Policies
Thank you for choosing Music Box Studios. At our school, we foster the growth of love of music with all our students. To this end, we wish to advise you of the following music school policies which are applied to all students*. (*A student is defined as any one scheduled for two or more lessons.)
Lessons
Music lessons are scheduled to coincide with the school year: September to June, with a summer term in July and August.
Registration in our school is ongoing. This means that you may start lessons at any time during the year, including during the summer term.
Participation in music lessons is for a full term. If you have registered mid-term, your invoice will be pro-rated to the start date, with an end date the following June.
If you are participating in the 10-week trial period, we require confirmation of intent on or before week six of lessons.
You will be advised of non-instruction dates at the time of registration. Those dates can be found here
Lesson structure
Music students' lessons are scheduled for a set amount of time which includes set-up and take down and any communications with the teacher by students or parents (e.g. progress reports). (For parents of children younger than eight, we suggest that they enter the lesson room during the last three minutes of the lesson.)
For all students we recommend, besides bringing their study materials, to bring a notebook in which the teacher can provide written instruction and notes for the student.
Payment
Upon confirmation of your lesson time, we request a deposit of $150 which will be applied against your annual invoice. We are flexible with payment, offering the option for monthly or quarterly payment, and accept payment by e-transfer (online interac), post-dated cheques, cash, or credit card payments. Lastly, monthly payment is due on or before the 5th of the month. There is a $10 late fee for late payment.
Please note that as of July 2020, we will be applying 2.65% per card present transaction and 3.4% + 15 cents per manually entered transaction. The reason for this charge is to offset the charges credit card companies charge us to take payments. There are no additional charges for other payment methods.
Cancellations and missed lessons
Students are billed for scheduled lessons, not lessons attended. We permit one make-up per year. We have a make-up week set aside at the end of the school year. This year, especially, we anticipate many students and teachers to have to reschedule their lessons. To avoid having to re-organize your schedules on a regular basis, if you can not attend your in-person lesson, it will be conducted online at the same time that we’ve arranged to have the in-person lesson. The teacher may also use the lesson time to create a personalised homework assignment for your child.
Swap option
If you know you are going to miss a lesson, you can can send a family member or friend in your place. Exercising this options counts against the make-up. Any additional lessons missed are forfeited.
If you are exercising the swap or make-up lesson option, you must advise the office at leana@musicboxstudios.ca 24 hours in advance. If notice is received less than 24 hours in advance, the lesson is forfeited.
Tardiness
A student's lesson will not be extended or made-up in the event of a student's late arrival.
Weather
Lessons will be held, even in inclement weather. If you choose to miss the lesson, the lesson will be forfeited.
Teacher-cancelled lessons
If the instructor is not available for a lesson, a suitable substitute teacher will direct the lesson.
If the student or parent refuses the substitution, they may exercise their once-a-year make-up lesson option. If this option has already been exercised, the lesson will be forfeited.
In the event that a substitute is not available, the teacher will offer a rescheduled lesson time. The teacher will offer two rescheduled times for consideration. Should accomodations not be agreed to, the lesson will be forfeited, or the student/parent can exercise the make-up lesson option.
Make-up lessons
One make-up music lesson is offered per instructional year. Make-up weeks are scheduled the last week before term break or term end. They are not carried over.
In-the-school lessons - conflicts
Lessons will be held, even in inclement weather. If you choose to miss the lesson, the lessonwill be forfeit.
In the event of a school event, if a student misses the lesson, the lesson will be forfeited or s/he may use the make-up lesson option.
Discontinuance
In the event of termination of lessons before the end of the school term, a four-lesson cancellation fee will be applied (these can be taken as four additional lessons after notice of termination OR simply paid out in a lump sum with no more lessons). Any pre-paid balance over and above the four-lesson cancellation fee will be returned once all the lessons have been completed.
Please be sure that the time you are requesting is a suitable time for you to attend lessons for the duration of the year, as we cannot always accommodate time-change requests. Should we not be able to accommodate the request, we require a four week notice for cancellation of lessons, for which you will be responsible.
As a courtesy, we request written notice of intent to discontinue lessons. The notice can be emailed to leana@musicboxstudios.ca or mailed to Music Box Studios, 884 Byron Avenue, Ottawa, K2A 0J1.
Non-sufficient Funds
For payments made by cheque, should the bank return your payments "NSF/Insufficient Funds", a $25 administration fee will be applied to the original amount due.
Privacy
Information collected for our student records are not is not shared.
The privacy of our students is important to us. To this end, we will
- Gather the minimum amount of personal information necessary to provide service
- Protect personal information against unauthorized access or use
When you provide us with your personal data, please be advised that this information will only be used in the following ways, unless we inform you otherwise:
- To maintain information related to your lessons
- To provide you with information, materials or communications to assist you with lesson scheduling and learning
- To contact you regarding a recitals
Liability
Music Box Studios does not assume liability for damage to a student's personal property or injury to him/herself or to anyone who may be accompanying you while on the premises.
Important: Any modifications to the application of policies herein are at the discretion of the owners of Music Box Studio. If you have any questions, please contact us by email at leana@musicboxstudios.ca.