We have enrolled two children with sea turtles swim school over the last couple of years. Having had this much experience with the school I can happily recommend it to anyone. Here are the pros and cons as I see it:

Pros:

Peaceful surroundings, facing a beautiful forest and bush view, only four children maximum in the pool, and the number of spectators (parents/siblings) rarely exceed 8 people and is often far less, making it a good choice for children who can become easily overwhelmed. Even children who can cope with very noisy public pools are able to focus more and listen better in this setting.

Pristine pool- saltwater pool which is kinder on the skin, eyes and lungs, and always crystal clear. When my children get the water in their eyes they don’t cry or complain which helps make the experience nicer for everyone!. Toilet, changing rooms and shower are always clean, well maintained.

Genuine family/community spirit- Cathy and the other teachers show interest in the children and seem to genuinely care about their wellbeing and progress. Unlike many other children’s classes, makeup lessons are offered where possible which makes a huge difference.

Easy/efficient booking, payment, and absence notification system- The system sea turtles use makes it easy to manage my account online so that saves time on the phone or emailing.

Excellent teaching- the teachers are expert at their job. I’ve always felt my children were respected, listened to, and guided gently towards their next steps. At the same time, the teachers will not allow one child to ruin it for everyone else and so they will sometimes have the unruly small person do sit-out time. This helps maintain order and a good learning environment. When I ask, the teachers give me good advice on how I can best help progress my children. As mentioned before, I get the strong sense of caring from the teachers here.

Cons:

Water temp: sometimes in the winter the pool can feel a little cold, even though its heated. On those chilly windy days I send my child in with a wetsuit and that seems to be fine.

Parking- occasionally there has been an issue with finding a parking spot. There are some strict rules on parking which has helped a lot to make sure that everybody can get a spot. As long as everybody respects the rules it seems to work just fine.

In conclusion, we are very happy with sea turtles. The kids look forward to their lessons and have a lot of fun. I found my children accelerated their progress through swimming levels compared with public pool lessons. Weighing up the higher cost of lessons there, I still feel it is so worth it, especially for more sensitive or distractible children. The atmosphere and teaching there is second to none.