British Swim School at LA Fitness - South Elgin

About

British Swim School at LA Fitness - South Elgin offers swim lessons for all ages, from infants to adults. Located within the LA Fitness facility at 488 S Randall Rd, South Elgin, IL, this school provides a safe and fun environment for learning water safety and swimming skills year-round in an indoor setting.

The pool(s) at British Swim School locations, including this one, are typically heated to a comfortable 85-86 degrees Fahrenheit (approximately 29-30 degrees Celsius), which is ideal for swim lessons, especially for infants and young children.

What are people saying (AI review summary)? The reviews for British Swim School present a mixed picture. For children, the experience is generally positive, with instructors like Monica and Mariana frequently praised for being engaging, calming fears, and effectively teaching survival skills. Many parents highly recommend it for kids. However, the experience for adults is highly polarized. One adult reviewer strongly recommends the South Elgin location for adults learning to swim from scratch, highlighting accommodating scheduling and friendly, professional, and genuinely helpful instructors. Conversely, another adult reviewer severely criticizes the program for serious learners, calling it a 'waste of money' due to perceived lack of progress beyond basic back floating, inconsistent teaching from young, inexperienced high school student coaches, and no coverage of advanced techniques. General operational concerns include instructors sometimes being distracted or talking amongst themselves, lessons frequently starting late and ending early (reducing actual lesson time), instructors not getting into the water at higher levels (Shark and above) instead relying on yelling corrections, a '5 minute playtime' cutting into lesson time at advanced levels, frequent instructor changes, and a perceived deterioration in overall quality.

Location

Gallery

Amenities

• Accepts Credit Cards
• Accessible Entrance
• Accessible Restroom

Reviews

Listing Reviews

June 4th, 2025

Pam Knepper

We have been doing swimming lessons here for a little over 2 years and we love it! Our daughter has been especially helped by Mariana!

February 4th, 2025

Star X

NOT FOR ADULTS who are serious about learning how to swim. I paid for two months' worth of swim lessons. Most of my lessons were either individual or two students to 1 coach. Going twice a week during the first month and then once a week during the second month totaled about 12-14 lessons, and the only thing I learned was how to float on my back while doing backstrokes! For two months of lessons, you'd think they would have taught me something new?! NOPE, I spent 2 months floating on my back doing backstroke. Ridiculous! They never covered any other swimming techniques—a waste of money. The coaches are young high school students who do not know how to teach and are inconsistent with their teaching/swimming technique. Swimming instructors are newer and do not know how to teach. I felt like the swim coaches spent most of their time talking to each other and not so much focused on the swim lessons. So often, they would start the 30-minute lesson 5 minutes late and try to end it 5 minutes early. So basically, you pay for a 30-minute lesson that you never get. I would not recommend this place for adults who want to learn how to swim seriously. Go elsewhere. **Response to the owner comment—no, this review is for the correct place: British Swim School in South Elgin. This is exactly how inconsistent and terrible the swimming lessons were.

September 29th, 2022

Jen S

Monica and the rest of the swim instructors at British Swim School are amazing!! I can not say enough good things about them. They are engaging, they are able to calm the fears of the children in their care. They do survival skills in and around the water every so many weeks and they kids learn so much! If you are looking for somewhere to send your kids too this is a wonderful place to go!

September 26th, 2023

I R

Once at the shark level or higher, the instructors don’t get in the pool with the kids. They only verbally correct the kids (mind you this is while yelling in a pool area that’s loud and echos). I like when they are in the water showing them like the other levels. Also I don’t care for the 5 min playtime which takes away from swim time at this level. Myself and other folks have given this feedback. The instructors change pretty frequently with management hardly at this location anymore. Personally I think the quality has deteriorated.

July 20th, 2022

Guillermo Ortega

I never got the opportunity to learn to swim as a kid. I've always wanted to learn but life has always gotten in the way. After returning from vacation last year, I made it my goal to learn to swim. I've been going to British Swim School in South Elgin now for about 8 months on and off. In looking for schools, scheduling was my biggest issue. British Swim School has been very accommodating. I am able to reschedule my classes with just a few hours of notice. All the instructors are very friendly, professional, and respectful. Learning to swim as an adult was not an easy thing for me at the beginning because of my age and fitness level but all the instructors see past that and are there to genuinely help you. If you're an adult who never learned to swim, I highly recommend British Swim School, especially their South Elgin location!