Following a selfish, money driven joint announcement this week by Ilford County High School and the London Borough of Redbridge, it is with absolute regret that I have informed you that as of Sunday 5th April, AquaKidz Ltd will have to close its doors unless we take immediate action.

Ilford County High School in conjunction with Redbridge Council, have made the decision to no longer offer lettings to private swimming schools which has purely been a decision based on personal gain and money rather than the local community at large. I was only made aware of this late last week, so you can imagine how upset I am, especially given these conversations and decisions were made behind closed doors.

I am of course fighting against this happening and any help you can provide us would be hugely appreciated by signing this online petition. 

To give you some further detail on the implications of this new move, if this move does go ahead, you will need to sign your children up to Fulwell Cross swimming lessons and unfortunately join the bottom of a waiting list controlled by Redbridge Council. This waiting list currently sits at over 1500 children waiting for lessons, so there are no guarantees that your children will have places for the summer term. The council seem to think that rather than building a new swimming pool and working with local swimming schools to solve the swimming lesson demand, they would prefer to make small businesses that have been providing this service for a number of years successfully, fold which is a disgrace! Not only will our business cease to exist after 10 years based at the pool, but more importantly, your children’s swimming lessons will stop abruptly half way through the year. To not be offered an alternative option to you or myself is completely unacceptable!!

As you can imagine we are all devastated by the news having been associated with the pool in some way or another for over 20 years and are looking to fight this decision. The aim being to reinstate AquaKidz lessons on a Sunday and ensuring that your children continue to have access to the lessons and the teachers that we hope they have come to know and enjoy.

I have been in contact with the council, local MPs and the local press to fight our cause and would appreciate your support in signing a petition to reinstate these lessons. Another way of helping would be to write a letter of complaint to the local MP Mr Wes Streeting. If you could send me a copy of the letter you send, that would be really helpful. aquakidzltd@gmail.com

I would like to say a special thanks to each and every one of you for the support and commitment you have shown to not only AquaKidz but also me over the last 10 years. I am determined to fight this decision and any support you can provide us will be hugely appreciated.

Many thanks

Charlotte x