| Platform type | Desktop-first (Windows) | Cloud-native (any device) |
| Parent portal | Paid add-on | ✓ Included at every tier |
| GoCardless | Manual setup per family | Self-service parent mandate |
| Mobile poolside access | Limited | ✓ Full |
| Pricing transparency | Not public | £25/£49/£79 |
| Feature | SwimBiz | ClassBase |
|---|---|---|
| GoCardless Direct Debit | ✗ No integration | ✓ Native |
| Private pool hire | ✗ Not available | ✓ Built-in |
| Data migration | No tools | ✓ SwimBiz CSV import wizard |
| UK-specific | Australian-based | UK-built, UK-hosted |
| Pricing | Contact sales | £25/£49/£79 transparent |
No setup fees. No per-student charges. No locked features.
£25/month
Up to 150 students · 1 teacher · 1 venue
All features included. Best for solo teachers and small schools.
£49/month
Up to 500 students · 3 teachers · 1 venue
All features included. Best for growing multi-teacher schools.
£79/month
Unlimited students · teachers · venues
All features included. Best for large, multi-site operations.
Soakly: £50 base + (375 × 40p) = £200/month (£2,400/year)
ClassBase Pro: £49/month (£588/year) — saving £1,812/year
1 teacher, 10–50 students, teaching at 2–3 pools
£25/month. Mobile-first. Scales as you grow — no need to switch platforms at 100 students.
2–5 teachers, 100–300 students, 1–2 venues
£25–49/month. Parent portal reduces emails by 80%. GoCardless automation eliminates payment chasing.
10+ teachers, 500+ students, 3–5 venues
£79/month unlimited (vs £320+/month on per-student pricing). Multi-venue support and role-based staff access.
Any size school that sub-hires for private sessions, parties, swim clubs
Only UK platform with built-in pool hire. Lessons + hire share one calendar. See how →
Vale Swim Academy
Nottingham · 350 customers · 200 students
Paige’s Swim School
Ascot · 51 customers · Pool hire active
HH Dolphins Swim School
UK swim school
“It’s taken a huge amount of admin off our hands. Invoice management has become much simpler — once everything is set up, the system runs the process end-to-end and integrates seamlessly with the payment system.”
Rachel — Vale Swim Academy, Nottingham
Maybe not. But consider software when parents are asking “when’s my next lesson?” repeatedly, you’re chasing payments manually, or you want GoCardless Direct Debit. ClassBase works at 10 students and scales to 500+.
ClassBase is built for swim teachers, not software engineers. If you can use Wix, GoCardless dashboard, or Excel — you can use ClassBase. Point-and-click setup, no coding required.
Most swim schools are fully operational within 5–7 days. If migrating from SwimBiz, the import wizard handles data in 1–2 hours.
Yes. Free trial with no credit card required, full platform access. Most schools know within 2–3 days if ClassBase fits their workflow. Start free trial →
Genuinely free swim school software for UK term structures does not exist. Free generic tools (Google Forms, Trello, Bookwhen’s free tier) and open source booking projects on GitHub all need significant work to handle UK terms, GoCardless Direct Debit and Swim England Learn-to-Swim. ClassBase has a free 30-day trial of the full platform, no card required — then £25/month with no per-student fees.
No, ClassBase is commercial software. Open source booking projects exist on GitHub but none are purpose-built for UK swim schools — you’d need to build the term scheduling, GoCardless integration and Swim England framework yourself. ClassBase gives you all of that out of the box, GDPR-compliant and UK-hosted.
The best swim school booking system depends on your size and structure — but for UK swim schools running term-based lessons with GoCardless Direct Debit, ClassBase is purpose-built. It combines a public booking system, online scheduling software, registration platform, parent portal and private pool hire in one product at flat tier pricing rather than per-swimmer charges.
ClassBase is used daily at Vale Swim Academy in Nottingham (350 customers, 200 students). Rachel: “It’s taken a huge amount of admin off our hands. Once everything is set up, the system runs the process end-to-end and integrates seamlessly with the payment system.” Other live UK schools include Paige’s Swim School (Ascot) and HH Dolphins.
Most swim school software is built by software companies who guess how swim schools work. ClassBase is built by a swim school operator.
“I built the pool. I run the swim school. I wrote the software. ClassBase isn’t theory — it’s what I use to manage 350 customers at Vale Swim Academy every day.”
— Jason Hearse, Founder
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Free trial · No credit card · All features included