9 September 2026
Purruna Spencer Newton Centre in 2025-26
Almost two visits in three at Purruna are a swimming lesson, and the centre’s satisfaction score climbed further this year than at any other centre we run.
Purruna has a boutique reformer pilates studio, an aqua program and a timetable of classes, and they all matter. But the thing that defines the building is a pool full of children learning to swim.
Swimming lessons account for 63% of everything that happens here. Enrolments reached 1,890 at their peak, second only to The Parks, and classes ran at 84% occupancy, the highest of any centre we run. Purruna also teaches more children under three than anywhere else in the state.
122,444
visits to the centre
200
memberships at the year’s peak
50.3
Net Promoter Score, against a YMCA benchmark of 50
1,890
swimming lesson enrolments at the peak
A third more visits in a year
Purruna now records 30,637 more visits a year than it did in 2024-25, an increase of 33%. Purruna opened partway through 2023-24, so it does not yet have three comparable years. What it has is a second full year that grew by a third.
The centre reached 200 memberships at its peak, up 25.0% on the previous year, and members stay an average of 38 weeks against a state average of 30.
Swimming lesson enrolments reached 1,890 at their peak, up 7.9%, with classes running at 84% occupancy.
+33.4%
growth in visits year on year
+25.0%
growth in memberships
38 weeks
average length of a membership, against 30 across the state
84%
average swimming lesson class occupancy
Who comes to Purruna
Membership at Purruna is small and getting bigger, up 25% to 200 at its peak. It buys something different to a gym membership, because there is no gym. It buys the reformer pilates studio, the aqua program and the class timetable, and it attracts a different person as a result. Age bands below are grouped, because the membership is small enough that finer detail would identify people.
Members by age
Share of memberships with a recorded date of birth. Purruna: 133 members, 122 women and 35 men.
Four in five Purruna members are women. Across the state it is closer to half.
Swimming lesson students by age
1,639 students, average age 5.9
The swim program is a different population again, and a much larger one. Purruna teaches 388 children under three, more than any other centre we run, which is the age at which water confidence is built rather than technique.
What members said
We ask our members how likely they are to recommend us. At Purruna, 177 people answered out of 1,155 asked. That is a response rate of 15%, against a state average of 20%.
The score was 50.3, against a YMCA benchmark of 50.
Moderate class sizes, attentive instructors, great facilities, and a real interest in advancing the skills of students.
Swimming lesson parent, Purruna
Easy to navigate with a pram, and individual family change rooms.
Swimming lesson parent, Purruna
50.3
Net Promoter Score
177
members responded
15%
response rate, against 20% across the state
A swim school and a studio
Most of our centres are built around a gym membership. Purruna is built around a timetable, and the numbers say so plainly. Swimming lessons take almost three times the share they take at our other pool centres. Membership, which here means the reformer studio and the class program rather than a gym floor, takes less than a third.
Most of our centres are built around a membership. Purruna is built around a timetable of lessons, and the numbers say so plainly. Swimming lessons are almost three times the share they take at our other pool centres, and memberships are less than a third.
Share of total participation, 2024-25
Comparison here is against the average of our other pool centres, with Purruna left out of its own benchmark.
84%
average swimming lesson class occupancy
1.5
average visits per week per member, against 1.29 across the state
What the activity is worth
$1,743,580
Estimated community benefit created at Purruna in 2025-26.
Social Value puts a dollar figure on the community benefit created when people are physically active. It is an estimate, built from real participation data at this centre, and it covers health, education and employment outcomes where there is an agreed, evidence-based method for converting activity into monetary terms.
What the estimate covers
Select any indicator to read what it covers.
Value only accrues above a threshold
Turning up does not automatically create measurable value. A participant has to be active often enough to reach a physical activity threshold before anything is counted.
Across our centres, 43,735 people took part in an activity last year and 12,162 reached a threshold. Around 28 in every 100. That is normal for a community recreation centre, and the threshold is an invitation rather than a test.
How much of the centre the model sees
Roughly 73% of what happens at Purruna is visible to the model. The figure above is real, and it is also an understatement.
The methodology comes from a 2018 study by KPMG, commissioned by the Australian Sports Commission, which put the value of Australia’s community sport infrastructure at more than $16.2 billion a year, including $4.9 billion in health benefit. ActiveXchange applies that framework to real participation records at each facility. Each participant is placed in a demographic segment with known health risks and associated costs, and their activity, covering how often they attend, for how long and doing what, produces dollar values against specific outcomes. More than 200 councils and venues across Australia use the same model. We do not produce the methodology and we cannot adjust it.
Turning up does not automatically create measurable value. A participant has to be active often enough to reach a physical activity threshold. Acute benefits are assessed monthly, in any month where activity averages out to the weekly physical activity guidelines. Chronic benefits are assessed annually and also require the participant to meet the monthly threshold in at least six separate months. Across our centres, 43,735 people took part in an activity last year and 12,162 reached a threshold, around 28 in every 100. That is normal for a community recreation centre. The threshold is an invitation, not a test.
ActiveXchange recalibrated its model during 2025. The practical effect is that the threshold for generating value went up. Activity is now measured on the actual length and intensity of a session, and a participant has to sustain it across the year rather than have one strong month. Figures we published before 2025 sit on the earlier model and are not directly comparable with the figure above.
Social Value counts visits and participations recorded through our membership and point of sale systems. Casual customers, user groups and social stadium sport are not counted, so the figure understates activity at Purruna. Some benefits cannot sensibly be priced and are left out altogether. Recreation centres build social connection and inclusion, strengthen community pride and identity, raise levels of trust and reduce anti-social behaviour. None of that appears in the figure.
Social Value indicates the scale of community benefit generated by activity at this centre. It does not count individual health outcomes for any person, and it does not measure how well the centre is run. A centre can improve while its Social Value falls, and the reverse is also true.
Social Value figures are produced using the ActiveXchange Social Value model, developed in partnership with KPMG and based on the Value of Community Sport Infrastructure framework commissioned by the Australian Sports Commission. The model is used by more than 200 councils and venues across Australia. Figures are estimates. YMCA South Australia does not produce the methodology.
Reporting period 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. Participation composition figures are from 2024-25. Written with AI assistance and reviewed by YMCA South Australia, in line with our AI Safe Use Policy.