Learn About Our Swimming Lessons

The levels are Parent/Child, Water Intro, Beginner, Advanced Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced. The number after the level is simply the age groupings. All the Beginner levels are the same; all the Intermediate levels are the same, etc. The difference between Beginner 1, 2, and 3 is the age of the child. The same is true for all levels.

Swim Assessments

Swim assessments are complimentary.

We highly recommend bringing your child for a swim assessment so that you know the correct swim level. We cannot provide guidance on the proper level over the phone or via email. We need to see your child in the water for an accurate evaluation.

Swim assessments are highly recommended for all clients except Beginner Parent Child, Water Intro, and Adult. You do not need to attend an evaluation if you plan on enrolling in the Beginner Parent Child or Water Intro level. If you plan on enrolling in a private or semiprivate, we recommend an evaluation, as not all teachers teach all levels. Adult students do not need to attend an assessment.

Assessments for the Summer 2025 session are ongoing at all three locations. They are by appointment only and can be scheduled by emailing: grouplessons@swimmwithtimm.com.

Assessments in Peabody are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 6:55 pm—7:15 pm and Wednesday mornings 11 am—11:30 am.

Assessments in Salisbury are Wednesday 10 am—10:30 am and Saturdays 4 pm—4:30 pm.

Assessments in Methuen are on Sunday from 2 pm—2:30 pm. Space is limited, so schedule today.

Explore Our Class Options!

  • Parent Child

    The traditional way of introducing infants and toddlers to the pool environment, through the use of songs and games, while accompanied by their caregiver. 

    This is the ONLY learning track that will allow a parent to be in the water with the child. The parent is REQUIRED to be in the water because this level does not use flotation.

    After at least one full session in Basic Parent Child, students and caregivers will be given the option to remain in the “Parent Child” track, where the caregiver will function as the primary instructor, and more advanced skills will be taught without the use of a flotation device, or continue on to a group class without a parent once they meet the age criteria.

  • Water Introduction

    This is our most popular introductory class for students because the parent DOES NOT get in the water. This class is available to children ages 15 months - 6 yo and is a starting point for many of our swimmers. This class can for the new swimmer or a swimmer nervous around the water.

    A unique class, limited to 2 students, which is designed to go at each child’s pace while preparing them for our larger group classes. This class introduces students to swimming with a floatation device and aims to have them swim with the floatation device without being held by the instructor.

    Most students will remain in Water Introduction level for 1-2 sessions.

  • Beginner

    Students entering this level have graduated from our Parent Child or Water Introduction class. Newcomers to our program, who are over 18 months (no exceptions) may start at this level as well, provided they meet all of the other criteria. 

    This class is for students are comfortable swimming in a 3-4 bubble without being held. If your student is not comfortable swimming in a floatation device without being held by the instruction, please refer to our Water Intro classes.

    Students are working on their back float and submerging/putting their face in the water.

    Most students will remain at the Beginner level for 2-3 sessions before graduating to Advanced Beginner.

  • Advanced Beginner

    Students must be in able to swim with their toes up splashing behind them on their belly with minimal flotation. If a student needs more then a small float they should do Beginner.

    This class is for students who can independently float on their back without any flotation assistance and submerge their face in the water.

    Most students will remain at the Advanced Beginner level for 2-3 sessions before graduating to Intermediate.

  • Intermediate

    For students who have graduated from our Advanced Beginner level. 

    Students who are new to our program should start here if they can kick a length on their back with no assistance or flotation and can swim a length of flat freestyle rolling on their back to breath without help. No student should take this class if they need any kind of flotation to swim.

    This level will tackle some very difficult body position and rolling skills and will set the student up for the Advanced level in a way it has not in the past.

    Most students will remain at the Intermediate level for 2-3 sessions before graduating to Advanced.

  • Advanced

    Advanced classes are for students who have graduated from our Intermediate classes. Newcomers to our program will likely need a swim test for placement in this level. 

    For students who understand body position, breath control, and who can demonstrate proper kicking technique in relaxed body/superman/streamline on back for 25 yards, and on front with controlled breathing/rolling to breathe. This class is for students who can swim the legnth of the pool freestyle.

    In this level freestyle and backstroke come together with correct stroke technique, kick, and breathing patterns. 

    Most students will remain at the Advanced level for 2-4 sessions before graduating to Stroke and Turn or Junior Academy.

  • Stroke and Turn

    Designed for swimmers who have no interest in swimming as a sport, but instead just want to continue to learn the strokes in the swim class environment.

    Swimmers will work on swimming freestyle and backstroke without flippers, developing butterfly & breaststroke from the kick up, and learning flip turns.

    Must have graduated the Advanced level or swim tested into the Junior Academy or Stroke and Turn level; pre-approval to join this level is required.

  • Private / Semi private lessons

    Our private (1 student, 1 instructor) and semiprivate (2 students, 1 instructor) swim lessons allow for focused, individualized attention. These students set the pace of these classes rather than the instructor. These classes are good for any student with confidence challenges, or anyone who wants more focused learning.

FAQs

  • Chances are that your child is not age eligble for the class. The system will only show you classes in which your child is age eligible. You can see the different age grouping here. Just click the "Learn More" button under the level in which you are looking. Remember, all the beginner classes are the same, the difference between Beginner 1/2/3 is the age groupings. 

  • Please join any wait lists that work for you. We do not have additional classes to add to the schedule at this time. If additional classes become available or spots become available, then we will contact the wait list first. After registration, we will often replace empty classes with classes that have wait lists, so please join the wait lists so you will be notified if classes are changed/added.

  • Absolutely!

  • Please email us to change your registration, however, all classes are first come, first served. We reply to emails in the order in which we received them. You are more than welcome to go into your portal and register for your preferred class, in which case, you will recieve a credit on your swim account for the class you drop (you do need to email us to drop the class). We do not refund credit cards for double registrations, so if you do not want a credit on your swim account, your only option is to email us to make the change, and we will respond as soon as we are able. We recommend listing at least 2 preferred options since classes are first come, first served and may not be available when we answer your email. 

  • No. We have age groupings to ensure that kids are devementally learning similiarly. We cannot put a 2 year old in a B2 class for kids ages 3-5. Your child must be within the age category on the date the session starts in order to join the class. 

     

  • Please register one child for a private lesson (1 instructor, 1 child), and then email us to add a second child to the reservation. Any private lesson can be changed into a semiprivate (1 instructor, 2 children). Please note that semiprivate lessons are $61.25/child/class, so billing will be adjusted when we add the second child to the reservation.  

     

  • The system requires a credit card, but we will not charge you unless you formally enroll in a class. We will email you if you are moved off the waitlist to confirm that the spot still works for you

  • No. Only students who are enrolled will be charged the $20 nonrefundable registration fee.

     

  • Please join as many wait lists as work for you. If a spot becomes available, we will email you to offer you the spot. We will give you 48 hours to respond to the spot, at which time, the spot will be offered to the next person on the wait list. 

  • Registration is currently only open to families who have a child actively enrolled in the Winter 2025 swim session or prior clients have upgraded to advanced registration. If you are a current client, please log into your parent portal to register. Registration is via the Parent Portal and not via the website for current and prior clients. 

     

  • We will reactivate your account on March 8, 2025 in time for prior member registration on March 9, 2025 at 7:00 PM via your Portal. Please email us to have your portal reactivated and expect to hear back from us on March 8. You will have to reset your password upon reactivation.


  • New client registration is March 16, 2025 at 7:00 PM on our website. You will sign up for your Parent Portal account at the time or registration. You cannot sign up for a Parent Portal account in advance. Prior client registration is March 9, 2025 at 7:00 PM in your portal. Make sure you email to reactive your portal before registration begins!

  • Yes

  • No, unfortunately you cannot. We do not allow enrollments after the first week of class unless it is a Parent/Child class or private/semiprivate lesson. It is too disruptive to the class, and the student would struggle to catch up. We do have private lessons available if you would like to begin sooner than next session!

  • All absences submitted in accordance with the makeup policy (the day prior to class and not exceeding 2 personal makeup classes per session) will be approved within 24 hours of submission. Markeup requests are processed once a day. 

    Please check back tomorrow to schedule your makeup class in the Parent Portal. You are responsible for logging into your parent portal and signing up for the makeup class that works for you. 

    Please note that clients are not able to start booking makeup classes until the rosters lock (week 2 of the session). Any makeup classes submitted before week 2 will be approved on the first day of the second week of the session for makeup.

  • You may register for as many waitlists as you work for you, even if you enroll in a class. Anyone that gets off a waitlist will be contact both by phone and email. You will have 48 hours to respond and decide if you want the class (or, if enrolled in another class, which class you want). After 48-hours, the spot will be released to the next person on the waitlist.


  • Absolutely not. Only a child’s legal guardian may register a child for a swim class due to liability. If we find out that an adult registered a child of whom they are not a legal guardian, the entire family and all students will be discharged from the program immediately with no refund. This is non-negotiable. Please only register students in your immediate family. Grandparents, this means the child’s parents need to register the child for the class and then add you to the account as an additional adult.

  • This occurs when registration has ended. We allow rolling admission to Adult, Team, and Parent Child, which is why they are still listed. Please contact us to be added to our email list if you would like to receive information on our upcoming sessions.

  • We are currently operating out of Choice Fitness Elite, Choice Fitness Elite Salisbury, and Choice Fitness Elite Methuen. For addresses and directions check out our locations page on our website.

  • Please check out the descriptions of each level on this page. Then click on “Learn More” to figure out which age group your child should be in, and see more information about each level. Our classes are divided by skill level as well as age.

    We also may have upcoming open swim assessments. Please click on any upcoming sessions under the classes tab on the navigation bar to view any potential upcoming open assessments.

    In general:

    • Swimmers under 15 months must begin in Parent Child. This is the only class that allows parents to accompany children in the water, aside from private lessons.

    • A brand new swimmer, one with water fear, or separation anxiety, should begin in Water Introduction. New-to-us students under 36 months must also start here.

    • A swimmer who is comfortable in the water but requires a floatation device and is comfortable kicking around with said floatation device without being held should start in Beginner

    • A child who is swimming horizontally and is in a 1-2 bubble, almost ready to make the jump to swimming independently, should be in Advanced Beginner.

    • A swimmer who swim the legnth of the pool with safety breathing without a flotation device and can kick the legnth of the pool on the back without a flotation device should begin in Intermediate

    • If you believe your student should start in Advanced or Pre-Swim Team, please contact us for more information. We will likely need to do a swim test first. 

  • No, you are taking up a spot that another student could have enrolled in, so regardless of whether or not you plan to attend all classes, they must be paid in full. We give you two personal makeup classes per session. All makeup classes are pending availability. Please read our makeup policy before you complete registration! 


  • For the same reason we cannot allow enrollments after the first week, we do not allow trial classes. It is disruptive to the class, and the student trying out the class will not get a good feel for the program. If you would like to observe a class, please let us know and we can arrange that!

  • Our instructors come to us with a variety of experiences. We have everyone from nationally ranked swim coaches to moms who have been teaching lessons for decades. Please check out our instructor bio pages! We pride ourselves on the quality and low turnover rate of our instructors. 

    If you think you might be a good fit for our team, please contact our HR department. We are always looking for folks with amazing personalities who want to turn a love of swimming into a career. 

  • No, you do not! We rent space from the facilities in which we operate, and all our classes are open to any and all. There is a $10/student registration fee per session for using the facility that is billed by Swimm with Timm upon registration and paid directly to Choice Fitness.


  • Please don’t email us if you don’t get into a class. We go 100% by the waitlist in determining which additional classes to add to the schedule and where. There is no guarantee that you will get off of the waitlist, so we do also suggest enrolling in another class if it fits your schedule, but the waitlist is free and Timm is a miracle-worker at finding spots for everyone. If you get off a waitlist, you will be given the choice of classes to participate (you will have 48 hours to decide). So join as many waitlists as work for you!


  • Item descriptionRegistration opens to our current swimmers first, then our prior swimmers, and then new clients. This is our way of saying thank you to the families that return to us over and over again. Once you are enrolled in one of our classes, you will be considered a member, and get early access registration through our Parent Portal. 


  • Thank you for asking this question! We require the Happy Nappy Duo swim diaper for all children that are not fully potty trained. You can purchase this directly from our online swim store. The pool has to close for 24 hours any time there is an accident, so we take this rule very seriously. We will not allow a young child to swim who is not appropriately diapered. If your child is not 100% potty trained, please err on the side of caution. If you do not have the approved swim diaper, you may not be able to participate in class.  

  • Please bring your own towels. None of our facilities provide towel service to our members. Other than that, a bathing suit, diapers (as needed, see above), and flip flops. If your child is in an Intermediate class or above, they may wish to have goggles. We provide the floatation devices and any toys that we use.


  • Our classes are divided by age as well as skill level. We try to have a variety of levels running simultaneously and back to back, but sometimes it just won’t work out. If your children are different ages, we suggest you check out our private / semiprivate swim lessons.

  • We are not planning on doing at-home lessons for Summer 2025 unless there is a home that has at least 10 students over a minimum of 1.5 hours. If you have a large group that meets this criteria, please reach out to us at grouplessons@swimmwithtimm.com.