Coulter Swimming Northmead

"Some good and some bad things about this center. Good - Staff is quite friendly and helpful. The coach/teachers are good at what they do. They pay close attention to kids, find improvement areas for kids and improve on it. Overall good experience in terms of teaching. Bad - This swimming center has no area/lanes to practice after swimming class. We had earlier gone to Granville Swim Centre which has many areas/lanes to practice. But Coulter Swim center does not have it, which results in slowing down the kids progress or forcing them to go somewhere else for extra practice. Other issue is that the center has recently changed the payment process. Payment at the counter now has hefty surcharge. Online payment also has charges/fess like card fee, data handling fee and so on. There is no way 'online or offline' to just pay the class fees without surcharges. This is ridiculous. Even if the surcharges are low and not a big financial hit, as a principle, there should be way to pay just fees, without surcharges."

"Started 2022 with Coulter. My son with ASD and ADHD has learned a lot and is now moving to the next program level after just one school term through the help of his instructor, Luke. Thank you so much, Luke, for being so patient and understanding. 2023, my son has just finished his program level with Tristan who is sooo awesome and always has a smile on his face. He is very friendly and knowledgeable. My son will surely miss you, Tristan! My daughter with ASD and anxiety learned to be an independent swimmer and be confident of submerging herself in water through the help of her instructor, Olivia, in 2022. I find her better than her first instructor as we saw faster progress and is more competent. She has already progressed to the next program level and, just like her brother, always excited to attend their weekly swimming lesson. Apr2023: I am changing my review from 5☆ to 3☆ because they divided the small pool from 2 lanes into 3 unequal lanes making each lane too narrow for the lesson (compared to the width in the big pool). The side lane of the small pool is too narrow that the concrete side of the pool makes it unsafe (not free of hazard), with tendency of the kid to accidentally hit the concrete side or the steel bar. How I wish I can take a photo of it. I understand the increase of fees, but the safety was not taken into consideration. Not ideal and very disappointing! :("

"My son has been attending Coulter's learn to swim program for the past 4 years. They have lovely instructors, great front office staff to assist and are very helpful in case you need to reschedule! Clean and tidy pool with good changing rooms. Great for kids lessons. I reckon this is a 25m pool"

"As a concerned parent, I am deeply disappointed and disturbed by the near-drowning incident that occurred during my 4-year-old son's swimming lesson at Coulter Swimming pool, Northmead. The fact that my son was left struggling to keep afloat while his swimming instructor, Olv(anonymised), was oblivious to the situation is unacceptable. My husband had to jump in the pool to rescue my son. This level of neglect is appalling and has left us with serious doubts about the competence and commitment of the swimming school's staff to ensure the safety of their students. To add insult to injury, when I confronted Olv(anonymised) about her irresponsible behaviour, she gave a flippant response and showed no concern for the gravity of the situation - “I have too many children and had to mind another child”. Furthermore, no one from the swimming school approached us to ensure that our son was okay after the incident, and it was left up to us to go to the reception and speak to the manager. This lack of follow-up and accountability is concerning and has further added to our distress. I am also dissatisfied with the response we have received following the incident. I received this response via email from them which I still cannot believe it - "Whilst it is clear the instructor has been distracted by the last parent entering their child into the class, she was still in a position to assist your son to the platform." Furthermore, we have not received any apology for the distressing incident, nor have we received any follow-up from the swimming school to check on our well-being. As parents, we are deeply concerned about the emotional impact that such a traumatic incident can have on our son, as well as ourselves. We believe that a lack of apology and follow-up only adds to our distress and creates further doubt about the swimming school's commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of their students. We expect that, as responsible professionals, the swimming school would take appropriate actions to address the issue and show genuine concern for our family's emotional state."

"Nice clean and maintained swimming pool."