Canberra Business Owner Spotlight Hub
More Than Swimming Lessons: Building Confidence and Community at Jump! Swim Schools
Canberra business Jump! Swim Schools helps local families build water confidence and swimming skills from babies through to adults.
Business Snapshot
Business Name: Jump! Swim Schools
Owner: Holly Singh and Hetty Toze
Industry: Swim Education and Aquatic Safety
Location: Canberra
Who They Help: Babies, children, adults, and families seeking swimming and water safety education
Website: https://jumpswimschools.com.au/
For Holly Singh and Hetty Toze, Jump! Swim Schools in Canberra has become much more than a place where children learn to swim. It’s a space where families feel known, children build confidence, and staff genuinely care about the people walking through the doors each day.
Located in a calm, welcoming environment designed to feel less overwhelming than larger aquatic centres, Jump! Swim Schools supports babies from as young as three months old through to older children preparing for squad swimming, along with adults looking to improve their confidence in the water.
Since reopening the swim school in 2020, Holly and Hetty have steadily grown the business into a trusted local community built strongly through relationships, consistency, and word of mouth.
About The Business
Holly Singh took over Jump! Swim Schools in early 2020 after identifying an opportunity to reopen the Canberra site following the collapse of the previous franchise group.
Originally from Sydney, Holly had been exploring the idea of opening a swim school before discovering the Canberra location had closed. After reaching out directly to Belgravia Leisure, she was able to bring the facility back to life.
Only months after reopening, COVID restrictions created immediate uncertainty for the business. Rather than disappear from families during that period, the team focused heavily on communication, online interaction, and maintaining strong relationships with students and parents until lessons could safely resume.
“We realised pretty quickly that families weren’t just looking for swimming lessons — they were looking for consistency, familiarity, and people they could trust.”
Today, the business supports around 750 students and has built a strong reputation for its smaller class environment and highly personalised approach to teaching.
For Hetty Toze, the business has also represented long-term personal growth. Starting as a swim teacher in 2017, she gradually progressed through reception, supervision, and management before eventually becoming a co-owner.
Together, Holly and Hetty have intentionally shaped the business around connection and consistency. Families are known personally, children build familiarity with teachers, and the environment is designed to feel calm and inclusive, particularly for children who may struggle in larger or busier facilities.
That sense of community has become one of the school’s strongest differentiators.
Q&A with Holly & Hetty
Why did you decide to take over the business?
Holly: I was looking for something that would give me better work-life balance and allow me to be around my kids more. I’d been working in a corporate office in Sydney and wanted something more rewarding that worked better for our family life.
What are you most proud of since reopening?
Holly: The community we’ve built here. We make a real effort to know the kids and their families personally. It’s more than just teaching swimming lessons. People feel safe and comfortable here.
What was hardest in the early days?
Holly: Rebuilding trust. A lot of local families had difficult experiences before the business reopened, so there was definitely trust that had to be earned back over time.
What has made the biggest difference to the business growing?
Holly: Understanding what type of staff member works well in this environment. We want teachers who genuinely enjoy being around children and who want to connect with families, not just teach the lesson and leave.
What has become harder as the business has grown?
Hetty: The coordination side of things. Managing schedules, teacher availability, moving students between classes, and trying to keep everyone happy gets much more complex as you grow.
What are you focused on improving right now?
Holly: We’ve been improving our internal systems and staff training processes. We’ve introduced a new staff portal to make qualifications, training, and communication much easier to manage.
What will tell you the next 12 months are going well?
Holly: Maintaining our student numbers consistently through winter while keeping our strong reputation and word of mouth referrals going.
One thing that stood out
One thing that stood out in this conversation was how much long-term growth came down to operational consistency rather than rapid expansion.
A lot of Canberra businesses reach a point where growth becomes less about attracting more customers and more about protecting the quality of the experience as demand increases. The businesses that sustain strong word of mouth over time are often the ones that stay disciplined about culture, staffing, and customer experience even when capacity pressure builds.
Jump! Swim Schools feels very intentional in that regard.
Jump! Swim Schools continues to support Canberra families with a strong focus on confidence, safety, and community connection.
Let’s Put Your Business in the Spotlight
Canberra Business Accelerators is a Fyshwick-based business coaching and advisory practice led by Natalie Sammons. It helps established Canberra business owners improve profit, reclaim time, strengthen teams, build leadership capability, and create scalable systems through one-to-one coaching, planning days, team development, and practical business workshops.
Canberra Business Accelerators is a Canberra-based business coaching and advisory practice led by Natalie Sammons. It helps established Canberra business owners improve profit, reclaim time, strengthen teams, build leadership capability, and create scalable systems through one-to-one coaching, planning days, team development, and practical business workshops.
2026 Canberra Business Accelerators. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service
Site Powered By Stand Out From The Pack™