Client: The Little Swim Company
Sector: Children's swimming tuition
What we did: Bespoke FileMaker system — built and hosted by Flare Software, and still growing
The Little Swim Company teaches children to swim across North Somerset, from three-month-old babies to school-age juniors, with small classes and fully qualified STA/ASA teachers at two venues — Wrington Pool and Cheddar Woods Resort & Spa.
Behind every calm, well-run swimming lesson is a surprising amount of admin: which child is in which class at which pool, who's moving up a stage next term, who's paid, and who needs to be told about a change of plan. That's the part we look after.
The problem
A swim school's data has a shape all of its own. Children progress through stages as they grow — Baby Swim to Mini Swim to Little Swim to Junior Swim — so class lists are never still. Terms roll over, venues differ, and parents (quite reasonably) expect to be kept informed about everything from lesson reminders to pool closures.
Before the system, it all ran on spreadsheets — with invoices produced one at a time. Off-the-shelf booking software rarely fits how a real swim school actually runs, so the admin kept growing with the business.
What we built
We designed and built The Little Swim Company a bespoke Claris FileMaker system around the way they actually teach:
- Swimmer and family records — every child, their stage, their class and their history in one place, linked to the right parent contacts
- Class and term management across both venues, with swimmers progressing between stages without re-keying
- Email communication built in — lesson reminders and notices go to the right parents directly from the system
- Invoicing and exports — billing that matches how a term-based swim school charges, with exports for the accounts
Built by us, looked after by us
This is one of those systems we created from scratch and have never stopped improving. Flare hosts it, supports it, and keeps adding to it as the business grows — recent work has focused on the invoicing exports, and there's always something on the wish list. That's the pay-monthly Flare model doing what it's meant to: the system evolves with the business, and nobody gets a big scary bill.
"Our custom-built database has transformed the running of our swim school. Every task is so easy — emailing, batch invoicing, creating new class lists for the term ahead. There is no way we would be able to run our business without it, and it has cut the time spent on admin by hours every day. We absolutely love it!"
— Helen, The Little Swim Company
Technologies used
Claris FileMaker (hosted by Flare), automated email from within FileMaker, and invoice/accounts exports.
Run a club, school or class-based business?
If your business runs on classes, members, terms and registers — swimming or otherwise — a system that fits the way you teach beats a spreadsheet every time. The first chat is free.
Get in touch or call us on 0330 113 0958.