Policies

This page outlines the policies (current and in development) at ViolinSchool for the following areas:

Scheduling, Cancellation & Replacement Lesson Policy, Payment Policy, Data Protection, Health and Safety, Child Protection


Scheduling

We are working towards full automation of ViolinSchool’s scheduling, and in the future students will be able to submit any time change requests via the online portal.

Until such time, scheduling of lesson times is handled by the ViolinSchool office ([email protected]). Tutors do not handle any scheduling or administration. Students are asked to liaise directly with the ViolinSchool office, not with their tutors, about their lesson times.

Lesson Cancellation & Re-Scheduling (at time of enrolment)

If at the time of enrolment you know of any lesson dates for the forthcoming term when you will be unable to attend your regular lesson, just let us know using the appropriate space on the enrolment form. We will allot these times to other students, and you will not be billed for any lessons you cannot attend. Your other regular lesson times are unaffected. If you wish to find alternative times to replace the lessons you can’t attend, then we will schedule these for you on an ‘ad hoc’ basis, subject to availability.

N.B. ViolinSchool is an international school and we do not follow UK school schedules. We do not have a half term break. For families, we recognise that the school ‘half term’ holiday can be important family time, so please remember to notify us at the time of enrolment if there are dates when you are unable to attend your regular lesson time. In these instances, we will offer your half term week lesson to other students and you will not be billed for that lesson.

Lesson Cancellation & Re-Scheduling (after enrolment)

To encourage commitment and dedication to your studies, cancellation or rescheduling of lessons is generally not permitted once enrolment is complete, and any missed lessons will not be refunded. However, ViolinSchool does maintain a ‘missed lesson’ notification list for lessons that have been missed in these limited circumstances:

  • Genuine emergencies or serious illness
  • Unavoidable short-notice work travel (adult students)

In these circumstances, the following re-scheduling policy will apply:

1) If you cancel a lesson at short notice (within 24 hours), it will not be replaced or refunded under any circumstances.

2) If you know that you will be unable to attend a lesson, and let the school know at the earliest opportunity (please send us an email at [email protected]), we will add your name to the ‘replacement lesson’ list.

3) When another student cancels a lesson, you will receive a notification that a replacement lesson time has become available. Until late 2013, this will be sent manually by the ViolinSchool office. Later in the year, you will be able to claim the lesson yourself via your online ViolinSchool account.

4) If we are unable to find a mutually convenient lesson time by the end of the term, you will lose the lesson allocation.

PLEASE HELP US TO HELP YOU, BY LETTING US KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE ABOUT ANY CANCELLATION. This will greatly increase the chance that we can re-allocate your lesson to someone else on the missed lesson list, and therefore offer you a replacement lesson before the end of the term.

Conditions:

1) Availability
Replacement lessons depend entirely on tutor availability and other student cancellations. Therefore, although we will endeavour to replace your lesson where possible, this is not guaranteed.

2) Priority
First time requests for a replacement lesson will be dealt with strictly in the order they are received. If a student makes a second replacement lesson request in one term, this will be dealt with only after first time requests from other students.

3) Limitation
Replacement lessons are strictly limited to 2 lessons per term. No student will be allowed more than two replacement lessons per term.

4) Communication

All cancellations or missed lessons must be notified by email to [email protected]. We cannot accept cancellations by phone.

Adverse Weather

Central London is almost never un-traversable, however if extreme weather results in a rare transport system meltdown or it is unsafe for you to travel from home, then ViolinSchool tutors may be able to deliver your lesson via the internet instead (using Skype).

Tutor Absence

In the event that a ViolinSchool tutor is absent (e.g. illness) on a teaching day, ViolinSchool’s support team will alert you by email as soon as feasibly possible. We will liaise with the teacher to find a replacement lesson time that is convenient for you, and will replace your lesson at the earliest possible time.


Payment Policy

All lessons must be paid for before tuition takes place. Termly payments must either be made in advance, or in two instalments as specified on the termly enrolment form.

ViolinSchool reserves the right to refuse lessons to students who have not pre-paid or whose accounts are in arrears. If a student is in financial difficulty they should contact the school at the earliest possible opportunity to discuss payment options. Payment issues are always treated in the strictest confidence, and we will always do what we can to help a seriously committed student who is in genuine need.

Membership and Recurring Payments

Where Learners choose a monthly billing option for their ViolinSchool membership, ViolinSchool reserves the right to vary the amount that the learner is billed according to any pre-existing payment arrangement that has been approved by the Learner. The Learner has the right to change or cancel their payment arrangement at any time from within the ‘My Account’ section of their online account.

Data Protection

We are currently developing a strict and comprehensive data protection policy, which will be published soon. In the meantime, ViolinSchool operates according to the UK’s Data Protection Act 1998. Our data is currently hosted on servers owned by Tsohost and Google.


Health & Safety

We are currently developing a strict and comprehensive health and safety policy, which will be published soon. In the meantime, ViolinSchool operates according to the UK’s Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

ViolinSchool is committed to providing:

  • provision and maintenance of places and systems of work and study that are, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health;
  • arrangements for ensuring, so far as is reasonably practicable, safety and absence of risks to health in connection with the use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances;
  • the provision of such information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at place of work or study of all staff and students;
  • so far as is reasonably practicable as regards any place of work or study under ViolinSchool’s control, the maintenance of it in a condition that is safe and without risks to health and the provision and maintenance of means of access to and egress from it that are safe and without such risks;
  • the provision and maintenance of a working environment for ViolinSchool staff and students that is, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe, without risks to health, and adequate as regards facilities and arrangements for their welfare at work.

Child Protection

We are currently developing a strict and comprehensive Child Protection policy, which will be published soon. In the meantime, ViolinSchool operates according to the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004 for England and Wales.

LEARN VIOLIN

41 Whitcomb Street
London, WC2H 7DT
ENGLAND

Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44 (0) 20 3051 0080
© Copyright 2022 - ViolinSchool - All Rights Reserved
LONDON, UK
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