Super cute swim school in Redmond. Our instructor, Claire, is extremely friendly with the babies and makes the classes fun, we look forward to them every week! The viewing area does get a little chaotic but it's worth navigating. read more

Hi, parent of a 7 year old here. I enrolled my daughter for around 3 years and honestly my experience at Goldfish Swim School in the Redmond location was honestly pretty disappointing. The instructors came across as unprofessional, a lot of inconsistency, not much structure, and not enough attention on the kids. It often felt like they weren't prepared for the lessons or didn't really know how to manage the class. Because of that, the actual learning just wasn't there. Kids weren't getting clear instruction, corrections, or real progress. It felt more like loosely supervised pool time than an actual swim lesson, which is not great considering the hefty price in exchange for "golden" quality and the expectations they set. I would often see teachers chat with other staff during lessons which really disappointed me as a parent because not only are you not giving the quality of education promised, but you're jeopardizing the safety of my child by looking away. I don't understand why I need to pay a hefty price to feel anxious during their education. Along with the teachers, they swap out and change too often to be consistent. Overall, it didn't feel like a place where children could genuinely develop their skills or learn safely. I wouldn't recommend it based on what I saw. There are definitely better places out there, or even a family trip to a pool would benefit more than a yearlong subscription in my opinion. read more

I just want to write a helpful review here because when I started my daughter at Goldfish, all the reviews were glowing. There is no possible way any child can learn to swim here if all they are doing are the group lessons. These lessons are one 30 min session per week that includes 4 children. As one reviewer astutely pointed out: that's only 6 minutes of swimming each visit. Less, if your swimmer needs a potty break, etc. Our daughter was enrolled in group lessons at Goldfish for over 2 years, at which point we have spent close to $4,000. We kept thinking if we kept her in it, one day it would pay out. Her swim skills only improved when we spent hours in a pool while on vacation. I repeat: she DID NOT improve AT ALL unless she swam outside of Goldfish swim lessons. The lack of progression with Goldfish is utterly astounding. Swim instructors (mostly high school kids) are on auto-pilot and are perfectly happy to let the children remain at their current swim ability (which is essentially no ability). I understand their approach is "gentle," but this really does not work for most children if you are looking for results and you have seen no improvement in months. If money is of no consequence to you, Goldfish is the way to go. If you want your child to learn to swim, look elsewhere; or know that they will absolutely require additional time in the pool outside of their swim class. Most reviewers fawn over the amenities and facilities at Goldfish. Our bottom line is making sure our daughter learns how to swim... and Goldfish is not it. Update since Goldfish responded: the swim instructor turnover is extremely high. Anytime our daughter got used to someone, they left for college, another job, etc. For Goldfish to insinuate we are at fault for making up too many classes is a gross exaggeration, and frankly, unprofessional. read more

Disappointed customer here. Had a very bad experience with the front desk customer service. I was tying to reach them all afternoon to reschedule my class. No one called back even after leaving a voicemail. And next day someone called me saying that I would not get a make up token. ( since I had used up 12) The facility is clean and well maintained but the instructors keep changing every week. There are 4 kids in each lane so each kids gets less than 10 mins of swim time. My 3yo had minimal to 0 progress in the year. Irrespective of COVID they offer only 12 makeup tokens. And looks like the front desk won't call back to reschedule the class. And there is no way to put your enrollment on hold in case you are on vacation. So the makeup tokens get used! Each class is about $35, so there goes the money down the drain if you cannot reschedule. Are they encouraging us to take sick kids to class? I'm sorry but I'm going to go ahead and cancel my son's enrollment at this time. I really expected better service from them especially in the flu season. read more

Goldfish Swim has been long awaited in the Redmond Center! I love the staff here, the opening week showed its popularity with the droves of parents interested in swim for their children. I think the spot the welcome you into is incredibly clean, well kept, kid friendly in all the best ways possible, communicative, and well designed! I see lots of good happening during lessons, lots of follow up, and close to no crying kids! They claim to provide a golden experience, and I see nothing but that. Joette and JJ the owners are some of the nicest people I've ever met. Lots quality here, bring your kids who need help with swimming. read more

"Underwater" w/non customer friendly billing model. Bills maximum classes each month, up front. Allows a limited series of make up tokens - even if you request one up to 1 minute before class starts. Stay with me - trips, illness, naps all come into play for your regular Friday, 5pm class. Makeup token created, another makeup token created. Monthly max still bills. Classes still happen. Decide to cancel for a bit to catch our breath. Staff are polite and allow it, but here's the catch: you can't use makeup tokens if not actively enrolled in a monthly class. So either you attend all future classes, and attend limited make up classes at similar inopportune times, or you spend money and receive nothing. While the experience for the little ones is fun, the experience for mom and dad and their wallet is below bar. Want to fix it, management? Offer anytime make up tokens for customers that are paying hundreds of dollars for no service and are otherwise stranded with tokens with no ability to redeem. (Nit side note, classes regularly start 3-5 mins late yet finish aggressively on/ahead of time, compressing the short scheduled 30 mins allocated.) read more

My son has recently started going there. At first the place seems very cramped and crowded as they have divided the pool in 7 portions. I had been having a hard time to enroll my son for a swim class post pandemic. I had put him at wait list for at least 3 swim schools but only Gold Fish reached out to me. They can definitely reduce one or 2 lanes so that kids and coaches aren't cramped. Good thing is that they give you a make up class if you aren't able to make it to your regular class. You can cancel even a couple of hours before. Also, I like how once enrolled is always enrolled where as in Stamina, non members have to enroll every month. Which can be cumbersome. Our coach Tristan is really polite and patient with kids, which is the most important factor. read more

We have similar experience as the Lydia S. who left comments below. Our kid has been here for almost 2 years, the learning progress is super slow. The instructors turn over is too frequent especially this year, not like the official website described as "sometimes". Whenever that happens, it takes time for the new instructor and the kid to get familiar with each other. We feel we were forced to take these "reset" sessions and it's really a waste of time for us spending 1 hour including driving to this class but only watch the kid "play" in the water for 5 minutes. So if you are targeting for your kid to really learn the swimming skills, this is probably not the right place for you. read more

We've been through the entire program with our 8 year old and she is a safe, confident swimmer who enjoys swim team. Our youngest is currently in Junior 2 and on track with swimming milestones. We've been to several private swim schools and really appreciate the instructors at Goldfish over the last 4 years. read more

Update : 6 months later we have moved up to a different level. We had the best family vaca in Miami because of Goldfish Swim. Our 5 year old played non stop in the kids pool area , waterslides and all and was confidently splashing around and having fun in the water. It gave us some peace of mind knowing he had some basic swim safety down, and he was proud to show off his backfloats. Thank you to JJ for listening to feedback on the parent portal too. Look forward to seeing our guy continue to build confidence in the water and grow at Goldfish Redmond. read more

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Super sour experience with Maddie their manager on the phone): She wasn't very helpful to our situation and wouldn't give us an opportunity to speak to someone else. Not really sure where to go from here. ‍ EDIT! Update! JJ the owner reached out to us immediately and was super helpful! He gave us a solution to our problem and was more than accommodating for us. So glad we got this resolved and can continue to enjoy Goldfish Swim School! read more

Our experience is just like the last two post. High turnover, poor management, poor customer experience. Great place to get your child into the water. Not great if you actually want your child to learn how to swim. Lessons have been useless and no progress made for our family or other families in the group. If you raise concerns you will receive threats from their employees on cancelling your membership. Maddie is extremely unprofessional as many have already called out below. read more

We're thrilled to have this brand new swim school in our community! My son had his first class this evening and it went swimmingly (pun intended). The facility is beautiful, staff couldn't be sweeter, and they run right on time. It's bright and inviting, immaculate, and full of positive energy. Highly recommended! read more

Goldfish Swim School - Junior 1 swim class - Swimming Pools Near Me - Redmond, Washington

We attended class here pre-Covid. The instructor was really sweet and made my daughter comfortable. But I'm really disappointed that they do not accommodate requests for vaccinated teachers during a pandemic (when young kids are fully unprotected) The manager said it was a HIPAA violation to share (it's not) and was not willing to even let us ask the instructor ourself. Other facilities in the area do share their teachers vaccination status, so I guess I wonder if this policy is because many of their teachers are unvaccinated. Such a shame because we really liked the school pre-Covid, but we will be taking our kids for private lessons elsewhere. read more

My toddler has been going here since they opened up in August. He always looks for to swimming every weekend! Super friendly staff and clean pool. read more

Goldfish Swim School - My son waiting to get into thr pool! - Swimming Pools Near Me - Redmond, Washington

Update: thank you for the comment. If your kids could learn from observation, it is a good program. Because your kids will surely have most of the class time observing, assuming they could pay full attention during the idle time. My 4 year old cannot do that. Thanks again! read more

Very unhappy with the costumer service here. Wasn't clear on the member ship of this place. Make sure you know what you sign up for. Missed lessons they don't let you do unless you continue to pay for their membership... ( even if they charged you for it ) They never answer the calls!! They don't open office phone after 4pm which parent has time to sit on phone after 4 pm. When they have school pick up and dinner to prepared. Very inconvenient for parents. Will not be back here. Very upsetting they charge for a membership and won't even let me have some makeup lessons for my kids. When you didn't even know you were still being charged! Make sure you know what you sign up for cause they just throw that in your face after and are very rude to making the consumer happy.. won't be coming back here. There system of communication is very complicated and have to go through so many systems. Who with kids has time for that. "Should just be a call, simple to just say they are going to miss some lessons. " You have to make an account and than from there login in and write the time and dates and so forth that the child will miss a lesson. swimming teachers are also never stable they always seem to have subs. Kids can't ever get completely comfortable with the teacher. My kids didn't get to have a stable teacher. Over all not happy with this place! read more

If you need a safe place to get your kids some exercise (and the wiggles out) during COVID, this is it! They have excellent instructors who put a lot of effort into graduating your kids up through the swim levels. I have two kids here, in very basic and in higher levels and I'm so impressed. The facility is super clean and all of their COVID protocols are strict. I also love the technology that makes it easy to keep track of classes, book make-ups, etc... This place rocks!! read more

I had a good experience with the mini classes, until they recently cut the swim area in half without reducing the class size. Now 7 adults and kids must fit in a tiny space, with barely any room to move around. My son can't kick his legs without kicking another toddler. There was no notice of this change, which according to the front desk was made to double the number of classes. A classic case of ruining the product in a cash grab. read more

We started Goldfish Swim School in October and have been loving them. We recommend them to everyone we know and have loved them. For my timid kid, 5, it was perfect. I'm RIGHT there by the pool on the other side of the glass and my son is in a pool heated to 90° and the room is 92°, so no chills when he gets out. Staff are always friendly and welcoming. They are fairly pricey, but not too much more than other places and it's something that you always get what you pay for. They offer a variety of friendly supports and tools for him to use, and he enjoys it. It's very much catered to kids and it's THEIR pool. Love it! read more

Have tried multiple different times to get my son swim lessons here and with a busy schedule it seems that I just can't. I can't walk in because they're closed when I get off work and I can't make or pay for resorvations over the phone according to the people on the phone. Just a little disappointed in the sign up process read more

Love this swim school. The facility is new, clean and colorful! My kid loves it and wants to head to the pool immediately. Staff are great and the changing stations are very family friendly. read more

After trying a couple different swimming lesson options in Redmond for my daughter and seeing no progress I was discouraged. We started at Goldfish and within a month my daughter was swimming. The teachers take the last five minutes of class to connect with the parents about their child's progress. The facility is clean and there are little thoughtful conveniences everywhere. Our family loves going to weekly family swim, it's so easy to enjoy with the warm water and toys in the water. read more

I brought my 2 kids here for the first time after walking past it numerous times while it was being built. We finally decided to go to a family swim. My son has autism and he had such a fun time! It wasn't that crowded that day during family swim so that helped with sensory overload but it also helped that it was indoors and heated. Unfortunately, our time was cut short due to unforeseen circumstances. We were there for probably 45min or less. That was a bummer for us as were trying to get 2 kids out as they were finally having fun. i would probably come back soon for a second time to give it another shot read more

Good school, kids enjoy the instructors.

The staff over here are really Awesome. We celebrated our girl birthday party today at this place and it was so perfect. All the kids had great time. read more