A baby and child swim school has won an award.

Puddle Ducks, with its head office based in Cheshire, scooped the award for Leadership and Culture at the 2024 BFA HSBC UK British Franchise Awards.

This awards ceremony recognises the top businesses across the sector.

Puddle Ducks provides swimming lessons for children from before they are born, with aqua-natal classes, until they are 10 years old.

Each week, they teach more than 25,000 children across the UK.

Jo Stone and Ali Beckman, the directors of Puddle Ducks, believe the award reflects the strong culture they have established, as well as the loyalty of their customers.

Ms Stone said: "Of course, we wouldn’t be here today without the ongoing support of our wonderful customers who believe in the Puddle Ducks brand and have helped us to continually move forward.

"We remain passionate about ensuring as many children as possible learn a lifetime skill and a love of swimming."

She added: "We are delighted to have won this award as it celebrates those businesses that strive to ensure that their franchisees have had the highest level of support made available to them.

"This is at the very core of what we do, which enabled us to recently achieve the status of being the first franchise to achieve 12 consecutive years of five-star franchisee satisfaction, an accolade we are all extremely proud of."

Puddle Ducks was founded in 2002 by Jo Stone and Tracy Townend.

To find out more, visit their website.