This school is a gift. All we wanted: warm water, professional teachers, private lessons, very friendly staff. We used to go to Le Petit Baleen and progress was very slow. I finally decided to hire a private teacher. UCSF was far out of reach in $$$$$ respect, and still they had a huge waiting list. This school is very close to SF, took me about 10-15 minutes to get here from where we live. We were getting ready for our vacation, so we took a class every other day. My daughter started to swim on her second lesson and just got more confident from there. Amazing progress!!! I loved their "pick a time" calendar. At first I was worried about it, but then loved it later. If you buy a package of 15 or more lessons, you can cancel up to 4 hrs before class at no charge and up to 2 hrs for $15 fee. Never ever before we had such a great accommodation of emergencies. You can choose your preferred teacher and we got ours almost always, except on those days when we scheduled just 2 hrs or so in advance. Stacey and Frankie were my daughter's favorite (but those the only teachers she had :)) They both were wonderful. This School is great! The only two complains are the water in ladies shower is cold and takes 15 minutes or so to warm up. What a waste of water! And the second one, ribbons do not come easy. My daughter got the first ribbon and was doing everything required for the second one, but the ribbon was not coming. I just guess, she might have been advancing too fast and they want you to take more lessons for financial reasons. We did not care about the ribbons, just about the ability to swim. She progressed amazingly fast. We loved the school. read more

An overall Awesome expirience!! a few weeks before my vacation to Belize, I found this place and with a very prompt response from robert, was able to register for a pool session. 2 days later I recieved my study materials (a book with 5 chapters that should be completed before the pool dive session). I had 2 weeks to read the book and complete the 5 chapter reviews questions. When I came for the pool session, Robert first collected our "home Work", had us sign a few things and we started right away. He first showed us the Oxygen tank, BCD, explained about all the parts, how to put it all together, and about 1/2 hr later we were headed to the pool. All the skills in the pool were taught in a very clear way, and we had to demonstrate and show that we understand them. The class was well stractured and things that i was reading about in the book actually made sence after the class. Robert is very responsive and replied to any question i had during this process (via email) withing a few hours!! I really appriciated it. Thanks you very much! Excited for my open water dive in Belize! Yay! read more

My daughters have been coming to this school for a couple years now and they all love it! I chose this school because it's closer to my house and for the fact that they have private lessons. The booking system online is easy to use and usually don't have trouble scheduling the girls. The pool itself is clean, bathrooms, viewing area and changing rooms are clean! We will continue coming here until the girls are comfortable swimming on their own! read more

Old-school is the best description of this swim school. As other reviewers note, the pool is smaller-than-usual and more humid than usual due to poor ventilation; the showers are often not hot and not always clean; no towels are offered; and locker storage and outlets for hair-dryers are virtually non-existent. Lessons are one-on-one and generally competent and kept fun, but the pool size and volume of lessons running at once means that swimmers and teachers are either having to constantly avoid other swimmers and teachers, or suffer collisions, with backstroke instruction posing the biggest risk. You can observe all of this by walking in and watching. The less immediately-visible problems are these: (1) Scheduling is maddening. Scheduling is done through a clunky, on-line platform, which you need to master three to six months prior to your desired lesson slot, as the slots fill up months in advance. This makes it hard to schedule swim lessons to fit with the rest of your family's schedule. Many families we have met have resigned themselves to long gaps in their kids' lesson schedule due to unavailability. As consistent swimming, and learning from lessons learned the week before, is important to progress, there is often a sense of loss of continuity and slower progress than desired. (2) Instruction does not include feedback to parents. A feature of Anderson's approach is that you are not guaranteed the same instructor from lesson to lesson, which leaves something of a sense of "starting over" with each lesson. There is no routine feedback provided to parents. If you want any - say, skills to work on over the summer - you have to approach an instructor out of his/her normal rhythm and ask for a moment of their time to get a snippet from that day's lesson. It never felt comfortable, for the family or the instructor, to pause long enough to go over meaningful feedback. (3) Compassionate customer service - and sometimes helpful service at all - is lacking. Many questions - about technical support with the scheduling platform, or why a student appears to have stalled out and is not progressing faster, for example - often could not be fielded by the desk attendant. Asking for a manager usually led to "one is not available" and then a commitment for a call back - which usually would not come for days, if at all. A family's sense of urgency has no hold with Anderson's staff. It left our family feeling less than well-served, not always supported, and, at times, as cold as the showers sometimes felt. Our take: lessons here seemed to work better when the kids were small. As lessons became more advanced, we found that we overstayed the utility of the service offered, and found the welcome much diminished, even as prices rose. In short, this place is not for all families - only for ones who do not mind hearing over and over what we, after asking for feedback following lessons, help with scheduling, or other needs, refer to as the Anderson's mantra: "this place may not be for you." Indeed. Based on the above concerns, I would venture to say that this place may not be for many families. read more

Before you plunk down your money for kid swim lessons, be aware that there are ZERO openings in their program for 6 - 9 months. Not sure how get a toe in if just a few current users are able to book out all sessions so far in advance. Perhaps we'd come back if there were a more equitable scheduling method put into play. read more

My son hated the water and swimming before we brought him to Anderson's. On his first day of class he was crying and afraid of the water. We've brought him to swim lessons at La Petite Baleen and SSF Park and Rec pool and he had no fun and was always crying. We decided the Anderson's route because it was 1 on 1 swimming unlike the group type of lessons of LPB and SSF. His teacher calmed him down and he was already going under water on his first lesson with no problems. By his 6th lesson he was already passed the guppy level. This is the only place where my son has smiled in the pool. He's never been motivated to go since we brought him here. When my daughter turns 3 we'll also bring her here. It may be more over here but you really get your money's worth. Can't wait til my son goes surfing with me! :) read more

So far, so good. My son and daughter both had their first lessons there, and the experience was pleasant. They have 2 pools, one about 4ft and the other goes as deep as 12 ft. Both my kids are intermediate level, with the girl being more on the beginner side. All the teachers seem nice, but since you pick the time slot for private lessons, it's more of a rotation system of teachers. The showers are communal ones, and make sure you bring your stuff. Overall, a great first time experience. read more

This place is truly a miracle worker. I have 3 kids in lessons, 2 of which could not swim at all before attending here. My middle daughter (5 years old) went from not swimming at all to swimming the length of the pool in just 7 lessons! I was truly shocked! My son (8 years old) is now learning technique and how to correctly swim (as we just taught him to "survival swim" last Summer"). My 3-year-old​ is quickly advancing as well. She is behind the other kids (obviously... she is only 3), but her progress has been drastic as well. I would super nervous to invest all this money in swim lessons, but it is one of those investments that pay off right before your very eyes! read more

We cannot say enough wonderful things about Anderson's Swim School! Our four year old has truly developed a love for the water and as a parent it is awesome to see her progressing so quickly towards swim safety. All of the instructors are exceptional and the one on one lesson format really allows them to tailor the lessons directly to each child. If there are certain instructors that your child works better with you can specify those which is comforting esp if your child has any anxiety with the water. This is an investment in both time and money however you are setting the foundation for your child to love to swim and to be water safe both of which they will build on for the rest of their lives. This is a serious school and only mesnt for kids who are potty trained and ready to comprehend the learnings. This is not the place for a mommy and baby swim class. They are also in high demand but booking online is easy, you just have to be organized and book well in advance. The other key we have found for our little one is in doing a series of lessons back to back or a day in between max. This reinforces the learning and really accelerated our daughters progression. I also appreciate that we are supporting a 40+ year family business. The Anderson family could not be more gracious, welcoming and supportive. I look forward to taking diving lessons in the near future as that is also a specialty area of theirs. Best investment we have made and look forward to continuing with Anderson's! read more

Anderson's swim school ONLY offers PRIVATE lessons. My son has been attending private lessons here for over 6 months and I never really had any major issues or complaints. Their swim classes do get booked up very quickly so in order to book my son's lessons months ahead, I prepaid all his classes. The system worked for me so I enrolled my younger daughter and prepaid her classes as well, months in advance. My daughter attended a few lessons, all the instructors were sweet and no problem as usual. Then one day, we were unfortunately assigned to an instructor who just did not want to deal with children. From when she called my daughter to get into the pool, you can just tell there was nothing warm about the instructor. My daughter is 3, has high functioning autism (which I disclosed to them), and loves the water. During my daughter's PRIVATE lesson, she did not really want to follow instructions from the instructor. The instructor was forcing the floaties on my daughter which she did not like so she started crying. She literally cried for a minute, and I would say about 5-10 minutes into my daughter's 30 minute PRIVATE class, the instructor told me she had to go and she wasn't ready. The instructor wanted me to pull my daughter out of the pool, and couldn't even bring her to the pool stair area where all students enter and exit the pool. I had to tell the instructor to at least bring her to the stair area of the pool so that I could take my child out of the pool properly. The instructor definitely gave me that "get your kid off me" vibe! It was really disturbing the instructor would tell me my daughter is not ready for PRIVATE swim lessons, when the point of PRIVATE lessons is to allow the student to go at his/her own pace. It's not like my daughter was disrupting anyone outside of her PRIVATE swim class. Besides, my daughter already had a few classes which were all problem-free. The problem only started when we had the unfortunate opportunity of getting this instructor who obviously does not care for children, so I'm not sure what she's doing teaching classes. I spoke to the front desk lady, told her that my daughter had no issues in her previous lessons and that my daughter just got upset because the instructor forced the floaties on. Instead of showing some compassion, the front desk lady told me that the instructor "has been teaching for over 40 years and she is the owner of the school". Well obviously the owner/instructor has been teaching for way too long! Where can you expect a swim school where children do not cry?! Whether a child has autism or not, he/she is entitled to cry! Some children cry just because they are afraid of the water. Anyway, after I found out the instructor was the owner, I had to pull BOTH my kids out of the swim school and get all my money back! I just couldn't fathom the fact that this woman is the owner of this school. How can I expect my children to fall in love with swimming in an environment where the owner does not seem to enjoy teaching children? read more

They have horrible policies and it ends up costing double what you pay. BEWARE of this place. I paid over $1000 for a block of lessons, the go to schedule and it's months until there's an opening. read more

Sam is awesome! My daughter who's 5 learned to swim free style and enjoyed the entire experience. Based on how Sam worked with my daughter I also signed up my son who's 12 to get better at his swim techniques with Sam and I'm so glad we did. #bestswiminstructure :-) read more

I have been taking my daughters here for over 2 years and the lessons are great. Before the lessons, my daughters didn't know anything about swimming and were afraid of the water. With the swimming lessons, my daughters are not afraid of the water and can now swim on their own! The best part of the lesson is the one student to one teacher attention compare to the other swimming place (not named) one teacher to 3 students. So, if your son or daughter needs lesson, bring your child(ren) to Anderson Swim School! read more

Anderson's Swim School - Swimming Pools Near Me - Pacifica, California

Writing an update as my daughter, who is now 8, is taking some lessons here again. My daughter is still enjoying her lessons and seems to be progressing well. The teachers have a nice demeanor and know what they are doing. The school has moved to an online booking system which is so much more efficient for all concerned! This is a huge improvement. But be warned -- there is a 48-hour-in-advance cancellation deadline for lessons to avoid paying a cancellation fee, and the school does not send an email reminder about each lesson until exactly 48 hours before the lesson. So it seems like if you cancel at that point you may have to pay the cancellation fee, but I haven't determined whether that is in fact the case. The folks in the store/office are extremely helpful -- we have bought bathing suits, swim fins, and other gear here and although the selection is somewhat limited, they work hard to help you find what you are looking for. My only complaint is that the changing/shower rooms need a serious upgrade. There is one shower stall in the women's changing room with two shower heads which have to be pressed in repeatedly to stay on, whereas there are often up to a half-dozen kids looking to shower at the same time after the lesson and many are small enough to need the parent in there next to them. There is also no hair dryer other than a weak wall hand-dryer, and nowhere to plug your own dryer in if you were to bring one. I assume the men's shower room is similar but don't know for sure. Anderson's is almost done with the installation of another pool next to the current one -- I really hope that they are planning to upgrade their shower facilities at the same time or soon thereafter because cramming even more people into the same small shower rooms would be a nightmare. read more

Love this swim school. I signed both of my kids and they love it too. My daughter didn't want to put her face in the water when we went on vacation but now by her third class, she's dunking in for rings and floating. I'm so impressed! Last Summer I signed them up at our local park n rec program and it was just ok. I had to drag them to class. But now, they keep asking me when their next class is because they can't wait. The reason for the 4 stars is because the locker rooms are quite small but that's all. May be a bit pricey but definitely worth it. Teachers and staff are FABULOUS! read more

We found this school through a friend. His daughters could quite get the hang of it at other schools but the 1 on 1 teaching style they have here works for them and it works for our son as well. Only thing is that they have some new teachers that need a little more practice handling very active kids. read more

I grew up at the beach but never had formal lessons and therefore never felt completely comfortable in the ocean without some type of flotation device. They teach at all levels and all ages, but if you're like me and starting a little late, you can just schedule one-on-one classes earlier in the day so no one sees you. The water is kept at a toasty 90 degrees and all the instructors are great. I'm not even through with all my sessions, and already I am swimming at a level beyond my expectations. read more

My wife and I went here for a snorkel class and found it to be very helpful and enjoyable. The pool is nice and warm, which helps with the comfort level. We needed to equipment before class and decided to buy it there. We were extremely happy with the level of assistance we received as well as the quality of the items we bought. After spending less than an hour there, we learned more about snorkeling than we thought there was to know. read more

I have two four-year-old boys who are taking swimming lessons at Anderson's. The lessons are all one-on-one. The instructors have all been sweet and patient. The place has a relaxed scuba-shop vibe. I dig it. read more

This place use to be great. I loved the freedom and flexibility of being able to book a lesson when I was available. Also, the great thing was that these lessons never expired. The owner verbally told me that in person, which made me more comfortable with purchasing 20 lessons in advance. Recently, the owners decided to change the policy and the lessons need to be used within 1 year from the purchase date. I was never notified of this policy change. I tried to book a lesson for my child, however my username was invalid. When I called the school, the receptionist said my lessons expired in 2021 and to email the school for any disputes. The email from Kathy stated that the lessons expired and are no longer available for use. The people at this school do not keep their promises. There was no written contract stating that the lessons we purchased had an expiration date. However, there was a verbal agreement that the owner stated, "These lessons do not have an expiration date." Other people had similar issues and it is wrong that this school is getting away with this. read more

Just started classes here about two months ago after leaving la petite baleen. it is a bit more expensive than LPB, however, we've seen significant improvement in our daughter's swimming since the classes are 1:1 and the instructors are a lot more attentive and energetic. We tried LPB at both locations, SF and San Bruno, and there was a lot of sitting around since the classes are 1:4 ratio. My daughter would either be crying or shivering from the cold as there was a lack of instruction. Another benefit to Anderson swim, is you buy classes in advance and book them as you're available, however, times are booked months in advance. At LPB, if you skip a week, there is no make-up and you just lose that session. read more

Worth every penny! These one on one lessons are the best. My 6 year old is now eager to swim and the teachers are great. He has fun and works hard during the lesson. The space is nice and small. It's much calmer and quieter than groups lessons at JJC or Petit Beline. He could not handle the chaos at those facilities. I'm SO happy we have Anderson's! Thank you!!! read more

My daughters have been swimming here for a little over five months now. Anderson's is what I tell ppl not a shiny penny like La Petite in the Presidio; the pool is small and the locker room okay. However! The teachers are terrific and my daughters, ages 7 & 4, LOVE coming here to swim every week! The price is worth the investment. My eldest used to swim at La Petite in the semi-private lessons and she would only swim 10 minutes out of the whole half an hour. Well, you know what? She swims every minute of her lesson. My daughter has come a long way and has learned so much. My little one was terrified of the water. But patience from her teachers built up her trust and she is jumping into the deep end of 12 ft with a big smile on her little face! One time, one of my little one's lessons was cancelled and when I called to inquire why, I was given a straight answer. When I had later questions, one woman didn't know so I expected I had to call the next day but then she found out further 411 from a teacher and she then immediately called me back to let me know wassup! I loved that. I do need to comment that it would be nice if the owner introduced herself when we had first started there. I had to figure it out on my own which I don't like. I don't know if she's shy or whatever, but a hello and a Welcome to Anderson's would have been nice. read more

What I love about this place is the one on one instruction for my kid. I also like the not the same teacher will be teaching my child each week, and that the teaching style seems to be pretty flexible from day to day and teacher to teacher, so they mix it up and keep it interesting for the kids. All in all my 4yr old enjoys her lessons, and has been going since she was 3yrs old :-) read more

Both of my kids learned to swim there. I found them to be professional and kind. By professional, I mean THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING! If you are the type of parent who wants to choose the instructor for your child, then choose the type of instruction that they get, you may not be happy here. However, if you are willing to let the trained swim teachers teach your child, while you sit quietly and watch, I bet that you will be thrilled to see how quickly your child will learn to swim! Honestly, my kids have both been through 2 7-lesson sessions at Andersons and they are both swimmers now. Their other group "lessons" pale in comparision. They will re-schedule your kids one-on-one class for illness or other conflicts with like a 4 hours notice and are very nice. Pacifica is lucky to have a business like Anderson's. One day, I hope to learn how to scuba dive there! read more

I'm reviewing for both the kid lessons and the adult. My son was 5 when I got him into Anderson Swim and he simply loves it. He was one of the most talkative kids in the pool. Thirty minutes was not enough for him as he also thought of it as play time w/ whatever victim (oops, teacher) he had, so at times I signed him up for 2 lessons back to back. Yes, they do change instructors, but you can also verify who the instructor is and if you're not comfortable, I am absolutely positive they would make the change in schedule for you w/o penalty. Actually, they are pretty understanding if you can't make a class. In my experience, as long as you give them enough notice and explain to them your situation, they are more than accomodating. There are definitely pros & cons for having different teachers, and I'm sure Anderson Swim is not for every kid. Just don't forget to consider other factors such as the size of the pool, the temperature, the shower rooms, the post-lesson shower room crowd, the parent accessibility, parking, the amount of instruction going on at one time, the student/teacher scope of visiblity......all played an important role for me in choosing Anderson for my son, especially since he ADDs a bit and goofs around. Just good to know that the teachers are patient and playful enough. If he's having fun while learning, well, that's pretty priceless. As my son progressed in his swim lessons I thought I'd take a refresher adult course since it looked like any day now I'd have a hard time catching up to him in the water. Sandy is actually the adult instructor and she individualizes the class for your specific needs, whether preparing yourself for a vacation, getting comfortable in snorkel gear, or brushing up on strokes that were taught to you a couple of decades ago that you just can't seem to remember. I was the latter, and Sandy is amazing. At my last instruction though, Sandy wasn't available, but the replacement teacher was just as knowledgeable. In fact, I understood her lingo a bit better w/ one stroke I was working on that really helped me remember what I need to do when I practice on my own. There definitely is a plus in having different instructors is all I'm saying. BTW - Other swim schools do the rotating instructors, and many, will change mid-way during a series, so I do believe it's more whether the overall environment is suitable for a child's disposition and if they (not the parents) are ready to learn AND play in the water. read more

in retrospect, i noticed i actually recommend this place to many parents with water shy kids i want to mention that this place is great for getting kids comfortable in the water 5 stars for that i still recall they were very inflexible though so i have a bad taste in my mouth, and didn't enjoy giving them my money not to mention it's not cheap and your kid will not become a great swimmer read more

Oh my goodness - Anderson's Swim School is just the best. We started our first born at La Petite Baleen and it was fun for awhile but when she got older, we just didn't feel like she was advancing. LPB is great for water exposure and fun, but stopped being effective for us. We enrolled her in a weekly class at Anderson's and her progress was unbelievable. Fast forward a year later to her at six years old. She graduated from Anderson's and joined a local swim team. Anderson's focused and professional instruction helped her so much with her strong fundamentals that she quickly progressed out of the starter lanes in swim team to lanes with much older children. A year later she is in a lane with 10 and 11 year olds. Her progress was thanks to her having no bad habits after leaving Anderson's. I can't recommend Anderson's enough. We have our son taking class there now weekly and we see such strides in him as well. Don't know if it is our kids or the school - most likely a combo of both - but both of our children are uncannily comfortable in the water. It is a dream! read more

This is a five star business. Neat, clean, professional. There are really nice people working here and I really enjoy doing business with them. It is difficult to make last minute changes to the class times after you select them, but the method that they use to book classes is very effective. We have tried many swim schools in the area, and this is by far the best. Having a different instructor for every lesson works just fine, as eventually the students will get to know all of the instructors. read more

We really liked this swim school for several years. Over time, it became popular and crowded (read: difficult to book classes... especially during the school year). They recently raised the price of classes to $45/half hour session with no package pricing discount. read more

My son moved to this school after getting switched around to different teachers and not progressing slowly at la petite baleen. Ive been searching for a place to teach my son how to snorkel for our caribbean cruise and so i contacted this school. The person on the phone was very helpful and said I can have my son try a 15min swim and 15 min snorkel class until he was comfortable snorkel. After the 1st class he said he likes this school better and I cancelled his lessons a LPB and switched over to Andersons. I love that they are private lessons, last 5 mins they let the kids pick something they want to play with ie. surf, diving, boogie board. The 2 gripes i have is that scheduling can be tough if you don't schedule months in advance, otherwise your on the website days before your wanted date looking for a spot. Also the shower in the woman's changing are is cold. I don't want to wait and waste water so i just dry up my son and shower at home. Starbucks is conveniently located next door and parking can be a challenge. read more

Anderson's is SO wonderful. After 3 years at the other place, my daughter could barely swim 5ft. After 3 months here, she is swimming 15ft and completely comfortable in the water. If you have had any hesitation about switching over to Anderson's, do it. You will not regret it! read more

We love Anderson's!!! The staff is wonderful, the instructors are knowledgeable,and the atmosphere is fun! I highly recommend the swim school for all children who are having difficulty with learning to swim or for those who need more One on one attention. You will not be disappointed, read more

Significant improvement after enrolling my kid here. She has had lessons elsewhere, but progress was slow to stagnant. I believe the the 1-on-1 lessons here greatly contribute to her progress. The scheduling system is pretty flexible too as it lets you book/cancel lessons on their website. Their pool facility is not the prettiest and fairly small, but it does the job. I like that they don't overcrowd the pool to generate more revenue - like others. read more

I have a love/hate relationship with Anderson's. On the LOVE side - good instructors, consistent teaching methods, warm pool, nice (albeit small) facilities, 1:1 instruction and my 6 year-old son can swim! We have been coming nearly 3 years and my son flew through the guppy level, took a little over a year to get through Level 1 and has seemed to stagnate in level 2 for a year - which brings me to the hate part. 1) It's hard to see progress. I definitely think that there is a method to the madness and wouldn't want a school that would just progress my son without merit. That said, since there is no feedback it's impossible to know where he's "deficient" and needs work. Anderson's will give you a progress report if you ask, but it takes a couple of weeks and you have to chase it down. As others have noted you never have the same teacher and they do turn over frequently. Although their methods are consistent, it does make me wonder if their assessments are consistent. They're supposed to update progress online regularly, but my kid has been at 65% for what seems like a decade and although we've been going nearly 3 years, it seems that no one knows us by name. 2) Facilities - holy sauna! It's awesome that the pool is warm, but some ventilation would do wonders. If you plan to stay, layer accordingly - you will strip down to a tee inside! My other issue is that boys aren't allowed in the women's locker room over the age of 5 which I think is ridiculous. Maybe you are all better parents, but I can't send my 5, much less 6 year-old into the men's locker room alone to reliably shower and change without coming back with soaking wet clothes and head full of shampoo. (Nor do I believe that Anderson's would want him monkeying around in there alone). I do wish they had an open shower like LPB to do a quick hair wash and rinse or eased up on the age restriction. As it is, I have to take him into a bathroom to change him out of his wet clothes and into dry ones. It feels a little gross because the entire facility is hot and humid and everything is damp and well, it's restroom, but I don't have an alternative. 3) Scheduling and the dreaded website. Seriously Anderson's - we live in the tech mecca. I'm actually surprised that one of the Anderson's techy customers hasn't hacked in and fixed the thing. The website is AWFUL. Just recently there have been minor improvements - like you can finally order lesson's online. The site seems to have many of the same issues though. For example, if you order a larger package of lessons you can cancel within 4 hours (vs the 48), but you can't cancel online if it's greater than 48 hours prior to your lesson - you have to call. It seems like an unnecessary step and now you're dependent on the already busy staff to pick up the voicemail and cancel for you. Why the site can't distinguish between package levels and modify the cancellation window accordingly is beyond me. Also, when scheduling 15 lessons, the calendar sends you back to the actual date every time, meaning that by the 15th lesson you have to forward 15 weeks to book (after you have already forwarded 14, 13, 12, 11 weeks etc.) It takes FOREVER! So now you're scheduled, but something invariably comes up which brings me to my last hate 4) Capacity. I love Anderson's swim instruction - the entire Bay Area does. This means that it's impossible to schedule lessons at a consistent time unless you are planning on booking 6 months out. I have bought the larger packages to allow for flexibility in cancelling, but once I cancel I can't reschedule - sometimes for months and then your kid loses that momentum that you worked so hard to gain. There are certainly families that are much better at this than I. For example, you can look 48 hours in advance and jump on openings as others cancel - or, you can maintain a consistent 4-6 months worth of lessons. As for me, I no longer have that kind of money or time (or patience). Maybe it's time for Anderson's to start limiting their customers. It would suck to be on a waiting list, but you kind of are anyway, and at least you would know that you could reschedule in a reasonable amount of time. So LONG review but for all of you with glowing reviews, we were there too - 2 years ago. And honestly I still give 4 starts because, despite the lack of communication, muggy facilities and ridiculous scheduling, Anderson's after all is first and foremost a swim school - and they do that part brilliantly. read more

Recently finished my 7 days swim class here, work with Sandi in refreshing my swimming in preparation for my first Triathlon, each class is a learning day for me, just listen to Sandi and nothing will go wrong, at the last day i told Sandi my main concern is now breathing, as we work on it, i finally found my breathing technique....more swim practice for me and i'll be ready for my first Triathlon. Thank you Anderson Swim School. read more

My 5 year old was terrified of water and putting his face in the water. We took a set of 7 lessons in April/May then came back for a 10 set of lessons. For the first set of lessons I explained that he was terrified and would work himself into a panic with face in water. The teachers and Bonnie were terrific and never pushed him, while still getting him comfortable in the water, but making sure that his chart said no face in water to begin with. Today (maybe lesson 6 of 10) he pushed himself off the steps, face and body underwater to get to his teacher then turned around and went back to the steps underwater. He spent most of his lesson underwater. I was amazed. He is beaming and can't stop smiling that he finally did it. The change up each week of teachers is great as he gets to meet everyone and is comfortable with all of the people there. Although at the beginning I did think it might not be good for my son, I am happy to say I was wrong. We love Andersons read more

Anderson's swim school is amazing! We tried most swim schools in the SF area and were very disappointed - our daughter was afraid to put her face in the water up until 3 yrs old. First lesson at Anderson's and face was in the water! The teachers are patient, engaging and fun! Our daughter loves the selection of awesome instructors. The online lesson booking system is super easy and convenient. I wish we had known about Anderson's Swim School sooner - we would have saved a lot of money and tears! read more

I LOVE Anderson's Swim School! My kids were really sucky swimmers whom I couldn't trust in the water not to drown themselves, but after only two lessons at Anderson's, I noticed a visible change: they became stronger, more confident swimmers, more in control of their bodies, with concrete tools to help them stay afloat and move through the water. Anderson's has some crazy swimming pedagogy that really produces results. Don't let the drab facilities fool you; these teachers really know what they are doing. read more

The low rating is for the pool facilities which felt very unclean with whiffs of unpleasant smells. I have now been sick a week with a "children's" disease. I suspect I got it from the pool as I was home every other day of the week. read more