La Petite Baleen

You really have to take the semi-​good with the really bad at this location. The front desk is incredibly rude. I’ve given them so many chances and I’m always polite and kind but the people at the front desk are just mean, through and through. Everyone deserves a job, but these people at the front desk should not be allowed to work with the public. As for the classes, there are some good instructors and then others that just go through the motions or are really inexperienced. And they rotate in and out so much that my child never receives consistent training. We have been going for almost two years… That’s how long of a leash we gave them… Hoping they would improve… But we’re over it. Unfortunately, the folks at this site just can’t seem to get it together.

We have been coming here since about March 2015. Our son had had some apprehension about swimming lessons, and had a bit of phobia to the water. A few years before, we had taken him for swim lessons, and the experience was not very consistent — and highly dependent on what kind of teacher you got.
Here at LPB, we were pleasantly surprised at how specific each class was, and how structured the program was. It was perfect for our son. His first teacher was Elisa, and he LOVED her. She helped him overcome his fear of water, and she quickly built his confidence.
Our son really benefits from knowing that there are specific skills and tasks he will be working on each class. He loves getting the stickers and ribbons.
Our only «con» here would really be the process for setting up a make-​up session. It’s not exactly easy. It involves finding an available time slot within a certain time period. Other than that, we love it!
We highly recommend!

My daughter started at 4 months in the infant class and is currently a level 2 in the toddler class. We started lessons because she’d scream when her foot touched water and we were taking a trip to Hawaii. The teachers have always been very patient with her and now she’s a little water baby and swims fantastically for her 2.5 years. I expect her to be taking classes there until she collects her level 4 ribbon. Baby number 2 will also be starting classes there too when he’s old enough.

This is a difficult review to write. My four year old son began lessons in June and has come so far; I’m incredibly proud of his progress. We started with semi-​private lessons and then decided it would be best for my son to participate in a group lesson to further improve his participation. Teacher Peter was a fantastic teacher and modified the lesson to meet my son’s needs. Since my little guy wasn’t a fan of wearing fins, goggles, and the inner tube, Peter would accommodate my son and make the lesson appropriate for his level. My son is physically able to walk, run, and swim but has a neurological speech disorder that makes coordination more difficult at times. During our last lesson, I was proudly watching my son becoming more brave and trying his new skills when I was approached by the manager Shelley. Keep in mind, my son was NOT a safety risk and always patiently waited for his turn on the pool steps. She said, «I know that your son has made progress since he has started but he is not making progress quickly enough. He would be better off taking private lessons.» I was in complete disbelief. There was no warning that he was at risk for being asked to leave. He was in the beginning Level One swim class, was in no way disturbing other children, and loved his time in the pool. When I asked, «So you are telling me we have to leave group lessons?» She replied, «Yes, he can only take private lessons.» I then asked, «Are you are aware that he has special needs?» She replied in a condescending tone, «Yes I am.» I was completely taken by surprise and was informed of this decision in front of a bench full of other parents. So we are saying goodbye to Le Petit Baleen for their complete disregard to the sensitivity needed when speaking with parents and their discriminatory practices. This is just wrong on so many levels. We have since joined King’s Swim Academy and both the manager and teacher have welcomed my son with open arms.

My son was terrified of the water and anything to do with it. I tried teaching him to swim at the local Y and it was impossible. Enrolled him at LPB and within 3 months he’s passed the level 1 requirements and he’s gaining in confidence. They have done wonders here for him.

This review is based on some of teachers at LPB RWC/​Atherton.
The facilities are new, clean, parking is ok, you share it with Chavez Super Market patrons. Everything else about LPB is fine.
My issue is with some teachers. Many seem seasonal, college students on summer break and just passing by.
Our daughter has been swimming at This facility for almost 2 yrs now and lately has regressed.
She hasn’t had a consistent teacher for the last few months. Some days she’ll have a great teacher who’s energetic and praises your child. Other days she’ll have someone who is just there to collect a pay check.
Bottom line, it’s hit or miss with their teachers. If you’re lucky enough to find one, I would say the $ 90 a month is well worth it.

We signed up and never were able to schedule lessons. We never stepped foot inside and yet were charged the monthly fee without ever using the service for almost 6 months. We called and explained and were given a full refund of almost $ 600. No questions asked. It was an outstanding experience. They dealt with us exactly as we would want to be treated. I would recommend them to anyone as that kind of excellence in service and doing the right thing by the customer is in short supply these days. Well done Karen and team. Thank you. Thank you
–the Cooks

I signed up for classes with my 2-​year-​old, but didn’t like the super-​high chlorine level in the pool, the lack of customer service upon arrival, and the overall lack of attention during the class. Therefore, I decided to cancel out of the lessons series. Upon calling La Patite Baleen, I was told that I cannot cancel my lessons via phone — I cannot have an interaction with a human in order to discuss my displeasure with the classes or the possibility of getting my money back, I must submit the cancellation via the web portal. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because the entire thing seems like an assembly line operation with no personal touch and very little care.

I ran into a wall teaching my 4 y.o. to swim: she refused to submerge her face. I tried every YouTube trick, and failed. Teacher Shelley succeeded. Now, the kid loves the water.
Shelley is exactly the kind of teacher we like: strict, loud, and fast-​paced. She pushes the students, nips tomfoolery in the bud, and covers lots of exercises in each half-​hour class.
The drawbacks:
1. Many teachers aren’t like Shelley.
2. Students absent due to illness can’t go to a make-​up class without paying extra.
3. Perhaps teaching how to rest on your back could be a higher priority.

I love this place for swim lessons, and so do my kids!
I took my oldest child to swim lessons at the YMCA for 11 months, twice a week, and my child could not swim. Within the first month of taking swim lessons at La Petite Baleen, I saw amazing progress and huge leaps in his abilities. I don’t believe at all that he would be as far as he is now if we had stayed at the Y.
He makes progress every lesson, I am so impressed. And we have only been there 3 months. Most importantly, he is swimming. As with anything, a teacher can make a difference. We’ve been lucky so far to have had 2 great teachers. If you don’t like a teacher, you can easily switch the next week and try someone else, there are lots of times and options available.
All swim schools are not alike. I never knew there were different techniques to learn to swim, but I saw this from these 2 swim schools.
They keep track of your child’s progress with stickers and ribbons. I really never thought my kid would be so motivated by a sticker, but when one kid in his group gets a sticker or ribbon for completing certain tasks or levels, it’s amazing how much he will work to get a sticker or ribbon. It is effective in that you know exactly where your child is in their progress, it is noted at the swim school as having accomplished a certain level, and if you need to switch teachers, they are aware of the child’s progress and what they are lacking in order to move to the next level.
The swim lessons are once a week. I like that they offer Family Swim on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, so that gives you yet another time for you and your child to practice. I am also able to take my younger child then, even though they don’t take swim lessons yet. What a great deal!
There is a small play area for kids if you have one that isn’t swimming at that time. The facility is nice and clean. The bathrooms have under floor heating! (I haven’t had that since Europe!)
It has a very comfortable seating area for parents and children to sit and wait, and watch through a floor to ceiling window, or if you like, you can sit benchside by the pool to watch.
Cons:
Contacting them per phone is difficult. Luckily if I can’t handle the problem in their online portal or online chat, I just drive there and ask my questions, it is not far from me.
Aside from being able to reach someone per phone easily, so far I have been very happy with this swim school. They do offer a call back within 24 hours. Unfortunately the call back is never at a convenient time for me. But once you get the hang of the place, you can really do everything online or just talk with someone in person when you take your kid to lessons there.

i am checking out swim places for my newly 8yo daughter who already knows how to swim pretty well, from my teaching her in the public pool over the summer. [i was MVP all 4yrs in HS and swam competitively all my life] i tried peninsula swim school and this place and after experiencing this place today i am not impressed.
sure the place *looked nice* ~ it was clean and all organized with the appearance very well designed, but the content and vibe lacked immensely. the teacher we got, whitney, seemed tired and overworked. when we greeted her she didnt even smile/​show kindness to my daughter who was a new student.
when the kids were allowed in the pool, exactly on time, not a second before, they were made to rush through exercises my daughter had never done before. the teacher was impatient and expected them to do exactly as she said and i heard her complain out loud a few times that she was sick of saying things more than once. these are kids for crying out loud! she was rude and mean.
one little boy was visibly scared and cried. she barked out ‘why are you crying?! youre doing great!’ not kindly/​consoling at all, more of a «get over it kid». i saw her push his head underwater to make him go down under and also to hold the kids heads down in the water so they held their breath. it was awful! i wanted to get her out of there as fast as i could when it was over.
the teaching techniques were unbelievable if this is the way they do it there we are never going back. they need to be reprimanded!!!
they tested my daughter for diving which she had never done and the style which the teacher put the kids body in was all wrong. she didnt describe what they were supposed to do, she just made them stand a certain way moving their bodies with her hands until they got where she wanted them and then it was like hurry up and get it done kid.
honestly i was appalled. my view was that this person teaching is unsafe and shouldnt be teaching kids swimming if she didnt enjoy it. she should go get another job!
thumbs down from this mom and professional swimmer!
ps. the front desk person seemed disinterested too. they all seem overwhelmed and overworked in there. stressed, tired and unfocused.

We have tried many swim schools on the peninsula until we found this one. The amenities are great, new and clean. The pool always heated to 93 F which is essential for my 2 year old daughter to have a good time in the water. The curriculum is very age appropriate, they have great equipment to conduct the lessons and the teachers are very well educated to teach the little ones how to swim.
After attending a group class for toddlers over one year, which is honestly not more than a playdate in the water, we switched to private lessons. This is where the magic happens ;-) I would never ever have thought that my daughter could swim on her own with just 2 ¾ years, but teacher Andrea made the impossible possible.
We totally love this place and can not recommend it enough for little toddlers learning to swim.

We are so grateful to this school. For a year our daughter was terrified of water/​swimming. We sent her to a highly reputable school where she would spend 25 minutes of a 30 minute class hanging on the side of a wall, waiting her turn and becoming more scared. After taking 6 months off we tried LPB in Atherton which had a reputation for helping children who are fearful. On the first day all the other parents in class welcomed up and shared their stories of they own childrens fears and how quickly they overcame them. We’ll in less than two months my daughter went from terrified to swimming under water and jumping in the pool. She now lives swimming! The parents all cheer for each others children when each hits a new milestone or overcomes a fear. It is a wonderful community they’ve built showing great thought with their open family swims on weekends (complete with extra coaches in the water to help) to having amazing calming coaches who have been with them for years. In a 30 minute class here, even with 4 kids, your child will be swimming 95% of the time. They use techniques for engaging all the children that clearly take great mastery. I’ve never seen another school do it. It is incredibly impressive. The water itself is very warm and comfortable. Finally not to be missed is the wonderful owner who is so joyful to be around and full of life. He learns the families’ names, helps coach classes and is always there to lend encouragement and a smile. We are so lucky to have found this school.

Swim Instruction: Depends on the instructor. We had Teacher Liz for our 2.5 year old and she was great, but then when we transitioned to the next level up, the other instructor was horrible. Took a full 5 minutes for her to help get fins on the kids, actually asked the kids «what should we do now?» (to 3 and 4 year olds!) and overall just wasted a ton of time and gave very poor instruction.
Facilities: On Saturdays and Sundays, it’s packed – the parking lot, which is shared with a grocery store is a mess, and classes seem to all end/​begin simultaneously, so there’s always a mad rush for the showers, which are outside the locker rooms and in a location right in the middle of where everyone is coming/​going trying to get to class. The pool seems to be clean and well-​maintained and the locker rooms are clean.
Operations: Terrible.
Not once have they have answered the phone when I’ve called. The «online portal» doesn’t allow you to change or swap classes, so you have to call to do that. Additionally, there is no «waitlist» function – so, if you want to switch to a class at another time, but that class is full, your only option is to continue to call back repeatedly in the hopes that someone has dropped a slot that you are interested in taking. There are no make-​up classes, which I find obnoxious given how difficult rescheduling is – they should at least offer 1 make-​up class or refund for every 3 months of membership or something.
Overall, we continue to come here because we haven’t found anything better and if you get a great instructor then it’s worth the money and hassle, but finding the right instructor and dealing with the scheduling is unnecessarily complicated and frustrating.

First ignore any negative reviews. La Petite is wonderful. My daughter, now 14 years old, started out at the Half Moon Bay school. She graduated from there many years ago and has been swimming with Stanford competitively for many years now. I thank La Petite for giving her that confidence. I now take my 5 year old nephew to the La Petite in Redwood City. I love the location, facility and the staff. They are always welcoming and the teachers respect each students needs. My nephew has only been attending about 2 months now and is already so confident at swimming. As for contacting customer service. I have simple left a brief message and they have returned my call within 24 hours. Which I feel is very reasonable for any business.

This place is FANTASTIC! We started bringing my daughter to a parent and me class almost 2 months ago & we couldn’t be more pleased! The staff, location & atmosphere are all so welcoming and enjoyable.
The facility is absolutely gorgeous. Pool is set to a warm, comfortable temp & the water is always pristine. The locker rooms are heated, have ample space to change and store your swim bag while in class. Parking is awesome-I’ve never had a problem with it being full.
We swim with teacher Anya and she is amazing! She interacts wonderfully with all the students in the class & always giving encouragement and tips to help the lil ones do better in the water.
Overall this place is absolutely nailing it in all areas. One of my favorite perks of this swim school is the family swim time. They are hour long slots during the week or weekend (depending on which swim school you choose-​we have gone to San Bruno on days we couldn’t make it here) where you can swim for free with your child. No fee, just part of your tuition-​what a steal!
Side note: it looks like whatever kinks they had when first opening, are all ironed out. I’d definitely go with their online sign up & avoid calling, you skip the waiting and the website pretty much answers most questions.

I agree with the others that LPB needs to do a better job with how they register their customers, especially when they put out Groupons and other social deals that are sure to flood their site. Whenever you call to register, you’ll never get a live person right away and will inevitably play phone tag several times with someone who will call whenever you are not near your phone. After a half dozen times of doing that, I was fortunate enough to snag someone on their online chat to register my son into their weekend class.
They call the location Atherton in order to appeal to all those soccer moms, but it’s in the same parking lot as Chavez Supermarket, so c”mon, you really know you’re in RWC. The facilities are new and nice, and the smell of chlorine doesn’t knock you over. I preferred the set up of King’s Swim Academy in San Carlos where the showers are inside the locker rooms — that way I could bring my son inside and give him a decent shower semi-​privately. The showers here are right next to the pools, so you get the huge mass of kids and parents rinsing off right after their lessons, and then you have to pack everything up and drag it into the locker room to get changed. I always went with my husband so we were able to manage it with two people; if I was alone with my squirmy kid, it would be a battle for sure to keep everything straight.
The instructors seem nice (one guy in particular is rather loud and boisterous — you’ll know who when you see him — the kids seem to dig it though) and try to make your kid feel special even though they are one in a thousand kids they’ll see that day. They hand out little ribbons which is a great idea to keep the little ones motivated. I wish they had a better make up policy… if you can’t make a class, there’s really nothing you can do. Which is why I haven’t signed up yet beyond the Groupon deal because I’m never 100% sure if I can make it a certain weekend and to have no way to make it up down the road when these classes are expensive is rough.

I know Petite Baleen is a highly reputable swim school but their new location in Atherton obviously does not rank customer service as a priority. I’ve tried calling them several times to book by sons in classes and they don’t return calls and their LIVE CHAT on their website seems to always be down. What a bummer that they cannot get it together to serve the community. How hard is it to have a real person answer the phone or return calls. I was excited to try this since I live in RWC and never wanted to drive to HMB or San Bruno. It’s pathetic! I will be going back to King’s.

We LOVE this pool & swim school! The facility is brand new & gorgeous. Clean, nice & comfortable for my 3 & 7 year olds taking lessons!
The front desk staff is super welcoming and helpful.
The pool deck managers are kind, enthusiastic, attentive and knowledgeable.
And the teachers are fabulous. My three year old was a bit hesitant at first but teacher Terry’s kind, encouraging ways helped my daughter happily engage in the class the whole time. My 3 year old is already improving and nearly swimming after three lessons!
My older daughter is taking lessons to work on her stroke technique. Her teacher was super knowledgeable and accurate in her assessments and instruction.
We are very pleased with this swim school and highly recommend it!

The newest location of La petite baleen is conveniently located right off of el camino at the border of redwood city and atherton. I’ve heard that it’s the smallest of all the locations and thus the most intimate. Parking is easy and plentiful and the customer service seemed fine. I called in for a free trial and was guided through the schedule. Our first class was today and it was the swim class for babies. Our 5 month old daughter loved her first swim experience at LPB. The instructor was warm, friendly and excellent with babies. It’s a 30 minute once weekly class with a ratio of 6 students to 1 swim instructor. A parent must be present with the baby in the pool and honestly it was so much fun for me and for my little tot.
The facility is clean and that’s really important to me. The bathrooms and locker room are kid friendly with a pack n play and changing tables as well as plenty of bench seating.
I think we will be back for more swim fun. :)