[bigA]

hi there,

we are looking at starting swimming lessons for our 3 children aged 6 and 4 yrs ( twins). just wondering if anyone has any views on whether state swim is better or craige leisure centure is for swim lessons?

thanks
aileen

[Fabulous]

We currently go to Craigie but have done stateswim in the past, although it was a few years ago. Craigie was cheaper when I last looked although that could have changed. It is currently $126 for a 9 week term. An advantage that stateswim has is that you can book a makeup lesson if you miss one, they don't do that at Craigie. If you miss a lesson there you can get a free family pass to the pool but that has to be used during the term. We used to use Whitfords statswim and around Christmas time it was very difficult to get a parking spot with all of the shoppers. With stateswim they take children into the water to do lessons on their own at an earlier age than Craigie do although I don't think that would be an issue for you. I have found the water temperature to be similar at both pools. Regarding which place has better lessons/teachers, I didn't notice any difference. Craigie has a lot of different levels operating at the same time so it maybe easier to get all of your kids lessons schedules simultaneously?

This post has been edited by Fabulous: 09/11/2012, 08:51 AM

[Ruffles]

I have also used both. Generally I prefer stateswim, as they move the children up through the levels when they are ready, without having to wait until the end of the term. I have also found the teachers a little stricter, which my DD needed. And they were more willing to help my DS get over his fear of water. It took them 6 weeks, after 2 wasted terms at Craigie.

Much prefer stateswim, as I said. But I agree with Fabulous - parking can be a hassle. We did Saturday AM for a while, which was a pain.

[bigA]

hi there, thanks to you both for your replies.. very much appreciated. stateswim phoned me back today and they are making up a new class for my 3 little ones on a tue at 5.30 which is just brilliant. when my son was little i took him to craige and it was totally fine and i was going to take them back there again ( we have been overseas for a few yrs) until i spoke to another mum whom was taking her 2 children to state swim in osbourne park and they were doing really well. we have decided to choose stateswim ( whitfords so fingers crossed with the parking!!) for the reasons in that they only have 4 per class and they move them up when appropriate as opposed to waiting for a 9 week course to end. also with having 3 children in stateswim it is a little cheaper too which is a bonus:O)

again thank you both for your replies! have a good weekend )

[SeaPrincess]

Interesting to read your comments, because our experience of Stateswim (East Fremantle) was that we went for months on end not progressing and DS1 at 18 months was put into a class that was age-based and was well behind what he'd been doing in his previous swimming school interstate where they were getting him ready to do classes without me. I prefer the term-based programs because we get a regular progress report.

R