Student Policies
Core Student Policies
1st Of Month Billing: Tuition must be paid by automatic credit card payment. Tuition will be charged to your credit card on file the 1st day of each month for 4 lessons a month until notified to withdraw. Some months may have 3, 4, or 5 scheduled lessons depending on holidays and the Academy Year Calendar. All lessons and classes are continuous, and students may retain their spot as long as they like. The charges will appear as “Toronto Arts Academy” on billing statements.
Make-Up Lessons: Any missed 30 minute private lessons shall be made up with our flexible 1-hour Group Make-Up (GMU) classes held every week. No private make up lessons are provided for missed lessons on behalf of the student. If you are alone in a makeup group class, the 60 minutes group class will be converted to a 30 minute private class. Group class make ups are unlimited and never expire. Private lesson makeup credits will be provided by the Academy if your teacher and an alternate is not available or if the Academy must close. Such private lesson credits expire upon withdrawal. By holding a time in a teacher’s schedule that may not be registered by others, no refunds will be provided for unattended weekly lessons or unscheduled or expired private make up lesson credits offered for staff or Academy cancellations and closures.
Monthly Withdrawal Deadline: Withdrawals must be received via our withdrawal form by the 15th to be processed for the 1st of the next month by our payment processor.
Full Student Policies
Our teachers reserve time on their schedules, plan for your lessons, and invest in the long-term development of each student. To provide regular, quality lessons, the following policies need to be observed.
Membership Tuition:
- A $35 non-refundable registration fee is due at initial sign-up (fully discount to $15 for siblings and returning members).
- Returning Member is a member with one (1) or more months gap between enrollment.
- Tuition is a flat monthly fee. Most months have four (4) or five (5) lessons, and on rare occasions, three (3) lessons when in observance of major national holidays (see our calendar). We will notify you when your timeslot is affected.
- Tuition is due on the first of each month and is billed automatically to VISA or Mastercard. (“Auto-pay”)
- Included in the membership:
- Regular weekly lesson time with your teacher. (Except when the studio is closed for holidays (see our calendar).
- Two (2) yearly recital performance opportunities at no additional cost (Spring and Summer Recitals, on a first come first serve basis. Accompaniments are included in membership).
- Musical rewards including certificates, wristbands and personalized trophies.
- Bonus group classes for building performance and songwriting skills and more!
- Educational material, music books, instrument rental and other accessories are additional cost.
- Members may purchase additional exam or performance preparation lessons.
Membership Cancellation:
- Membership may be cancelled by submitting our ONLINE WITHDRAWAL FORM.
- Cancellation Form must be received by the 15th of the month to take effect at the end of that month.
- For Example: Cancellation Form received on the 16th of May is billed for June and takes effect at the end of June.
- There are no exceptions.
- Cancellation Form must be received by the 15th of the month to take effect at the end of that month.
- You may withdraw the cancellation at any time before it takes effect but your teacher and/or time slot cannot be guaranteed.
- A $15 returning student registration fee will be required to re-enroll once the withdrawal takes effect.
- Active membership is mandatory to participate in our events, exams and recitals. All registration(s) will be withdrawn at the time of membership cancellation.
- All Make-up Lesson Credit(s) on your account expire upon withdrawal. There are no extensions beyond withdrawal for make-up credits.
- Refunds are not provided under any circumstances.
- Our Academy reserves the right to terminate membership, in which case prorated tuition will be refunded.
Missed Lessons:
- Any missed 30 minute private lessons shall be made up with our flexible 1-hour Group Make-Up (GMU) classes held every week. No private make up lessons are provided for missed lessons on behalf of the student.
- If you are alone in a makeup group class, the 60 minutes group class will be converted to a 30 minute private class.
- Group class make ups are unlimited and never expire.
- Private lesson makeup credits will be provided by the Academy if your teacher and an alternate is not available or if the Academy must close. Such private lesson credits expire upon withdrawal.
- By holding a time in a teacher’s schedule that may not be registered by others, no refunds will be provided for unattended weekly lessons or unscheduled or expired private make up lesson credits offered for staff or Academy cancellations and closures.
Attendance:
- Students are expected to be punctual to their weekly lessons.
- Students who are late for a lesson will still finish at the scheduled time, as the Academy must start on time for the student(s) scheduled that follow.
- The last 5 minutes of each lesson is not instructional time – this time is reserved for packing up, finishing homework notes, touching base with a parent or guardian, and teacher preparation for starting the next lesson on time.
Care of Students:
- Our Academy is not responsible for providing before or after class care for students.
- For parents who have more than one child arriving at the academy, please supervise all of your children while another other child is in a lesson. It is neither the instructor’s nor the Academy’s responsibility to supervise children in the waiting room.
- Parents are expected to pick up their children promptly at the conclusion of their lessons as no one at the Academy is available to supervise the children at the conclusion of lessons.
Substitutions:
- You may decide to change teacher or instrument with a 14-day advance notice before the 1st of the month.
- If your teacher is unable to teach a lesson, a substitute teacher will be arranged.
- Regular lesson cancellation policy applies to substitute teachers. No Make-up Credit is issued for last minute substitutions.
- If your teacher becomes unavailable for regular lessons, you will be provided a new teacher with similar teaching style, or the opportunity to choose a new teacher.
Summer (June, July, August):
- We are a year-round Academy and do not close in the summer. Students frequently make the most musical progress during the summer months when they are more focused and have more time to practice. We registered over a hundred students each summer with old students increasing their lessons, and new students registering. Most of our students choose to keep their lesson time and online lessons, or make up missed lessons, when they return.
- Students who stop lessons for the summer and re-enroll during the September rush often find their old teacher is unavailable, and their former lesson time, and most other popular lesson times are taken by other students upon their return.
- Students will also be required to pay a returning student registration fee ($15) and restart the musical ladder program from the beginning, as the program rewards continued commitment to their learning and musical growth.
Communication:
- All studio communications and bookings must be made through the front desk staff, not our coaches. We cannot honor any arrangements made with a coach.
- Please respect our coach’s commitments and privacy by directing your questions to the front desk outside of your lesson time. We will do our best to get you an answer.
Injuries:
You assume all risk of injury or harm to the child(ren) or adult(s) associated with participation in musical activities at our Academy and agree to release, indemnify, defend and forever discharge our Academy and its officers and staff from all liability, claims, demands, damages, costs, and expenses in the unlikely event of injury sustained by your child(ren) or adult student during the course or as a result of their participation in the Academies musical activities on our property or events that result from any activity conducted by the members before, during or after class time.
Consent for Digital Communication and Media Release: Unless notified by our Consent Withdrawal Form via our website, the Academy is given consent to send notices and information regarding lessons, events and future registrations to student families by email, text and other digital methods. Student information will not be shared with any outside companies or parties. The school reserves the right to take photographs and videos of students around the Academy, at our musical performance events, to celebrate musical achievements and milestones, and to use on our wall of fame, in educational and promotional materials, and to copyright such photographs in its name. No last names will be used.
Disclaimer:
We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.
Policy effective upon enrollment. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
Policies & terms are subject to change.