Cowichan String Academy Studio Policies
Schedule and Dates: Lesson times are set at the beginning of the year and reserved for your student from September to June. Please sync your online calendar with the studio. Any updates or changes from the calendar will be directly synced to you! This will help us tremendously in reducing the number of email and text reminders that need to go out. Alternatively, you may log into your student portal and view the online calendar. Please check the online portal before checking with a teacher.
Registration Fee: a non-refundable registration fee of $40/student will be charged on your first invoice. This fee holds your lesson time for the year and contributes to the cost of photocopying, studio recitals and group classes. NOT included in this fee is any expenses related to rehearsing and performing in the Nanaimo, Cowichan or Victoria music festivals.
Performances: a studio recital will be held once a year in June. Additional performance opportunities include community recitals, music festivals and Royal Conservatory of Music exams. Royal Conservatory exams can be counted for grade 10/11/12 high school credits at the RCM grades 6,7 and 8 levels.
Payment: Lessons are offered from September to June and fees are invoiced in three terms, to be paid by the beginning of each term on September 1st, January 1st and April 1st. The invoice provided has all lessons for the term listed and can be paid by credit card or e-transfer. Lessons will not be offered if invoices are overdue.
Teacher Cancellation/Concert conflicts: As professional musicians there are occasionally concerts that create teaching conflicts each year. If a teacher is unable to make a lesson, either a teaching assistant will be hired, the lesson will be made up or a lesson credit will be provided for the following term. This will be at the discretion of the teacher. Please expect that some of your lessons will be taught by a teaching assistant.
Student Cancellation: If for any reason the student cancels a lesson we ask for 24 hours notice if possible. We also understand that children often become sick suddenly, but please let us know as soon as you can if you’ll be missing a lesson so we have the opportunity to fit another student into that spot.
Make up lessons: If a student cannot make a lesson due to illness or a scheduling conflict, they may sign up online for a make up lesson with a teaching assistant. Only one make up lesson credit will be offered per term and make up lesson times will be provided at the end of each term. You will be able to sign up for a make up lesson yourself through your online student portal on My Music Staff. Missed lessons will be one for one, whether it is with your teacher or an assistant teacher. Login access to the My Music Staff portal can be found here: https://stringacademy.ca/login
Note that make up lesson credits expire at the end of the term and do not carry forward to future terms/years.
Weather: If there is extreme weather (ie. snow, storms, power outage etc.) lessons will be cancelled. The teacher is not required to give a make-up class for the missed lesson. Enjoy the snow safely from home!
Lesson Termination: We ask for students to give one month notice BEFORE the start of the following term if they would like to stop taking lessons completely. This is a professional courtesy as this is a busy studio and students may have been turned away because of the lack of available lesson times. Refunds for unused lessons will not be provided within the 4 weeks of the end of term.