What to know before you choose
BY SARAH MERRITT RYAN
When our son was 18 months old, my husband and I wanted him to learn to swim. We just chose the first swim school that came to mind—one that was reasonably close to our house. I assumed all swim schools were alike and that they were there to do one thing—teach kids to swim, and that’s it. You go for the 30-minute lesson each week and then go home. So we reviewed pricing, location, convenience and timeslot availability and signed the contract.
It turns out there is much more to swim schools than I thought, including the one we go to. While we are happy with our choice, and all swim schools in this area have a good reputation, each one offers a variety of programs that may interest you and could factor into which swim school you choose.
There are four national swim school chains in the area. Each chain location consistently offers the same programming and terms as the others and are always accepting new students.
Goldfish Swim School
Cary; Morrisville location opens November 2025
Goldfish’s swim team, Swim Force, holds quarterly competitive swim meets where they learn all four strokes. This program is available to children after they have moved beyond Pro 2 status. They offer general open swim sessions to members and nonmembers (who pay a nominal fee), plus a special Friday night open swim with a theme, where kids can paint a pot or do pajama story time, for example. Goldfish also does water safety presentations by request for organizations such as schools or moms’ groups as well as Safer Swimmer Pledges in the month of May, where kids color and draw their pledge to be displayed on walls for all to see. Goldfish also partners with the Carolina Swims Foundation to offer free swim lessons to children in need.
Aqua-Tots Swim School
Cary; Holly Springs
Aqua-Tots offers a swim club, which is different from a swim team. It is a competitive practice for advanced swimmers, which is used as a time to practice laps and be social with others. They host Swimfest in the fall and spring, where members and their guests can participate in open swim. Aqua-Tots offers swim lessons in several formats: group, semiprivate and private lessons for all ages, including those with special needs. They also have Fast Track, a one-week intensive session to speed up muscle memory and skill development. With a small registration fee, a nonmember—perhaps even at another swim school who needs this service—can sign up for it regardless.
Big Blue Swim School
Apex
Big Blue’s curriculum focuses on proficiency instead of skills, emphasizing endurance and distance versus just how to do it. They divide their swim lessons into four groups: Babies, Brights, Bold and Bigs. Bold and Bigs are both six years and up; however, Bigs is a slightly longer class at 45 minutes for children who want to learn the foundational steps of being on a swim team. Select Big Blue swim associates are trained to be Swim Whisperers through Swim Angelfish, a national organization created to teach swimming to children with special needs, while also being trained intensively through Big Blue’s curriculum. Starting in June, they began offering Super Improver Clinics—30-minute sessions where you, as a parent, tell the instructor what your child needs to work on and how they can help you troubleshoot. You don’t have to be a member to enroll in Super Improver Clinics. They also offer classes to adults. Big Blue is the only swim school in Apex, and this national franchise is looking to place swim schools in other 5 West suburbs as well.
SafeSplash
Holly Springs; Morrisville
SafeSplash offers swim lessons to people of all ages. They focus on promoting swimmers according to skillsets versus age, and offer group, private and semiprivate lessons. Their Wave program is geared toward individuals interested in joining a swim team. Using a technology called SwimLabs, the team can provide video analysis to improve swim techniques for Ironman competitors, Olympians, college teams and more. During school breaks, children can take SwimJams, an intensive one-week program where your child takes daily one-hour intensive sessions for muscle memory. They also offer aqua fitness classes, open swim, and corporate or birthday party rentals with private rooms.
Our son is finally sticking with swimming lessons, and we are so relieved that he is making progress. He’s been doing just one swim class per week, but we were curious how to kick it up a notch. We would love for him to fully be able to swim without a life preserver by this July, when we go to the beach. It’s good to know that swim schools offer a variety of options, especially for a family like ours that does not live in a neighborhood with a community pool.
It’s also nice to know there’s a next step where your child has opportunities to be challenged once they become proficient, and can even compete if they are so inclined. Since so many of these swim schools allow you to take advantage of certain programs, even if you belong to another under a contract, they are actively positioning themselves to be part of the community through giving back by providing a safety program.
