★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

My son has been with the school for three years now, and my daughter just started baby classes today. We are absolutely happy with this place. My son doesn't speak English, but he is still making great progress. My friends and family can not believe what he can do at 3.5 years old. The instructors are absolutely stellar. Everyone we have had has been so caring, professional, and patient despite the language barrier. I just wish the facility was a bit cleaner, but overall, we are satisfied.

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★ 5

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★ 4

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★ 5

greatl staff and very friendly

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★ 1

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 4

Miss Jordyn is awesome (& patient) with our Little Otter who started at 9 months

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

Little Otter is great! The staff and instructors are wonderful. A perfect place for your little one to learn how to swim.

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

My son is going to this place from few months now and we are quite happy with the progress,the instructors are very polite and friendly.Definitely recommend this school.

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 4

I love it.

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★ 5

The enthusiasm of the instructors drew me right in.

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★ 4

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★ 5

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★ 5

This review is long overdue! My 2YO has been taking weekly lessons at Little Otter Swim School since she was around 8MO. We love this place! Sarah has been her teacher since she began her lessons and she’s so amazing with my daughter. She’s the best but really, everyone we’ve interacted with has been so wonderful! Seriously, I cannot recommend this place enough. We look forward to it every week and we’re so grateful we chose Little Otter Swim School.

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★ 5

All our kids learned to swim here and have become great swimmers. Friendly and helpful staff. I recommend Little Otter to anyone learning or becoming a better swimmer.

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★ 5

Great place. I got to watch my grandson as he learns to swim.

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★ 5

Great atmosphere great swim instructors.

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★ 4

We switched to Little Otter Swim School after trying a competitor. We have had 3 different instructors and liked all 3 (# due to a requested change in schedule on our side and change in swim level). The facility is clean and well maintained. The staff is friendly and helpful. Our 5-year-old loves coming for classes. Her progress has been great. The reschedule policy for missed classes is much better than elsewhere. Giving 4 out of 5 stars because I don't get an update on her status as often as initially described. However I do get feedback when I ask for it.

Source: Google

★ 5

Been going here for a almost a year now. My kids love it. Very caring staff even when my kids had a few outbursts initially. They were patient and professional, now the kids can’t wait to go every week. Keep up the good work!

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★ 5

Friendly team and great teachers.

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

I honestly thought 30 minutes was too short for a lesson but my son is proving me wrong. He is doing well and enjoys it. I'm enjoying it too, seeing the pure happiness on his face. They give you the option to sign up more classes a week (you have to pay more of course). My son likes it so much that he has asked to practice after his lessons (we signed up at the local ymca). It gives us something that we can do together ❤

Source: Google

★ 1

After 12 sessions (30 min per session) my 8yo son still cannot swim by himself. The progress was so slow that I asked the manager why the instructor haven't teach him the "bubbles" yet after 6 session. And she said, it was for higher level. All they taught him was diving holding breaths for 5 sec, gliding, jumping on the water. I asked her too if he can change instructor but no, we got stuck with same instructor who kept teaching him the same lesson. Sometimes the manager would talk to the instructor, wasting 10 mins of the session. We paid $360+ for nothing. Some instructors seem better so make sure to change right away if there's no progress with their swimming

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★ 5

So far we are loving Little Otter Swim School. My daughter is two and is learning so much. Just at the third class she is so much more comfortable. Her teacher Sarah is amazing! So glad we found this place.

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 4

Great facility

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★ 5

We love Little Otter. My son has a true love for swimming and I believe the staff at Little Otter has contributed to that greatly! We have been with Little Otter for 5 years and my 7 year old is now in a Swim Team Prep class!

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★ 5

Love this swim school! The instructors make sure the kids are swimming and moving ( vs waiting for their turn). The classes are fun, structured and designed to make sure your child is always learning something new!

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★ 5

Amazing people, great place to teach your baby or babies how to swim.

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★ 5

Awesome place. Really clean and nice people. Never seen any otters there before though.

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★ 5

Amazing people love them all

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★ 5

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★ 5

Our kids have been going here for 10 years - the staff is like family! 💖

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

My son loves this place and hates leaving! He is a bit nervous and timid in the water because we don't have a pool to practice in, but I love the way that his swim teacher, Sabrina, is patient with him and has created a customized teaching method for him that works! I feel so comfortable having her help him learn to swim. This place does not do the "sink or swim/ fast submersion" style of instruction, but instead, they build confidence in kids and make learning to swim fun, not scary. I am looking forward to enrolling my younger daughter too.

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★ 5

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★ 5

Miss Laurel is the absolute best swim instructor. We love the program here. Highly recommend this swim school. The starting age is 6 months old.

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★ 5

Just started earlier this week for my daughter and she absolutely loved it. Awesome rates and all the instructors seem to know what they are doing. My daughter is anxiously awaiting her swim classes

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★ 5

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★ 4

This is somewhat nostalgic for me as I have a long history with Little Otter. I signed my son up for swim lessons when he was six months old. At this age the requirement is the parents are in the pool with the babies and you go through a series of stations getting the kids use to water and comfortable. As the kids mature and progress the levels progress as does the difficulty of the class.

Little Otter is a great place to get kids acclimated to water and how to handle themselves in water. They teach safety skills and practice accidental fall in's and basic swimming skills. Once kids reach the 7-8 yo mark they seem to outgrow what Little Otter has to offer. My son stayed in the program and progressed through all of the levels and then it seemed a struggle for them to teach him past their final level.

I sadly left Little Otter and canceled our membership and we didn't get a note or thank you or any communication after almost eight years of patronage. I was disappointing as this is a small family owned business and we liked it because it seemed like everyone knew everyone. Regardless, I tell everyone this is a great place to get the foundation built for little ones but once they progress to learning the different strokes its time to move on.

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★ 5

Started her classes on her 6 month birthday and she is already doing so great! They are all about teaching safety for little babe in the water

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★ 5

Impressed. They've got this down to a science. They work hard on correct form, and breaking it down into baby steps. This isn't a sprint session. Plan on enrolling for 3+ months.

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

My daughter goes to Little Otters and we really like this place. The instructors are awesome. With other kids being there, it provides a great interaction time. I also like how quickly my daughter is picking up on all the swimming skills here.

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★ 5

Awesome teacher and place for swimming lessons

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★ 1

I got a great referral here from the dentist I work for but after 3 times of my baby being on the waitlist and I call to check the start date,,,his name can never be found on the list. this place seems very unorganized

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★ 4

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★ 5

There is good teachers and we like it here.

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★ 5

My daughter is getting lessons here. She loves it and had learned a lot!

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★ 4

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★ 4

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★ 5

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★ 5

Great trainers... my daughter enjoys a lot n having much fun. ..

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★ 3

My daughter enjoys class but doesn't show any signs of learning to swim.

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★ 5

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★ 5

Our kids couldn't swim before coming to Little Otters. Great staff and clean pool. Now I feel confident for them to swim independently for the summer.

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★ 5

My daughter started here when she was 8 months, she'll be 5 in June. I cannot rave enough about this place!! They are so patient and great with the kids. They take the time to figure out how to help the kids overcome hurdles to help them move to the next level. We have had the best teachers...Ms. Lori, Ms. Laurel, Ms. Melissa, Mr. Richard & now we have Mr. Andrew who goes above and beyond!! Way to go guys, you ROCK!!!

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★ 5

Our son has been at Little Otter for a little over a year now. He still has a little anxiety when it comes to being submerged but the teachers have all been absolutely fantastic about working with him. The owners are about the friendliest people you'll ever meet and they make sure your child is well taken care of.

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★ 5

Professional and kind staff. You can tell they are good if your son enjoys going every time. I wouldn't be able to teach my 5 year boy the way they did.

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

Great place to watch our 5yr old grand daughter learn to swim. Her instructor enjoys teaching and interacting with the kids and they all seem to be having a fantastic fun time.

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★ 5

I researched for a tad bit over a year before we began with the school. Our son will be 6 shortly and we have been thrilled with the school and he has been there since we were cleared by our doctor to have him in the water. He has thrived in the care of the teachers there and we love John and Lory Kirk. Its a phenomenal place for all kids to learn to swim and water safety. We swim year round as we feel it gives routine, more intense training and more thorough learning. Cannot begin to refer them highly enough for all they have given us over the years and for all that have been to our son - who has undergone open heart surgery and heart catheterizations while attending there, and the teachers are all so concerned with the kids and so on top of knowing each and their abilities and the families- its made our son do even better there! They invest in him, and he invests in them with his heart and working his hardest for them! Do not hesitate to put your little ones in their care... all are certified in CPR and the water quality and cleanliness is surpassed by nothing else in the entire area!

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★ 5

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★ 5

My son has attended classes at Little Otter since he was 8 months old. We have been very pleased with the lessons, the level of professionalism and my son is excited to attend each week.

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★ 5

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★ 1

Pros: Teachers are Hit or Miss, and a Good teacher helps a-lot. Good location if in Matthews.

Cons: Poor Management/ Overall Culture, Questionable Business Practices, Absentee Owners, Ineffective Teaching Results, More of a "Take your Money" factory vibe rather than a kid-centric school vibe.

- Management is very entitled, and inexperienced when it comes to operating in a professional environment or with Children. Attitude isn't driven or inspired to help kids, everyone is just clocking in and doing the minimum to collect a paycheck.

- Sherri has a poor, unprofessional and immature attitude, and the culture flows from the top down. Absentee owners are not hands on, rarely attend the school, nor focused on improving the school or the culture for the benefit of the children.

- Stuart/ rest of management are very young, inexperienced, and have little training in childhood development, leading to a predictably toxic culture. Teachers are driven more by fear and compliance to arbitrary rules, rather than focusing on best interests of child and teaching swimming.

- Curriculum is NOT very age appropriate, thoughtful or teaching centric, just photocopied from a generic manual and applied by inexperienced kids. Not the place to spend money to learn to actually swim.

- The Automated billing system is suspiciously error prone, compounded by human error. You have to watch your credit card statement like a hawk, as overcharging is inevitable. Correcting false charges are not met with a polite apology, but resistance and unprofessional-ism.

- Very High Parent Turnover! There are exceptions, but this is a place that's designed to lure you in, and once there your kid is a just a cog in the money factory.

Owners need to recruit some real management rather than cheapest kids they can find, and refocus the school around the student first, rather than focusing on maximizing short term profits/ expanding into other areas. I fear for all the hapless Huntersville families who will give this inept business money.

Beware of massive "review inflation" of this place, look to 4 star or lower "non-plastic" reviews to get unbiased perspectives.

Bottom Line: This is Dollar Store Quality and Service at Department Store Prices...Much better places out there to send your kids...

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★ 5

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