Swim school software that parents actually enjoy

Running a swim school means managing the messiest scheduling problem in the activity business: kids get sick, families travel, pools close, and every one of those absences turns into a make-up lesson somebody has to track. ClassPulse was built with that reality at the center — not bolted on as an afterthought.

Enrollment, make-ups, level progression, sibling billing, and parent communication in one place. Free up to 50 students, and most schools are live in about 15 minutes.

Make-up lessons, finally off your desk

Ask any swim school owner what eats their front desk alive and you'll hear the same answer: make-ups. A parent calls, someone checks a binder, someone eyeballs a roster, and a month later two make-up kids show up to the same already-full class. ClassPulse replaces the whole ritual with a policy engine.

Your policy, enforced automatically

Set make-up rules per program or studio-wide: how many credits a family can hold, whether an absence must be reported in advance, and how long credits stay valid before they expire.

Credits issued the moment an absence is recorded

When an instructor marks a swimmer absent — or a parent reports the absence from the portal — a make-up credit is issued automatically under your policy. No sticky notes, no spreadsheet.

Parents book their own make-ups

Parents see every eligible session with an open seat and book the make-up themselves. Capacity is checked in real time, so a make-up can never overfill a class.

Weather closure or a stomach bug going around? Parents report the absence from the portal before class, the credit is issued under your rules, and you can even trigger an automated follow-up message so families know exactly how to use it. Absences stop being phone calls and start being data.

Swim-level progression parents can see

Build your level ladder in ClassPulse exactly the way you teach it — skill categories and levels that mirror your curriculum, whether that's a starfish-to-shark progression or your own naming. Instructors evaluate from a class grid on deck: star ratings for each skill, pass/fail for the level. No paper cards that disappear into swim bags.

Parents watch progress update in the portal, which quietly answers the question every swim school hears daily — "when will she move up?" And when a swimmer passes a level, you print a PDF certificate on the spot. Small thing, huge retention moment.

One thing we won't do: auto-advance swimmers into the next level's class. Passing a level flags the achievement; choosing the next class stays a human decision, because your deck supervisor knows things software doesn't.

Built for families, not individual swimmers

Swim schools are sibling businesses. The family that brings you one three-year-old brings you their older brother next month — if signing him up isn't a chore.

One account per family

Three kids in three different levels, one login, one saved card, one statement. Each child keeps their own enrollments, attendance history, and skill progress.

Sibling discounts that apply themselves

Build a rule once — percent or fixed amount, triggered at whatever child count you choose — and every invoice applies it automatically. When multiple rules match, the family gets the largest discount.

Two-way texting from your own number

Your school gets a dedicated SMS number. Pool closure? Text every affected family in one send, and their replies come back to your inbox — not into a void.

Full classes fill themselves back up

Per-class capacity, checked in real time

Set a hard capacity on every class. Online enrollment, drop-ins, transfers, and make-up bookings all check availability against the live roster, so a Saturday 9am beginner class can never quietly end up with nine kids and one instructor. Capacity is enforced at the class level — clean and unambiguous.

Waitlists that promote automatically

Your best time slots are always full — that's the sign of a healthy school. When a family drops or transfers out, the top of that class's waitlist is promoted automatically. The seat gets filled while your competitors are still leaving voicemails.

Perpetual enrollment, the way year-round schools run

ClassPulse is built around ongoing enrollment: a swimmer joins a weekly class, autopay bills the family monthly (with proration for mid-month starts), and the spot is theirs until they drop. That's the model that maximizes retention and gives you predictable revenue — no re-registration cliff four times a year.

Classes are weekly templates that generate real sessions, and any class can carry a start and end date, so a summer intensive or a spring stroke clinic fits alongside your year-round program. Single-day drop-ins are supported too. To be direct: if your school runs strictly on semester-based session registration, ClassPulse doesn't model terms as a separate registration object — ongoing enrollment is the backbone here.

Tuition that collects itself

Monthly autopay runs through Stripe with payouts landing directly in your school's own Stripe account — ClassPulse never holds your money, and pricing is Stripe's standard rate plus a flat 0.75% platform fee. Proration handles mid-month starts, late fees and registration fees are configurable, and failed cards go into dunning with smart retries instead of a manual chase list.

Families get one itemized statement covering every child, promo codes and gift cards work at checkout, and if you sell goggles and caps at the front desk, the built-in POS keeps retail on the same family account.

A portal parents use without calling you

Browse and self-enroll, pay bills, manage autopay and saved cards, report an absence, book the make-up, check skill progress, sign waivers with a typed e-signature — all from one clean portal. You can also embed your live schedule on your own website, so families enroll where they already found you.

Already on Jackrabbit or iClassPro? Export your families, students, and enrollments to CSV and import them straight in. Onboarding is self-serve — most schools are live in about 15 minutes — and the free plan covers up to 50 students, so you can run ClassPulse with real data before you pay a dollar.

The little things add up. Printable level certificates, kiosk self check-in for busy Saturday lobbies, absence follow-up automations, and retention reports that show you which levels lose swimmers — ClassPulse sweats the swim school details so you can stay on deck.

Swim school FAQs

How do make-up lessons work in ClassPulse?

You define the policy — per program or studio-wide — including how credits are earned, how many a family can hold, and when they expire. When an absence is recorded, a make-up credit is issued automatically. Parents then book their own make-up from the portal into any eligible session with an open seat; capacity is checked in real time so classes never overfill.

Can ClassPulse track our swim levels and skills?

Yes. You create skill categories and levels that mirror your curriculum. Instructors evaluate swimmers on a class grid with star ratings and pass/fail marks, parents follow progress live in the portal, and when a swimmer passes a level you can print a PDF certificate for them to take home.

Does it automatically move a swimmer to the next level?

No, and that's deliberate. ClassPulse flags when a swimmer has passed a level, but the actual move to a new class is a decision your deck staff or the parent makes — because the right next class depends on schedule, instructor, and the family. We won't silently re-enroll a child.

Does ClassPulse support session or semester registration?

ClassPulse is built around perpetual enrollment: swimmers enroll once and bill monthly until they drop, which is how most year-round swim schools run. Classes can have start and end dates for date-bounded programs, and single-day drop-ins are supported — but there is no separate semester-registration object.

What happens when a class fills up?

Every class has a capacity limit with real-time availability, and full classes take a waitlist. When a seat opens — a drop or a transfer — the top of the waitlist is promoted automatically. No one at the front desk has to notice the opening.

We're on Jackrabbit / iClassPro. How painful is switching?

Export your families, students, and enrollments to CSV and import them into ClassPulse — the importer works with Jackrabbit and iClassPro exports. Setup is self-serve and most schools are live in about 15 minutes. The free plan covers up to 50 students, so you can trial it with real data before paying anything.

Give your front desk its Saturdays back

Free up to 50 students · Import from Jackrabbit or iClassPro · Live in about 15 minutes

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