Foss Swim School

Very friendly, awesome instructors. Request Nes! He’s a great instructor, kids love him!

i have not been impressed so far. Firstly, i signed up for a class and they called me back saying they’d made a mistake and need to enroll me in a different class. Then they switched me back to my original class but didn’t tell me. Also not impressed with the teacher. She obviously has no desire to be there and doesn’t seem to even like kids that much. I spoke to a friend who LOVES Foss and she told me they have taken their kids for years and it really does depend on the teacher and sometimes you just get a ‘dud’. I guess we got a dud. I’ll finish out the session and see if it gets better.

I highly recommend Foss Swim School! My 4 year son has not been a fan of water for a couple of years. I did a great deal of research by asking other parents, reading reviews and visiting 2 schools before selecting Foss.
We started him in Littles 1 last Spring and miracle of all miracles, he LOVED it! He talked about it all week and couldn’t wait to go to his lesson every Sunday. We progressed to the next level (Littles 2) and are currently finishing up this session. Our teacher, Christina, has been very communicative with us regarding his progress and opportunities. She is very genuine and appears to really enjoy teaching the children and making sure they gain confidence and skill. I really appreciate that Foss does not let the children move to the next level without being ready (in both confidence and skill) and will evaluate them multiple times to ensure they are ready to progress or need to stay at the same level to better their skill before moving up. It appears that the staff here really enjoy their jobs and realize how important this life skill is for children. They seem to want to ensure that the children are successful and that they have fun during the process.
The times offered are convenient but the weekend morning classes go quickly so you have to register the moment registrations opens! The changing areas and bathrooms are clean and the pool is set up conveniently so you can watch your children.
Since I have been in retail/​customer service my entire career, I did want to mention that Casey (Supervisor) was really great when I asked him to re-​evaluate our son for the next level. Our son has made a great deal of progress since the last evaluation and I thought it necessary to have them take a look! He explained the process and spent time making sure our son had the skills to move on the Littles 3 next session. In observing Casey and the rest of the staff here, they are not bothered by parents asking questions or going the extra mile to see that a child succeeds. They welcome the opportunity to interact with the parents, exhibit a positive upbeat demeanor and provide excellent customer service. It’s clear that the training for the team is top notch and that they hire nice people!

We went for our assessment today. I picked a time that worked for all three of my kids’ schedules. I arrived a few minutes early. I waited and waited and waited. Twenty minutes after my scheduled time I asked the front desk people (there were seriously like 6 – 7 people back there…) if the school was running behind. They clearly had forgotten about us.
By this time I thought I would be back in my car getting my littlest down for his nap. Instead we were still a few minutes away from getting started with the assessment.
The assessment was nice. The guys were funny and got my daughter giggling away. I did like that. They obviously knew what her level was pretty quick, but it was nice she got to spend some extra time in the pool with an instructor. They had the tv gonig for siblings – both good and bad. I found it annoying, but I can see how on other days I would really appreciate it. They had a meager selection of toys and books. Again, I did appreciate them having a selection of things for siblings. A few nicer wooden toys wouldn’t hurt.
Afterwards, the computers had broken down. I wasn’t able to sign up in the building. This is not their fault, of course, but as a busy mom to three kids, I had planned on checking off the swim lesson sign-​up task that afternoon. Instead I had to take papers and was told to wait for a phone call when the computers were back up, or go on-​line and sign up by myself at my own convenience. Again, it isn’t their fault, but it was super annoying to have to even think about this as I really wanted to be done signing up for fall activities.
I will probably give this place a chance for one session since the assessment was so great. It is extremely costly. It is about $ 1,000 for my kids to have weekly swim lessons for the fall. That is quite substantial. I do believe it will be worth it given I can pay that price, though.
I will update my review IF my kids are able to get into lessons here and it is worth a better review. For now, I stand at a 3.

It was nearly impossible to get a weekend morning class at the same time for both my kids at Foss, but it was so worth the wait. While waiting for 2 spots to open up we took lessons at Big Blue.* You can read my review for the entire experience, but basically my 3 ½ yr old daughter loved it… and my 1 ½ yr old son was not such a fan.
When I received the good news that 2 coveted Sunday morning spots were opening up at Foss I decided to check it out. I braced myself for the weekend craziness that I had experienced at Big Blue the past few months, but surprisingly it was relatively quiet and well organized. And because of that my son absolutely loves the class. My husband is the «lucky» one who goes in the water him and really enjoys the class as well. He’s also mentioned that the water seems warmer than other pools we’ve been in.
My daughter goes in all by herself– hooray! She’s in a class with 2 other children her age and the instructor handles them really well. They have toys at the side of the pool to keep them occupied, but they spend more time learning to «swim» than playing in the water. While I don’t think she’ll be swimming on her own for quite some time she’s having a blast blowing bubbles, back floating, learning out to get in/​out of the water safely, etc. And if she keeps up at Foss perhaps she will be swimming on her own before her next birthday. I’ve noticed they take notes accessing the skills & progress of the children, which is pretty cool.
The restrooms/​changing areas are also very clean and not crowded so it’s easy to get out of there in record time. For moms with 2+ kids I’ve personally found it’s easier to have their classes 15 minutes apart (rather than at the same exact time) so you can get one kid changed while the other kid is finishing up a lesson. And if there’s a bit of downtime there’s a nice waiting room with puzzles, books and TV to keep siblings occupied.
*

My son did one prior swim instruction as part of summer camp. The camp was able to do nothing as far as making him safer and not as nervous around the pool. Within the first class there was significant improvement and with each subsequent class there has been growth. The children are watched closely and there is always extra instructor’s waiting around to help in each group.

Excellent instruction. They have fantastic teaching techniques.

My review is for the Libertyville location which doesn’t seem to have its own Unilocal page. My four year old went from a rock in the pool to a confident, full-​fledged swimmer in about 3 & ½ months. Their teaching method is amazingly effective. The instructors are attentive, enthusiastic, friendly, and professional. The facilities are clean and well equipped, the pro shop is stocked and reasonably priced (though they provide everything necessary for the lessons), and the front end staff is also very friendly. I try to provide some kind of constructive criticism whenever possible but I truly have nothing negative to say. If you’re considering enrolling your child, don’t hesitate.

The people at Foss could not be nicer. But the pool is so full of chemicals that my daughter broke out in a nasty rash after each lesson if we did not scrub her down MULTIPLE times (first at pool and then home). And it is as loud and disorienting as a thunderdome in the pool area — very off-​putting for new/​timid swimmers. Finally, after months of lessons, my daughter doesn’t seem to want to put her face in the water and knows very little about swimming. She loves it at Foss. And everyone is great. But…

My 7 year old was so scared of swimming that he cried the first day. After 5 half hour lessons he was swimming alone. This place really, really knows about teaching swim! Worth every penny!

I completely agree with the earlier reviewers comments. This is a GREAT swim school! I have my 6 & 3 year old children enrolled. The both LOVED it since day one and get so excited to go to class every week. The instructors make the class fun & are playful in their teaching style but the beauty is that the kids have no idea that it is serious business & those teachers are really devoted to getting the kids to swim. My older daughter was swimming by the 2^nd class and moved up to the next lever after a month of lessons. She did not make this sort of progress even in private lessons prior. My younger has been a little slower, but puts his face in the water & is very close to swimming on his own. I also love that the program is teaching them not just to be able to swim with correct form but also life saving techniques. The littlest children are taught how to get out of the pool, back float, etc… and they are told if you can not swim or if you get tired to float. Additionally, class sizes are small, continuous enrollment program allows for flexibility & everyone that works there is really nice, team oriented and accommodating.

Signed my son up for their winter swim camp and I’m impressed enough, I’m signing him up for lessons 2x a week going forward.
The place is entirely devoted to teaching kids to swim. They have it down to a system, keep the kids moving and engaged for the whole lesson and have levels broken out to very specific skill sets.
The pool is 90 degrees, so the major impediment to swim lessons at other pools nearby is overcome.
My impression is that most parents who’ve seen this since it opened about a week ago are blown away. Lesson slots are already filling up quickly (Saturdays are mostly full).
But…every month, every kid gets re-​evaluated and possibly moved to a new level, so it’s worth calling just in case.
They’re across from the Target, between Staples and Trek.
I hope their energy level, cleanliness and efficiency stay at «grand opening» levels. Terrific addition for Highland Park!