Chesterfield Borough Council at Queen's Park Sports Centre
Chesterfield's council pool teaches from 12 months to adult, with pay as you learn adult classes at £8.70 a session and no need to commit to a block.
Who it suits
Chesterfield families wanting a Swim England pathway course, and adults who want to turn up when they can rather than commit to a term.
Why it stands out
- Adult lessons are pay as you learn. You come to as many or as few as you want at £8.70 a session
- Five separate adult classes at this centre, from beginners through stroke technique to a social swim club
- Moving in Water runs in a warm small pool, 1.2 metres deep, with easy access steps and a hoist available
- Autism friendly classes with instructors trained to support additional needs, plus one-to-one and one-to-two courses
- Discovery Ducklings takes parent and baby pairs from 12 months
Our verdict
The adult programme is the reason to pick this one. Paying per session instead of per term removes the thing that stops most adults booking at all, and five different classes at one centre is unusual outside a city. Children's lessons are a conventional 12 week block at a fair price, but Chesterfield do not publish class sizes anywhere, so ask. Not the place if you want baby classes from birth, since Discovery Ducklings starts at 12 months.
What it is
Queen’s Park Sports Centre is Chesterfield Borough Council’s main pool, on Boythorpe Road a short walk from the town centre. It runs the Swim England Learn to Swim pathway for children and a separate adult programme that is more developed than most council offers. Children start with Discovery Ducklings, a parent and baby class from twelve months, move through Ducklings, then into the numbered stages.
Who should book
Two quite different groups. Parents who want a structured twelve week course with a clear progression, and adults who have been meaning to sort this out for a decade. Chesterfield also run autism friendly classes with instructors trained in supporting additional needs, and offer one-to-one or one-to-two courses for children who are struggling in a group, which is a route plenty of councils simply do not have.
What stands out
Adult lessons are sold as pay as you learn. There is no block, no term and no direct debit: you pay £8.70 and turn up, or you do not. Five classes run at this centre. Beginners on Monday morning and Wednesday evening, Improvers on Monday morning and Wednesday evening, Stroke Technique twice a week for anyone who can already swim 25 metres, a Moving in Water class in the warm small pool for people with injuries or long term conditions, and a Monday morning social swim club that is included in the Active Fitness membership. The Moving in Water session has the instructor in the water with you and a hoist if the steps are difficult.
The verdict
The pricing rewards members heavily. Active Fitness and Annual Active Chesterfield cardholders pay £7.50 an adult session and £85.20 for a children’s course instead of £98.40, so if anyone in the house already has a membership, check it before you book. One-to-one courses are £138 for five thirty minute lessons, which is steep next to the group rate but cheap next to what a private instructor charges in a city. The gap in the offer is at the youngest end, where nothing runs below twelve months.