The Make-Up Lesson Challenge

A child misses a lesson. The parent contacts you expecting a replacement. You need to find a slot at the same level, with an instructor who has capacity, at a time the family can attend, in a lane with the right depth. Oh, and the parent wants it this week, not in three weeks' time.

Multiply this by twenty missed lessons per week across your programme and you have a full-time administrative task that generates no additional revenue. In fact, it often costs you money: the original slot was already paid for, and the make-up slot displaces a potential new booking or trial.

The swim schools that handle make-up lessons well share two characteristics: a clear, well-communicated policy, and a system that automates as much of the process as possible. The schools that struggle are the ones making it up as they go, saying yes to every request, and spending hours on the phone trying to find slots.

Designing Your Make-Up Lesson Policy

Your policy is the foundation. Without it, every make-up request becomes a negotiation, and your staff will give inconsistent answers that frustrate parents and create perceived unfairness.

Key Policy Decisions

You need clear positions on the following:

Eligibility: Which absences qualify for a make-up? Most schools offer make-ups for illness and family emergencies but not for holidays, forgotten lessons, or scheduling conflicts the family knew about in advance. Some schools offer make-ups for any absence. Decide your position and document it.
Notice period: How much notice must a parent give to be eligible? Common approaches are 24 hours, 48 hours, or the start of the business day before the lesson. Zero-notice policies are generous but create operational chaos.
Time limit: How long does a family have to use their make-up? A common window is the current term plus two weeks. Open-ended make-up credits accumulate and become impossible to fulfil.
Number of make-ups: Is there a maximum per term? Two or three per term is standard. Unlimited make-ups sound parent-friendly but are operationally unsustainable.
Level matching: Must the make-up be at the same level? Ideally yes, though some schools allow adjacent levels (e.g., a Stage 3 swimmer attending a Stage 2-3 mixed class). Attending a class well above or below the child's level is neither safe nor beneficial.

Communicating the Policy

Publish your make-up policy in your terms and conditions, in your welcome pack, and on your website. Reference it when parents enrol. The single biggest source of conflict around make-up lessons is parents who did not know the policy existed. If they agreed to it at enrolment, the conversation is straightforward; if they did not, you are on the back foot.

Capacity-Aware Scheduling

The operational challenge of make-up lessons is finding a slot that has both the right level and available capacity. A class that is full at its ratio limit cannot accept a make-up swimmer, no matter how much the parent insists.

Real-Time Availability

Your scheduling system needs to show real-time capacity for every class, updated instantly when bookings, cancellations, and make-ups are processed. A receptionist should be able to search for available Stage 3 slots this week and see exactly which classes have space, how many spaces, and at which venue.

Buffer Capacity

Some swim schools deliberately hold one or two spaces per class below the ratio maximum specifically for make-up swimmers. This reduces your enrolled revenue slightly but dramatically improves your ability to offer make-ups and reduces the admin time spent searching for slots. A class with a ratio of 6:1 and five enrolled swimmers has one make-up slot available every week without any special arrangements.

Absence Prediction

Over time, you will see patterns in your absence data. Certain weeks (half-term, school holidays, exam season) have higher absence rates. Certain classes have consistently higher attendance than others. Use this data to predict which classes will have natural capacity for make-ups and steer parents towards those options.

Credit Systems and Alternatives

Not every missed lesson needs to result in a make-up lesson. Alternative approaches can be simpler for you and more flexible for parents.

Lesson Credits

Instead of offering a specific replacement lesson, some schools issue a credit that can be applied against the next term's fees. This is operationally simple: no scheduling required, no capacity concerns, no level-matching complexity. The downside is that the child misses a learning opportunity, and the parent may feel short-changed if they wanted their child to swim, not to save money.

Holiday Intensive Credits

Another approach is to offer make-up credits that can be redeemed during holiday intensive courses. These courses often have broader level groupings and higher capacity, making it easier to accommodate make-up swimmers. Parents appreciate the flexibility, and it exposes their child to your holiday programme, which may lead to additional bookings.

Freeze Policies

For extended absences such as injury or prolonged illness, a freeze policy allows the family to pause their enrolment and resume when the child is ready to return. This preserves their place in the class without requiring multiple make-up lessons. Typically, a freeze is available for absences of two weeks or more with a medical note.

Parent Self-Service Booking

The single most effective way to reduce make-up lesson admin is to let parents book their own make-ups through an online portal or app. The system shows available slots at the correct level, enforces your policy rules automatically, and confirms the booking instantly. No phone calls, no emails, no manual diary checking.

How Self-Service Works

The parent logs into their account, selects the missed lesson, and the system presents eligible make-up slots based on the child's current level and the available capacity across your timetable. The parent chooses a slot and confirms. The system updates the class register, sends a confirmation, and the instructor sees the make-up swimmer on their register for that session.

Guardrails

Self-service must enforce your policy automatically. If the family has used their maximum make-ups for the term, the system should not offer more. If they are outside the notice period, the system should explain why the make-up is not available. If no slots at the correct level have capacity, the system should offer to join a waitlist rather than overbook a class.

Tracking and Reporting

Track your make-up data systematically. Key metrics include the number of make-ups requested per term, the percentage fulfilled, the average time between request and make-up, and the most common reasons for unfulfilled requests. This data helps you refine your policy and identify capacity gaps in your timetable.

Key Takeaways

Publish a clear policy: Define eligibility, notice periods, time limits, and maximum make-ups per term, and communicate it at enrolment.
Use capacity-aware scheduling: Your system must show real-time availability by level across all venues to find suitable slots quickly.
Consider buffer capacity: Holding one space per class below the ratio limit gives you built-in make-up availability every week.
Offer alternatives: Lesson credits, holiday intensive credits, and freeze policies give parents flexibility without creating scheduling complexity.
Enable self-service: Let parents book their own make-ups through a portal that enforces your policy rules automatically, and watch your admin hours drop dramatically.