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POLICIES
Anchor 1
PRIVATE LESSON POLICIES
STARTING & ENDING LESSONS
Students may begin private lessons at any time throughout the year, depending on the availability of our teachers. Students may withdraw from lessons at any time throughout the year by giving a 2-week notice to the school office by email, or by filling out a withdrawal form at the school office. Lesson fees are still charged for the two weeks after a withdrawal notice is given, so students are encouraged to take advantage of that by attending those two lessons. If those lessons are not attended by the student, those two lessons will still be invoiced, and we will still expect that lesson payment.
PAYMENT METHODS
We are not able to take lesson payment by credit card. Payment for lessons can be made in one of three ways:
1. By Pre-Authorized Debit. You fill out paperwork authorizing us to take a monthly fee out of your bank account one either the 1st, the 15th or the 20th of the month (you decide which). The benefits to using PAD is convenience, consistent payment and no need to pay late fees.
2. By e-transfer to admin@leducschoolofmusic.ca upon receipt of an automatically generated monthly invoice. A late fee of $5 will be applied to student accounts when payment is not made within seven days of the invoice date, and every seven days after that as well.
3. By lump sum payments, either for all of Semester 1, or all of Semester 2, or for the whole year of Semester 1 and 2 combined. A 5% discount is applied to a lump sum payment, however this lump sum must be made by the start date of a semester. This discount does not apply if made after the start date of a semester. See below for a description of a semester.
SEMESTERS
A new schoolyear begins in September right after the Labor Day Long Weekend.
Semester 1: The 5 month period from September to January inclusive is Semester 1. Start and end dates for this semester are: either week 1 or 2 of September (there is some flexibility in September), and the final week of January.
Semester 2: The 5 month period from February to June inclusive is Semester 2. Start and end dates for this semester are: week 1 of February, and the final week of June.
Summer: The 2 month period of July and August is the summer semester, and does not qualify for a lump sum discount.
REGISTRATION FEE
An annual non-refundable registration fee of $25 per student is collected upon registration. That registration fee is good for the schoolyear from September through until August. A new registration fee will be required to re-register for the following schoolyear of September through until August. For students who join us later in the year, the annual non-refundable registration fee is pro-rated to $12.50 for the months of April, May and June. If you begin lessons in July and August, we just waive this year's registration fee and just collect one for the new schoolyear that starts in September.
Students may pay for up to three individual trial lessons before being asked to pay their annual $25 Registration Fee. This allows students to do a test run of lessons before committing to a longer period.
May is our "Re-Registration Month". Current students are asked to select their preferred teacher, day and time slots for the following schoolyear, and to pay the annual $25 registration fee to hold that day and timeslot. New students may register for next year's timeslots beginning on June1.
HOLIDAYS
Most of our teachers will follow our local Black Gold School Division calendar for the holidays of Christmas, Easter and Spring Break. However, individual teachers may make their own decisions as to when to teach, and should let their students' families know. We do have lessons on school PD days, those are not automatic holidays.
COMMUNICATION WITH TEACHERS
In the case of underage students, we love to see good lines of communication develop between parents and their child's music teacher. We encourage parents to visit lessons and to talk with the teachers. We encourage teachers to give out their contact info to parents, we also encourage teachers to write regular lesson notes by email to parents. The better the communication between parents and teachers, the better we can keep students' progress on track, as well as sort out how to deal with missed lessons in a fair way.
MISSED LESSONS BY STUDENT - and the "24 HOUR RULE"
Missed lessons essentially mean reduced income for teachers. We try to balance out what is fair for both students and teachers with our Missed Lesson policy. We try to meet in the middle by using a "24-hour Rule". If a students misses a lesson without being able to give 24 hours' notice, we authorize our teachers to mark the attendance of that lesson "absent but billable", and we will invoice students for that lesson. (Teachers may instead choose to select "absent not billable", but this will be up to the individual teachers' discretion, and should not be automatically expected.)
If a student gives a teacher more than 24 hour's notice, the teacher has two choices: either mark that lesson as "absent not billable" resulting in no charge to you and no payment to themselves, or "absent, billable, and give a make-up", resulting in a charge to you, but giving you an opportunity to make that lesson up. It will be the teacher's responsibility to provide you with a suitable make-up time, and good parent and teacher communication should help to set up something that is mutually workable.
MISSED LESSONS BY TEACHER
If a teacher chooses to cancel a lesson, they should mark that lesson as "teacher absent not billable", and this results in no charge to you and no payment to themselves. However, our experienced teachers may choose to hold a special group lesson in lieu of a normal week of private lessons. This would take the form of a Performance Workshop, or Piano Party, or Group Ensemble Practice or something of this nature. This is usually a fun extra-curricular music event that is at least an hour long or more, and that provides students with an additional learning experience. In this case, we feel it is fair for a teacher to bill this group lesson experience as if it were a private lesson.
Anchor 2
MUSIC for YOUNG CHILDREN CLASS POLICIES
THE SCHOOL YEAR
Music for Young Children® (MYC) runs all year from September to end of May or early June. We will have 32 weeks of classes, and during the year, have at least one recital and at least one or two fun activity days or class parties.
REGISTRATION & MATERIALS FEE
Families register for MYC by paying for the cost of materials. For first year students (level 1 classes), there is an option to pay this registration/materials fee in three installments. You are register by paying for at least one installment of the materials fee. The materials your child will receive for a level 1 class are: a high-quality nylon carrying bag for all the materials, three music books which includes all the music needed for the year, a magnet board with a keyboard on one side, and a staff on the other and magnets, a castanet (small rhythm instrument), a sticker and homework book, for keeping track of all homework and for collecting practice stickers. The cost of the materials vary by each class level.
MONTHLY INSTRUCTIONAL FEE
The tuition for the entire year is $960. We can break that down into10 payments of $96 from September to June. Note that even if class meets only over 9 months of the year, that this payment has been spread over 10 months, and therefore we will take payment for 10 months. Payment is made in one of these 3 ways: 1. by Pre-Authorized Debit, or 2. by e-transfer to admin@leducschoolofmusic.ca upon receipt of an automatically generated monthly invoice. A late fee of $5 will be applied to student accounts when payment is not made within seven days of the invoice date, and every seven days after that as well, or 3. by a lump sum paid at the start of the year.
PARENT INVOLVEMENT & PRACTICE
Music for Young Children® is a family commitment, as one parent will accompany their child to class each week for the hour-long class. As well, we need that parent to practice with their child at home. Each week in class, we award reward stickers for practicing and for playing pieces, and we will try to encourage you in your practice efforts at home. In their first year, Sunshines (ages 3 and a half to 4) will be aiming for 5 minutes of practice per day for 5 days a week. Sunbeams (ages 5 and 6) will be aiming for 5 to 10 minutes of practice per day for 5 days a week, moving up to 15 to 20 minutes of practice by the end of the year. And Moonbeams (ages 7 to 8) will be aiming for 10 minutes to start, going up to 15 to 25 minutes of practice per day for 5 days a week. Non-piano practice, that is, rhythm bags, flash cards, songs and story review, magnet board or homework pages, are also considered practice time, and help to create a positive and fun approach to practice at home.
NO CELL PHONES IN CLASS
Class works best when parents are able to focus on their child. We ask all parents to refrain from texting, scrolling and using their cell phones in class! Instead, please keep yourself engaged by finding pages, pointing, singing along, and participating and joining in on games and activities. Your child will be really excited to do this with you!
WITHDRAWING FROM LESSONS before the Start of Class
If you must withdraw from the class before the first class even starts, your Materials and Books fee that was paid will be returned to you, minus $20 for our shipping and handling costs of ordering and then returning your unused materials.
WITHDRAWING FROM LESSONS during the year
We want to make sure that your experience here is the best possible. If you or your child are having difficulty, please speak with us. Together, we would develop a plan to address motivation, practice, or other problems and to help you to have a successful and enjoyable year. However, we understand that there may be circumstances where lessons may need to be terminated. If you withdraw from class, we would like a 30-day notice, and we will still collect the monthly fee of $96 for the month in which you informed us of your decision to withdraw.
IN-PERSON & ZOOM LESSONS
Class is designed for somewhere between 3 to 6 children and their accompanying parent, and is also best enjoyed as an in-person experience. However, in the case of illness or inclement weather, we are able to have you join class online for that week.
MISSED LESSONS
There are no refunds or credits for classes which students miss. If a teacher must miss a class, then we still will offer you the 32 weeks of lessons as promised. We would just extend the class longer into June, or we might schedule an extra activity day somewhere into the schedule in order to still give you the promised minimum of 32 instructional weeks.
"All Other Classes" POLICIES
Sunrise, Pups, Musical Theatre, Rock Band, Art, Theory
Anchor 3
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