About
La Petite Baleen Swim Schools offers swimming lessons and swim classes, including infant swim lessons, a Toddler and Me class, Levels 1–5 swimming classes, teen swimming lessons, and adult swimming classes. In these classes, students work on skills such as breath control, balance, buoyancy, propulsion through kicking and paddling, and safety skills like back floats, climbing out at the wall, and underwater submersions.
• Ages: 0–18 years old
• Schedule: All children’s swim classes mentioned, including Toddler and Me and Levels 1–5, are 30 minutes long once per week.
La Petite Baleen Swim Schools uses a child development-centered curriculum in its AQUATIC CLASSROOM® environment, with a ribbon level system that progresses from basic water comfort to competitive strokes and racing dives in Levels 1–5. Level 5 includes competitive Breaststroke and Butterfly, Underwater Dolphin Kicks (also called WIGGLE-BUTTS®), and Racing Dives. The program offers free infant swim lessons for babies 2–5 months and a Toddler and Me class for ages 14–36 months. Its developmental aquatic program emphasizes a balance between love and discipline while teaching swimming, self-esteem, and coping skills, and follows the motto “Pace, Pattern, Compassion, and Fun!” Teachers are described as highly trained, and the school has bilingual instructors who can teach in Spanish or English.
Teaching life skills through swimming in the AQUATIC CLASSROOM® is described as one of the philosophies at La Petite Baleen Swim Schools, with a curriculum focused on water safety awareness so that children learn technique and life-saving practices. La Petite Baleen began in 1979 in the backyard pool of co-founders John Kolbisen and Irene Madrid’s Half Moon Bay home, and they developed the AQUATIC CLASSROOM® curriculum and ribbon level system. Co-founder Irene Madrid authored the book “Wiggle-butts & Up-faces: A Child’s Primer for Beginning Swimming,” published in 1989. La Petite Baleen Swim Schools states that it has been providing award-winning swimming lessons in the Bay Area since 1979 and describes itself as dedicated to community building.
Parent testimonials describe patient and kind instruction, clean and welcoming facilities, and caring, interactive instruction that supported water safety and family bonding. Parents also note the foundational skills their children built at La Petite Baleen Swim Schools and refer to an “incredible instruction and community” at the program.
Last updated June 16, 2026.
• Ages: 0–18 years old
• Schedule: All children’s swim classes mentioned, including Toddler and Me and Levels 1–5, are 30 minutes long once per week.
La Petite Baleen Swim Schools uses a child development-centered curriculum in its AQUATIC CLASSROOM® environment, with a ribbon level system that progresses from basic water comfort to competitive strokes and racing dives in Levels 1–5. Level 5 includes competitive Breaststroke and Butterfly, Underwater Dolphin Kicks (also called WIGGLE-BUTTS®), and Racing Dives. The program offers free infant swim lessons for babies 2–5 months and a Toddler and Me class for ages 14–36 months. Its developmental aquatic program emphasizes a balance between love and discipline while teaching swimming, self-esteem, and coping skills, and follows the motto “Pace, Pattern, Compassion, and Fun!” Teachers are described as highly trained, and the school has bilingual instructors who can teach in Spanish or English.
Teaching life skills through swimming in the AQUATIC CLASSROOM® is described as one of the philosophies at La Petite Baleen Swim Schools, with a curriculum focused on water safety awareness so that children learn technique and life-saving practices. La Petite Baleen began in 1979 in the backyard pool of co-founders John Kolbisen and Irene Madrid’s Half Moon Bay home, and they developed the AQUATIC CLASSROOM® curriculum and ribbon level system. Co-founder Irene Madrid authored the book “Wiggle-butts & Up-faces: A Child’s Primer for Beginning Swimming,” published in 1989. La Petite Baleen Swim Schools states that it has been providing award-winning swimming lessons in the Bay Area since 1979 and describes itself as dedicated to community building.
Parent testimonials describe patient and kind instruction, clean and welcoming facilities, and caring, interactive instruction that supported water safety and family bonding. Parents also note the foundational skills their children built at La Petite Baleen Swim Schools and refer to an “incredible instruction and community” at the program.
Last updated June 16, 2026.
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