We’ve upgraded to a new and improved registration system to serve you better!

• Summer classes (ending in August) are still managed through your old Uplifter account here.

• Fall and future classes are now booked through your new H2O account here.

This is a one-time transition! Once summer term ends, you’ll only need to use the new system moving forward!

You can find your class recommendation in your old Uplifter account. Just make sure your swimmer hasn’t aged out before the fall term begins. Not sure? Reach out, we’re happy to help!

Both options are a commitment to the full session. The only difference is how you pay. Monthly payments include a 5% surcharge and are auto-billed each month. A 5% administrative surcharge is added to each monthly invoice. This helps us cover processing costs and maintain the high-quality programming and facility experience our families expect. Clients who pay in full at registration avoid the surcharge.

We use monthly billing to make payments simple and predictable. On the 1st of each month, you’ll be charged for all the lessons scheduled during that month.

For example:

• If your child is in a Monday class and there are 3 Mondays in October, you’ll be billed for 3 lessons.

• If your child is in a Wednesday class and there are 5 Wednesdays in October, you’ll be billed for 5 lessons.

A 5% administrative surcharge is added to each monthly invoice. This helps us cover processing costs and maintain the high-quality programming and facility experience our families expect.

All of our policies are located here!

We don’t use levels at H2O Academy. Instead, all classes are based on age and ability, with two streams: Splash and Shark. New clients must register for a Splash class within their age group. Shark classes have specific benchmarks that focus on both skill and comfort in the water. These must be confirmed by an H2O teacher during a Splash class before moving into the Shark stream.

Check out all of our class descriptions here

At H2O Academy, all students aged 3+ must enroll in our unparented Mini Splash. It is natural to be nervous about your student swimming on their own for the first time, but it is our job to ease your worries! Here are some tips & tricks to help your little one gain confidence in their first unparented class. 

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1. Go to the pool!

Any exposure to the pool environment will help your student become more comfortable in their lessons. Familiarity with the pool will give your student confidence to participate in class. You can practice skills you've learned in class or simply play in the water to show them that swimming is fun!

2. Talk about swimming!

It is always best to enter a new situation with some background knowledge, and this goes for kiddos too! Let them know that they are swimming on their own now, and that you will be able to watch them from our viewing lounge. Go over some of the skills they will work on in class, and once you've met your teacher, talk about them too! Your student will know what to expect and can mentally prepare for this new experience.

3. Be confident!

Little ones pick up on everything, including your words and feelings! Keep conversation around swimming positive, encouraging, and calm. 

You don’t need deep water to learn how to swim because swimming is a horizontal skill. Technique, body position, breathing, and stroke mechanics are all best developed in shallow water, where swimmers can focus, feel secure, and build confidence more quickly.

At H2O, our shallow pool was intentionally designed for teaching. It allows for hands-on instruction, faster learning, and greater confidence. Once swimmers have built strong technique, those skills transfer easily to any body of water, including deep ends, lakes, or oceans.

We also teach proper eggbeater technique for treading water - a skill that doesn’t rely on touching the bottom. In fact, all of our teachers (including those over six feet tall) can do efficient eggbeater in our pool without ever needing to stand. That’s the power of correct technique.

Our priority is helping swimmers become strong, safe, and confident - in any depth!

Long story short is you learn properly and quicker in the end! Swimming is a process that takes time and requires repetition to learn proper technique. For details, watch this short video!

Yes! Our new facility at 400 Fort Whyte Way only has family style changerooms! Our universal locker-room is designed to accommodate people of all genders. The washrooms are all single stall locked doors and there are private lockable changing stalls. It allows parents to bring students of all genders into the common room and still have a private cubicle.

Yes! It is a common myth that you must achieve all of the levels in traditional types of lessons (e.g. Red Cross, YMCA) in order to become a lifeguard. WRONG! The first step to becoming certified as a lifeguard in Canada is the Lifesaving Society’s course called Bronze Medallion. The only prerequisites for Bronze Medallion are that you need to be 13 years of age. The H2O Academy prepares students’ with the technical skills to complete the pool requirements of the Bronze Medallion pool test (e.g. eggbeater, timed swims, retrievals, floating, kicking, strokes, etc.). The Bronze Medallion course will prepare those students with the lifesaving knowledge and skills.

No, we are not a licensed childcare centre. For safety reasons all children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult in our new facility. It is not the lifeguard's or swim teacher's responsibility to supervise children who are not actively participating in a class.

The parking lot is close to our front door and our facility is small, so we recommend that you bring your baby into the facility either by carrying them in your arms or in a car seat. We have ample storage for car seats in the locker room. Please do not bring strollers inside facility as we do not have storage for them, and they track a lot of dirt into the facility.

Our pool water is kept consistently at 88°F year-round, which is an ideal temperature for comfort and safety. However, how the water feels can vary depending on the air temperature and what your body is used to. In the winter, when the air is cold and you’ve been bundled up, the pool can feel warmer by contrast. In the summer, coming in from the heat, that same water might feel cooler. This perceived “fluctuation” is totally normal — it’s all about perception — but rest assured, the water temperature itself stays consistent and carefully controlled every day of the year.