Wendy Fereday Swim School

I am very disappointing at the service they have. I have my kids scheduled for swimming lessons for this summer and two days prior for the lessons to start, they called me with not even a little sympathy on the phone call and leave a voicemail that my classes time were given to another family. I send them an email to see why and to see if they have more options and they have not reply back or answer my phone calls. I feel discriminated and I really do not know why are they doing this, my daughters were so excited and now they are so sad and asking why will they give our times to another family which is not fair.

Both of my sons, ages 5.5 and 3 have been going to Wendy Fereday for years now and I am proud to say they love the water, love to swim and are safe around pools! The instructors have been supportive, instructional and fun for the boys to learn with! The pool and locker rooms are clean, the staff is helpful and the stickers after are fun! The first time can be overwhelming with all the splashing and shrieks (usually of joy) in the indoor pool, but you get used to it!

We have been taking our daughter to Wendy’s swim class for over a year now. The first day of class it is hard to see your baby cry because the swim experience is new (the pool is heated & babies are always supervised by 1 – 2 adults with swim jackets) but after just 1 – 2 classes our daughter was LOVING swimming! If we miss a class our daughter notices & tells us! «Swimming!!»
Wendy knows how EXACTLY how to work with babies & teach them swimming. One of the most impressive things they learn is if they fall in the pool they learn to put their arms up, reach for the side and climb out of the pool-​this is HUGE for pool safety should your baby somehow manage to fall in! We have had so many compliments from other parents while on vacation about how well our daughter swims for her age. Thank you Wendy & crew! We will be enrolling our son as soon as he is old enough too!

My three children… and me at age 40 have attended Wendy Fereday Swim School over a six year period. My oldest is now an advanced swimmer with SB Swim Club gearing up for the high school team. The instructors are fabulous! You could not ask for better role models. We all love… and miss our weekly lessons. A worthy time and $$ investment that continues to give back. Thanks Wendy.

I have been taking my 11 month old daughter for a few weeks now and she loves it. The instructor is great. The staff are all VERY friendly. We have had to call and switch to a different class and they were very helpful and flexible.

Very attentive teachers and a safe clean environment. Been there for two years and I’ve got two kids swimming, learning, and smiling in the water.

Wendy is awesome. My son is older now but the swimming foundation that he received has made him comfortable and safe in the water. He started at 1 year old and was «swimming» within 6 months. He fell in a pool once at about 2 years of age and got himself to the side and didn’t panic as he knew the water and what to do.
I think Wendy Fereday and her swim school are the #1 investment a parent can make for their child. These skills will serve them for their entire life.

I took my daughter to this school for a year and six months. Every time she heard we were having swimming lessons she will cry and beg me no to take her. Wendy Fereday always has the best speech to convince you to stay BTW and can talk to you into keep going with the lessons.
I wanted my daughter to learn so bad so I stayed for all that time. Until one day, my daughter was pushed into the pool by the receptionist who was instructed by my daughter’s own swimming teacher because she didn’t want to jump into the pool. My daughter could have been hurt, she turned her body trying to avoid the push and fell in the water on a side, when she got out of the water, she was crying and asking «are we done? are we done? I ran to her and that was the end. I was told I was going to get a call from the office but they only called me after I had contacted them to talk about the incident. Wendy told me that my daughter felt my anxiety and fear that’s why she was not able to learn; after all that time bringing her to this place, we live about 25 min each way BTW for a 15 min class, after cheering her up from my chair and doing everything I could so my daughter could be happier to go to this class. I just wish I hadn’t wasted my money, time and what it is worst, I put my daughter through so much suffering.
We are now going to the SB Polo fields, and there is just one swimming teacher there and it is day and night, my daughter hasn’t cried, no even once! she enjoys her 30 minutes class in this nice and warm outdoor pool, in such a beautiful location, 5 minutes away from home. My daughter is going under the water to reach for rings, she doesn’t do anything she doesn’t want to do, she is not forced to jump if she doesn’t want to. I get the sessions I want, the scheduling is very easy, the bathrooms are clean, and sometimes there is no body at the pool when my daughter is taking her lesson, compare to the chaos at WFSS.
If you feel you really want to try WFSS then do it, but if it doesn’t work for you child the first cycle, do yourself and your baby a favor, do not stick around, try something else.

They are not friendly at all!
You will waste your time and your money their. You can check ucsb, YMCA, or park and re. I honestly can’t recommend it to anybody I know.

We have been a Wendy Fereday Swim School family for 4 years and we love it. Great teachers, a clean and warm pool, and a prompt response from the staff whenever something comes up. Thank you, Wendy and team for teaches our kids how to swim and how to be SAFE in the water!

This is just our personal experience based on our circumstances. From talking with other parents, I know that others have had different experiences.
We signed our son up for the older babies/​young toddlers’ swim class. We had done the low-​key class at the YMCA previously.
We went to the classes that were held in the swimming pool of a retirement home. The school is the exclusive user of this pool at night.
The pool itself was very very busy. While the class was going on in one section of the pool there were numerous private lessons with older children and instructors going on, as well as their parents hanging out around the pool. This wouldn’t be too bad, but I think that the siblings or kids waiting for their lessons that hang out around the pool ramp were the biggest problem. I’d be walking my son down and 7-​year-​olds would be doing headstands or swimming beside us. It made it harder to enter the pool. Secondly, the amount of noise in that small pool did not make for a calm, peaceful environment. Third, there were so many toys just floating around the pool. I don’t know why there were so many toys there. The pool edges were covered in toys — many of them those that didn’t seem to be «pool toys» like stuffed animals. Maybe other kids are okay with that much stimulation, but my kid isn’t.
The class itself (babies/​parents) was pretty large for the space. The impact of this was both that one didn’t get as much one-​on-​one interaction as perhaps you’d hope and that there wasn’t a lot of room to move. The range of abilities and ages was pretty wide. There were 3-​year-​olds that were nearly swimming on their own in with not-​yet-​walking babies. I realize that this is more due to the scheduling than preference of the school (you can’t force people to do a Wednesday or a Monday if they don’t want to), but it was a bit tougher.
My son was not doing well in the class and while Wendy gave helpful suggestions for getting him more comfortable in the water (and I totally trust her opinion on this), they didn’t jive with our parenting philosophy. We aren’t believers in letting our son (at that time he was about a year old) cry through something that he isn’t enjoying. Wendy could have totally been right that letting him cry through it could have worked, but I wasn’t okay with it.
And finally, when it came time to renew, I felt a lot of personal pressure from Wendy via phone and email to continue with the class. It was not working for us because our son wasn’t happy, and we were going to be traveling extensively during the next class period, so signing up to take only a portion of classes wouldn’t work for us. We also were limited as to what classes we could take because we were commuting from 40 minutes away. Although I clearly presented these issues to Wendy, she kept pressuring me to sign him up again. (And I have heard from other parents about this pressure.) I know that this is her business, but the pressure left a bad taste in my mouth.
Business-​wise, Wendy’s school is very organized. The billing, the sign-​ups, the class schedules, the listings — while few are electronic (although some are), all are done very professionally. She has a ton of staff, all easily recognizable in their uniforms, mostly polite high school and college students. You’re not likely to encounter issues on that side of things.
All-​in-​all, if you are interested in your child swimming seriously (swim team or whatever), Wendy’s school is a GREAT choice for you. Her instruction is good, she runs her business professionally, and there are a lot of options as a kid grows. If you are more like us, looking for a fun activity for parent-​baby bonding that also helps baby get more comfortable in the water, Wendy’s class is probably not for you. We had a good experience at the YMCA with a more relaxed class.