TODDLER, PRESCHOOL AND SCHOOL-AGE SWIM LESSONS
For Ages 6 Months–12 Years
Toddler Level 1: Polar Bear
Ages 6 months–30 months
Maximum 6 families (one child + one adult per family) + adult instructor
Accompanying adult parent or guardian required in water
Skills needed to move up to the next level:
- Comfortable working with instructor
- Comfortable with assisted submersions
- Introduction to bubbles
- Assisted front floats
- Assisted back floats
- Wall crawl
- Front pass from instructor to adult
- No tears
- Safe exits
Toddler Level 2: Jellyfish
Ages 2–3
Maximum 2 swimmers + adult instructor
Must be recommended by Polar Bear Instructor to register
No parent or guardian required in water
Skills needed to move up to the next level:
- Comfortable working with instructor without adult in water
- Bubbles
- Relaxed unassisted submersions
- Jumping from platform to instructor/adult
- Unassisted front float
- Relaxed assisted back floats
- Unassisted front kicks
Preschool Level 1: Starfish
Ages 3–5
Maximum 3 swimmers + adult instructor
No parent or guardian required in water
Skills needed to move up to the next level:
- Comfortable working with instructor without adult in water
- Bubbles
- Relaxed unassisted submersions
- Jumping from platform to instructor/adult
- Unassisted front float
- Relaxed assisted back floats
- Unassisted front kicks
Preschool Level 2: Seahorse
Ages 3–5
Maximum 4 swimmers + adult instructor
No parent or guardian required in water
Skills needed to move up to the next level:
- Unassisted submersions with bubbles
- Unassisted front float
- Unassisted back float
- Unassisted streamline
- Basic freestyle arm strokes
- Intro to freestyle breathing
- Unassisted back kicks
Preschool Level 3: Turtle
Ages 3–5
Maximum: 4 swimmers + adult instructor
No parent or guardian required in water
Skills needed to move up to the next level:
- Streamline front kicks
- Streamline back kicks
- Freestyle side breathing
- Backstroke
- Dolphin kick
- Basic knowledge of breaststroke kick
School-Age Level 1: Narwhal
Ages 6–12
Maximum: 4 swimmers + adult instructor
No parent or guardian required in water
Skills needed to move up to the next level:
- Unassisted submersions with bubbles
- Push off wall/platform to instructor
- Unassisted front float
- Unassisted back float
- Streamline front kicks
- Basic freestyle arms
- Unassisted back kicks
School-Age Level 2: Penguin
Ages 6–12
Maximum: 4 swimmers + adult instructor
No parent or guardian required in water
Skills needed to move up to the next level:
- Practice maturity and follow directions
- Strong freestyle side breathing for multiple lengths of indoor pool well
- Strong backstroke for multiple lengths of indoor pool well
- Streamline breaststroke kick
- Streamline dolphin kick
- Basic knowledge of breaststroke arms
- Basic knowledge of butterfly arms
School-Age Level 3: Dolphin
Ages 6–12
Maximum: 5 swimmers
This class is conducted in the outdoor pool
No parent or guardian required in water
Skills needed to move up to the next level:
- 50 yards freestyle with side breathing
- Bilateral breathing
- 50 yards backstroke
- 50 yards breaststroke
- 25 yards butterfly
- 50 yards streamline dolphin kick
- 50 yards streamline breaststroke kick
- Knowledge of flip turns
- Knows how to use flags
- Knows how to use pace clock
- Feet-first surface dive
School-Age Orca Swim Team
Ages 6–17
Must test into this level
Maximum: 12 swimmers in outdoor pool, 2 per lane
No parent or guardian required in water
Practices focus on:
- Refining stroke technique
- Improving fitness and endurance
- Team sportsmanship
- Proper circle swimming technique
- Fun and goal-setting
- Preparation for seasonal swim meets
We hold swim team tryouts on Fridays. Please email swimenroll@paloaltojcc.org to schedule your Swim Team evaluation.
Swim Team Practice Times:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
- 4:20–4:30 PM = team stretches on pool deck
- 4:30–5:30 PM = in the pool swimming
Register online* using this form. Registration opens on the 20th of each month for the following month. On the 20th, the registration form will open automatically at 7:00 AM to accept registration requests. All registration requests will be processed in the order in which they are received. We strongly encourage families to fill out the form right at 7:00 AM and include all the times you are available in order to maximize your chances of getting a spot. You will receive a confirmation email within one week following your registration request. Please do not email us to inquire about your spot prior to that date as this slows our ability to process registration requests.
*Registration requests made via email, phone or in person will not be processed.
Yes, all swim lesson participants must hold an active OFJCC membership regardless of their participation in other programs on our campus. Questions about membership, including perks and costs, should be directed to ofjccmembership@paloaltojcc.org.
Please note: you MAY submit a registration request prior to activating a membership but must have an active membership prior to your first lesson. For members who also attend Club J programs, we work together with the Club J staff to provide transportation to and from the pool for lessons taking place during Club J hours.
Our swim lesson program runs on a monthly session basis. Each child has one 30-minute lesson per week on the same day and time each week. The swim lesson fee is charged as a flat rate of $150/child/month.
All level placements are up to the discretion of the OFJCC Swim School Staff. On the registration form, you will indicate which swim skills your child has mastered. Please complete this as accurately as possible to assist us in assigning the appropriate level for your child. The instructor will confirm placement on the first day of class.
We offer private lessons only on a limited basis under special circumstances and currently do not have the capacity to add private lessons. However, our group classes are intentionally kept small (3-5 students depending on the level) so our instructors can provide individualized attention to each student.
Besides a swimsuit, we recommend bringing goggles for kids of all ages, even if they aren’t quite comfortable wearing them yet and bringing towels for anyone who is swimming. All children who are not yet fully potty trained must abide by our “triple-up policy” wherein they wear a disposable swim diaper, a reusable swim diaper cover, and a swimsuit.
We continue to do all we can to increase our lesson capacity to meet the while maintaining the high quality of our lessons. Keep a lookout for a waitlist notification because we do sometimes continue to have movement within the first week or two of the month. If you have not gotten in by mid-month, prepare to submit a new registration request for the following month since we clear all waitlists prior to each enrollment period.
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