About Aquarius Swimschool
Lisa Bousted, our company founder and a mother of four children, is passionate about everyone having the opportunity to learn to swim. Lisa set up the swimschool in 2000 teaching swimming to all ages and abilities. Over the years the swimschool has gone from strength to strength with her staff of over 20 teachers they have taught in excess of 10,000 children and adults to swim and regularly teach circa 1200 swimmers every week.
Lisa has continued to expand her own personal knowledge and has attended the World Aquatic Baby and Children Congress in Sweden and Brighton and presented in Florida. She is a trained ASA, STA and Asutswim (Australia) swim teacher, Aquafit and baby & pre-school teacher. She is also a tutor for the STA tutoring swimming qualifications and first aid. In 2010 Lisa was appointed Head Coach for Family Box in Beijing, China and is currently the Swimming Development Tutor for U-Pioneer in Guangzhou in Southern China, visiting several times a year to run training courses. She has been a member of the STA education committee and was an active gamesmaker in London 2012 Olympics at the Aquatic Centre and the Athletes village. In 2014 Lisa completed a degree in Childhood Studies and in 2016 became a volunteer First Responder for the South West Ambulance Service. In 2017 Lisa presented at the International Water Conference in Russia and returned at the end of the year to co-run workshops in Aquasensory. Lisa now regularly works with and visits several companies in China including U-Pioneer in Guangzhou, CEAPRC in Beijing, Ying Yong Beier in ZhengZhou and Loong Swimschool who are the largest in China training teachers in STA Baby & Preschool qualifications, Aqua Sensory and MermaidsUK Instructors.
Charlotte Smart, Lisa's daughter and business partner, Charlotte, known as Char has been involved in the swimschool since the age of 12 where she helped parents out with their children on poolside and soon found herself in the water acting as an assisstant.
Charlotte has followed in Lisa's footsteps and has found a real love and passion for teaching swimming. She has completed all her Aquatic teaching qualifications including specialising in Baby & Pre-school, Disabilities, Aquafit and First Aid. At 19 she became one of the youngest STA tutors in the UK and has since gone on to tutor and examine a number of courses with a 100% success rate. Charlotte is also a qualified Personal Trainer and Sports Therapist. In 2013 Charlotte spent a year working in New Zealand as a swimming teacher and spent so much time in the water she would often joke that she would grow a tail and had become a Mermaid. This was where Charlotte's dream, running a mermaid Swimschool, and this dream was born by on her return to the UK she set up MermaidsUK with Lisa's support. She has gone on to create a very successful company providing mermaid swim sessions, experiences, parties and tails along with being a pioneer of the UK's first Mermaid and Monofin Instructors Qualification, help by our governing body, the STA.