Coach terms

Last updated 15 September 2026. These terms apply to swim coaches who list themselves on swimminglessons.com.sg ("the site"), operated by the team behind Happy Fish Swim School, our sister swim school ("we", "us"). You accept them in the coach app. When we change them, you will be asked to accept the new version to stay listed.

1. What the site does

The site introduces families to you and handles booking and payment. When a family books you, they agree to take lessons from you at your listed price. We collect their payment, hold it, apply the rules in these terms, and pay you your share one lesson at a time.

2. You are an independent contractor

You are not our employee, partner or agent, and you are not staff of Happy Fish Swim School. You decide how you teach, when you are available, where you travel and what you charge. You provide your own equipment and transport. You are responsible for your own income tax, any MediSave contributions as a self-employed person, and any insurance. You are free to teach elsewhere and to keep your own clients.

3. Who can list

You must be at least 18, legally able to work as a self-employed person in Singapore, and hold a swim instructor or swim teacher certificate, a lifesaving certificate and a CPR certificate, with the lifesaving and CPR certificates in date. You confirm that every certificate you upload is genuine, is yours, and is current. We do not inspect certificates, but we may ask to see originals at any time, and we will remove you if a certificate is not genuine, not yours, or misrepresented.

4. Your profile

Your profile must be accurate and your own: a real, recent photo of you, a bio between 80 and 600 characters, and true statements about your experience. Your bio must not contain phone numbers, email addresses, links, social media handles or other ways to contact you outside the site. Only say you are experienced with babies under 3 if you genuinely are.

5. When you are listed

You appear in search and on /coaches only while all of these are true: your profile and price are complete; you have at least one weekly availability window, confirmed within the last 35 days; your three certificates are on file and the lifesaving and CPR certificates are in date; you have accepted the current version of these terms; your Stripe account can receive payments and payouts; your status is active; and, once you have 5 or more reviews, your average rating is 4.0 or higher. These checks run automatically. We may also pause or remove your listing if you break these terms or if we have a genuine safety concern.

6. Prices

You set a price per 45-minute lesson for 1 learner, and optionally for 2, 3 and 4 learners, within the site's allowed range. A trial is one lesson at your price; packages are your price multiplied by 4 or 8. Families pay exactly your price. Price changes apply to new bookings only.

7. Referral fee

• When the site introduces a family to you, we keep a one-time referral fee of 50% of the price of each of the first 4 lessons that family books with you through the site. A trial lesson counts as one of the 4.
• Lessons refunded to the family do not count towards the 4, and we keep no fee on them.
• After those 4 lessons, we keep an admin fee of 3.6% of the price of every lesson the same family books with you through the site, including renewals. It covers payment processing and running the booking system.
• The fee is fixed when the family books and is deducted from each lesson's price before your share is paid.
• You must not arrange to teach a family you met through the site outside the site before they have booked their first 4 lessons with you through it. If you do, within 6 months of their first booking, you owe us the referral fee on the lessons not yet booked through the site, and we may deduct it from future payouts.
• We pay the card and PayNow processing fees.
• We may change the referral fee or admin fee for future bookings by giving you at least 30 days' notice in the coach app.

8. Payouts

Payouts are made through a Stripe Connect Express account in your name, under Stripe's own terms. Your share of a lesson is transferred to your Stripe account once the lesson is recorded as done or as a no-show and is confirmed, either by the parent or automatically 24 hours after you recorded it. Stripe then pays your bank on its payout schedule. If a parent reports a problem, that lesson's payout is held until we review it; we may then release it to you or refund the family. If a lesson you were paid for is later found not to have taken place as you recorded it, we may deduct that amount from your future payouts.

9. Accepting and declining bookings

You may decline a new booking within 12 hours of the family's payment. The family is refunded in full automatically. If you decline three bookings within 30 days, your listing is paused automatically. After 12 hours, a booking you have not declined is yours to teach.

10. Teaching lessons

Arrive on time and tap Start in the coach app when you arrive. Teach for 45 minutes with a maximum of four learners. Keep within arm's reach of beginners and young children. Then tap Done and add a short, honest note for the family. If nobody is at the pool 15 minutes after the start, you may record a no-show. Record only what actually happened; false records are grounds for immediate suspension.

11. Missed lessons and strikes

If you have not checked in 20 minutes after a lesson's start, you get a reminder. If there is still no check-in and no rain-off 3 hours after the start, that lesson is refunded to the family and you receive a strike. Two strikes within 60 days and you are suspended automatically. When you are suspended, every future lesson booked with you is refunded to the families and you are not paid for them.

12. Weather

Stop, or do not start, a lesson when there is lightning risk, heavy rain, or when the NEA 24-hour PSI for the region is in the unhealthy range. Record the lesson as rained off, from 30 minutes before the start to 60 minutes after it. A make-up lesson is added at the end of the family's package, and you are paid when it is taught.

13. Family reschedules and cancellations

Families may move a lesson once, at least 24 hours ahead, to another free slot of yours within 4 weeks. If they cancel a lesson 24 hours or more ahead, a make-up lesson is added. If they cancel with less than 24 hours' notice, or are not at the pool, the lesson counts as taught and you are paid. If they cancel the rest of a package, lessons 24 hours or more away are refunded to them and are not paid to you.

14. Availability and time off

Keep your weekly availability accurate and confirm it in the coach app at least every 35 days. Blocking time off stops new bookings in that time; it does not cancel lessons already booked. A booked lesson you do not teach is refunded to the family and counts under section 11.

15. Reviews

Families who booked you may leave one review per booking. Reviews are published as they arrive, with contact details removed. We may hide reviews that are abusive, false or not about your lessons. Do not offer anything in exchange for a review, and do not review yourself.

16. Safety and conduct

Behave professionally and follow each condominium's rules. For learners under 18, teach only while a parent or an adult they nominate is at the pool. Do not photograph or film learners without the parent's permission. Treat families' personal data as confidential, use it only to deliver their lessons, and delete it when you no longer need it, as the Personal Data Protection Act requires.

17. Responsibility and liability

You are responsible for the lessons you teach and for loss or injury caused by what you do or fail to do. We strongly recommend that you hold public liability insurance covering swimming instruction. If a claim is made against us because of your acts or omissions during a lesson, you agree to cover our reasonable costs of dealing with it. Our total liability to you under these terms is limited to the commission we earned from your bookings in the 12 months before the claim. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited under Singapore law.

18. Pausing, leaving and removal

You may pause your listing or close your account at any time. Lessons already booked remain yours to teach; if you close your account with lessons still booked, those lessons are refunded to the families and you are not paid for them. We may suspend or remove you if you break these terms.

19. Law

These terms are governed by the laws of Singapore, and disputes are subject to the jurisdiction of the Singapore courts.

Questions about these terms: [email protected]. Back to the page for coaches.