Most of the staff are incredibly kind and good with the children.... but many of them are clearly…read moreuntrained. My girls had wonderful times in the water but I would say 2/3 of their teachers weren't quite sure what to do with them. Many can't perform all 4 strokes well. The scheduling is also inconsistent, with students having different teachers weekly. Coach Stacy is very skilled but unfortunately it doesn't seem that the same skills were passed down to the underage staff. (Most are 15-18) I hope with time they are able to work with their employees regarding curriculum. My two have made immense progress at La Petite in RWC and at a slightly cheaper rate so if you are on the fence, I highly recommend them over Shipman. We loved teachers Sonja and Rose but both have left the school. We were informed by another parent that Zumer had yelled at Rose in front of them and their own two girls. The photos on this site are also incredibly outdated. Seeing all the old reviews from years ago, makes me wonder how things have fallen apart.

We had my daughter in a few group swim classes and she never really progressed, so I started…read moreresearching for private swim lessons and am so thankful I found Shipman. We attend their Burlingame location, because they have a heated indoor pool that can be used year round, as well as showers for right afterwards. Since starting here, my daughter went from not wanting to let go of the instructor or put her head underwater to swimming underwater and now doing freestyle! She loves her lessons and it's helped build so much confidence with water, which makes me feel great as a parent, as water safety is one of my biggest concerns. I recommend them to everyone!

I cannot say enough amazing things about this swim school! My 3 year old started with zero swim…read moreexperience when she started this summer. In less than three months, she is able to swim underwater. Teacher Mike is so good with little ones. He sings while he teaches the whole time and makes her feel at ease in the water. In fact, every morning when we wake up on swim lesson days, my daughter jumps up and down saying how excited she is to go to swim. I would recommend this swim school to anyone!

Angel is a fantastic instructor who is terrific with small children. Our daughter started lessons…read morewith Angel just after turning 2, and she is already confident and knowledgeable about safety in the water after just a few months. Angel takes care to be friendly with our daughter but also emphasizes the importance of water safety. Angel teaches through examples, songs, and games and strikes a difficult balance between challenging our daughter and supporting her. Thank you Angel!

My daughter has been going to Kings Swim for since she was a baby and she's 6 years now and in…read morelevel 3. We did some parent-and-me classes with teacher Jerusha when she was about 1+ years - it was cute she got comfortable in the water. Then we stopped for a couple years life got busy. We restarted 2018 and used to take a single group class once a week - I felt like she literally never progressed there. Even after I started taking her to the ymca for practice outside lessons - still no progress. It was very frustrating. Covid-19 was a blessing in disguise for us. Kings opened for private lessons only and you had to register in 3-lesson blocks. We got teacher Juliet Lopez with whom my daughter really connected and she was doing 3 days a week private. Within months she moved from level 1A to level IB and then to level 2. Just amazing progress. No outside swimming since gyms were closed and we had no pool access. Still she progressed in her swimming. One thing I realized when that happened is that in a 30 minute group class consisting of 3 students with start/stop/transitions your kid gets a max of about 8 minutes in the water. That's really a tiny amount of time vs. a private class. However private classes are crazy expensive and Kings started phasing them out after Covid-19 restrictions eased up. Also teacher Juliet left. So then we switched to just 1 private and 1 group class - 2 classes total per week. We really liked teacher Laura I feel like my daughter progressed to level 3 with her. Sadly teacher Laura also left for family reasons. Currently we really like teacher David R. My daughter has been progressing in her swimming with him - he taught her to do somersaults like a pro and is working on getting her strokes right. She's a kid who is more interested in water-play than learning so not the easiest to teach. (Along the way we've had a couple pushy teachers. I will not malign them here - I'm sure they had good intensions. My opinion is it's better to reschedule with someone your child connects with.) Anyways - this long review is mostly to offer parents some advice on group classes from a mom who's been there. If you want your kid to progress once a week is not enough - try to do back-to-back classes, drop-ins or a private lesson can really be worth it. Also I see reviews of parents criticizing teachers for "playing" with the kids last 5 mins of time. I disagree - connections/fun are important they motivate the kids so kids are more willing to do hard things the teachers want them to do next time in class. Kings Swim itself has been pretty reliable for me. I've never felt like they were unprofessional - classes start on time, instructors are nice, and the water is warm. One thing that irritates is they've updated their terms so it feels like they're trying to nickel and dime me more (like make-ups expire in a 30 days, 48 vs. 24 hr notice for absences and everything seems to have expiration dates and fees attached). But really they don't have a lot of competition for what they provide - so perhaps it's warranted to grow their business. Thank you Kings Swim!

We've been taking group lessons here for about 4 years. Progress at the beginning was honestly…read morepretty slow--it took around 2-3 years for my child to move from beginner to intermediate. Part of that was likely due to her being afraid of the water when she started at age 4, limited individual attention in a 30-minute group class, and not practicing much outside of the weekly lesson. Teacher turnover does seem a bit high. That said, once we switched to more experienced instructors who gave immediate feedback and corrections, my daughter's swimming improved a lot over the past year. Her age and increased confidence probably helped too. On the plus side, my child made the swim team this year, so overall the lessons have definitely been effective--it just took some time to get there.

Amazing! i loved swimming here with andrew as my instructor and also the best of all, katelyn. she…read morewas very caring and helpful and help me win a tournament in my school

Excellent place for children. My son has learned very…read morequickly. The instructors are very nice.

My son is slow to warm and gets very nervous in new situations, but both Aidan and Jillian are able…read moreto get him to stop crying and have fun during lessons! Can't thank them enough for making the extra effort to help my son feel comfortable in the water.

My son loves going to his swimming classes at La Petite. He has learned so much in the few months…read morethat he has been going and I know he'll be ready to swim on his own in the pools this summer! Thank you to teacher Nico for making class so much for him and to teacher Caitriona for always being so kind and welcoming. We love La Petite Baleen!

Informed staff Top notch facilities…read more Best pools in northern CA (excluding Novato) Extensive yoga Pilates y cycling classes

Nice gym but they have decided to build residence dorms on the main parking lot so you will have to…read morewalk much farther to get to the gym. Parking B will be closed and parking lot A is what we are being told to use. It is about 5 minutes further away, a pain if it was raining or you are carrying anything heavy. You can park in lot c but it is usually full due to 2/3 being used for staff parking. It would be useful if they would due occupancy surveys to determine if Staff parking and handicapped spaces could be reduced. Right now there are 10 handicapped spaces. Even charging extra to secure a spot in that lot might be a good option. I think they are trying to reduce membership and make it more student oriented.Before you join, be sure you understand the parking challenges along with probably endless construction.

It's the Y. It's not a fancy schmancey, hoity-toity, lala gym. It's a neighborhood gym for normal…read morepeople. Average Joe's if you will. And I love it. We left Crunch after 17 years (well, technically it was Gold's before but you get the point) because I had a female stalker and Crunch wouldn't help me (even with restraining orders). I was wildly unimpressed with their non-assistance. We went to Equinox bc it was supposed to be nicer and it was only a 1 mile walk from our house - fantastic. While it looked nicer, it was not nicer. It's old, outdated and limited. It's stupid expensive. And the hours really, really suck. So after a year, we left Equinox and we were wavering on going back to the Bay Club or joining the Y. Our kids really wanted to work out and the Y was a great option for a family plan. So we joined for them. While testing it out and thinking we might bounce out to the Bay Club, we ended up loving it. They recently upgraded all the equipment to smart equipment and I'm diggin it! I haven't seen these machines since I was at an upscale gym in Houston a couple years ago! I love the price ($185 for all 6 of us, plus it as daycare vs $230/mo at equinox per person and no kids are welcome) I love the normalness of the Y too. I may make great income, but I don't want to be with the stiffs. I want to be where my roots are.

This gym has deteriorated to a free for all. The rules around cellphone usage and especially…read moretelephone calls are posted but not in enough places. Worse still they don't enforce them. The one or two people that have the cans to enforce the rules are not around often enough. When they try and enforce the 'no telephone calls' members ignore or even yell at the staff with no retaliatory actions against the members. Several members lack any form of manners or common courtesy. They see no problem sitting around on the machines having 30 minute social visits followed by 10 more minutes of them, still on the machine, but staring at their phones (Lady Garlic!). Parents apparently send their teenagers here for free babysitting. Teens do exactly what they do at home: stare at their phones. And they take pictures, also prohibited. Other review comments about the lazy grumpy front desk staff are true as well but not across the board. Furthermore, there are two younger staff members that will initiate a long conversation with members who are on the machines. This sets a bad example. This is an AI generated picture but this is absolutely what you will see here all the time.

This place is great. My kids love it and have improved so much. They continue advancing and have…read morefun doing it

Mixed feelings because we love our swim teacher, Nicole. She's been wonderful with Levi and we've…read morereally enjoyed watching his progress. However, the billing and makeup policies are extremely frustrating. The biggest issue is that you are still charged for classes when the facility is closed for holidays. Instead of a refund or adjustment, they offer a makeup token. The problem is that the makeup system is very difficult to use in practice. You can only book within 6 days, availability is limited, and there's no guarantee you'll get a time that works. For families like ours who rely on weekend classes, it's especially challenging. On top of that, we were only notified about the Easter closure the day before, which didn't give us any real opportunity to plan around it. Because of all of this, we've ended up paying for classes that were never held and that we realistically couldn't make up. That doesn't feel fair. We've had a great experience with the instructor, but the policies make it hard to recommend overall.

My favorite outdoor pool in the peninsula!…read more I've been going to Burlingame Aquatics for many years now - I use to even swim competitively! The pool operates as both short (25 yards) and long course (50 meters) depending on the day and time. If it is short course, there are about 20 lanes, but if it is long course, it is usually less lanes due to classes/ other programs being held at BAC. I've dropped into lap swim ($9) but I started to opt in for their 10 day pass which is $85 ($5 savings). I also just learned there is a monthly unlimited pass for $75 which is a great deal if you do plan to come in more than 10x a month. Check out their website for hours and if there will be less lanes due to classes. I love going during the day since you'll get a nice tan afterwards!

Centrally located on the Peninsula and close to Burlingame Avenue with its stores and restaurants…read morefor après swim shopping and dining, we felt welcome, great since we came solo without the team. (We go to extra swim meets for additional practice competing and improving time). Pool is sparkling clean, staff is welcoming and got us checked in quickly and seeded. Very cramped and old locker facilities knock off a star.

My 14 year old son has been going to the Coder School for half of his life now: he has had weekly…read morecoaching sessions with Teacher John, who has been awesome and incredibly patient in teaching him all sorts of computer coding and languages - from Python, to Java, to C++, and nowadays they talk about AI and construct projects for him to do that feed his intellectual curiosity. John has been so helpful and creative, and he has maintained a balance between answering my son's myriad questions while also having him execute complicated projects. John has been a constant in my son's life for seven years, and the school is very organized, responsive and helpful whenever we need to make a change to the schedule. I HIGHLY recommend!

Great way to get kids into coding they started in the Palo Alto location and now go to San Mateo…read more My son and daughter both do weekly coding lesson and it has been a great experience. The staff are really top notch and take the time to make sure the kids understand what they are doing and also try to make it topical to games they might play Learning Scratch, python, java etc My kids love making their own games and are looking forward to summer camp where they might make mobile apps