Orrett Music Academy Policies

Online Only – This means that all lessons will be online. Please note that if you wish to return to in-person lessons in future, a teacher or scheduling change may be required.

3) CONTACTING YOUR TEACHER

While typically the best communication happens in person, we are happy to provide families with direct contact with their teacher(s).. All teachers have their own email address which is usually  (their first name followed by their last initial)@OrrettMusicAcademy.com. You will be given this email for your teacher(s). Teachers always try to respond promptly but sometimes there may be a slight delay. Please note that questions requiring longer answers may be answered in person rather than by email.

4) IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND A LESSON

Group Lessons – Except under extreme circumstances, group lessons cannot be credited, refunded, or rescheduled unless the class is cancelled by Orrett. 

Private Lessons – In an effort to be flexible for parents while respecting the schedules of our staff, our policies allow each student to have TWO lessons rescheduled PER SEMESTER by giving us 24 HOURS NOTICE. Semester 1 is September to January and Semester 2 is February until June. You must EMAIL your teacher at least 24 hours in advance. An additional lesson may be missed and rescheduled once per YEAR with less than 24 hours notice (as long as notice is provided before the lesson) for ILLNESS only! Unfortunately we cannot accept phone messages to reschedule a class. Missed lessons are NOT refunded, they MUST be rescheduled by the teacher who will correspond with you to find a time. Please work with the teacher to make a time happen as sometimes this takes some compromise. Please note that regardless of notice we cannot promise that missed classes beyond two per semester and one additional for illness will be rescheduled. Also note that due to timing, we cannot guarantee make-ups for lessons missed during the month of June.

Strategies to avoid a missed lesson include taking the lesson online or allowing a sibling, friend, or family member to attend a class that would otherwise be missed. 

How Make-Up Lessons are Scheduled – Throughout the year, our teachers will provide make-up lessons in gaps in their schedules, come in early, stay late, or even add extra days to come in for make-ups specifically. If, by the end of June, or by the date of your withdrawal (whichever comes first), after several reasonable attempts have been made to reschedule, you are both unable to find a time for make-up lessons, you will be refunded for any teacher-led absences (i.e. lessons missed as a result of the teacher being away – excluding when an authorized supply teacher was present). Any lessons missed by the student must be made-up before the end of the June, or their withdrawal date within that academic year, if that comes first. Any lessons missed by the students that have not been made-up before the end of lessons will not be refunded or credited. Make-up lessons cannot be credited towards summer lessons. If a student chooses to leave before the end of June, any missed lessons that have not been made-up are forfeited. All make-up lessons are made up in the order in which they were missed, independent of whether it was the teacher or the student who initiated the absence.

5) ATTENDANCE POLICY

For lessons taking place in person – If you have opted for “Hybrid” as your lesson type and wish to take an online lesson for any reason, on any week, simply contact your teacher in writing at least 30m prior to the start of your lesson. This does NOT count as a missed lesson. Also if you wish to switch permanently to online lessons simple let us know. Please note that both the admin and the teachers reserve the right to send a student home who shows up for lessons showing any symptoms and this would FORFEIT THE LESSON. For this reason we encourage families to pre-screen before coming in for each lesson.

For lessons taking place online – Please note that the attendance policy for online lessons is the same as in-person lessons. Whether the teacher is teaching online lessons from Orrett Music Academy or from home, we must respect the continuity of their schedules as we would for in-person lessons. If you opted for online lessons and wish to switch to in-person lessons kindly contact admin and we will do our best to help you. Please note that scheduling may not allow that you can keep the same time or teacher depending on many variables but we will do our utmost to help you.

6) LATENESS

If a student is running at least 5 minutes late the teacher will usually attempt to contact the student by phone. Once the student is 15 minutes late, the teacher is no longer obliged to wait and may leave for a break, turn off computer for online lessons, or head home early (and the lesson is forfeited). However, if notice is given that lateness is to be expected, a teacher will wait as long as needed. Note that the teacher cannot extend the lesson past the agreed upon weekly timeframe.

7) SNOW DAYS / INCLEMENT WEATHER

On occasion where it is deemed unsafe to hold lessons (as determined by Orrett Music Academy), students will be contacted by email and all missed classes will be rescheduled. As this is highly inconvenient such action is only taken on the most severe of weather (some snow or heavy rain will rarely cause class cancellations). As snow days are an act of nature beyond our control, credits cannot be provided. (just make-up options)

8) REGISTRATION FEE

Upon registration, a $49 registration fee applies. This fee includes our welcome package (including parking pass, music binder, and music bag). Each year, students are given the opportunity to pre-register by the appropriate deadline towards years end. There is no fee to re-register as a returning student. If they miss that deadline, they are considered new students and must re-register and a $49 fee applies. The online link and information is provided by email close to that time. For any students that leave between September and June, upon rejoining the school in the same school year or another, a re-registration fee will apply. There is no registration fee for summer lessons. A student who finished in June but chooses not take summer lessons in July and August will not be charged a re-registration fee, since summer lessons are optional.

Students already taking at least one class at Orrett who wish to add any additional instrument do NOT pay an additional registration fee.

9) HOLIDAYS

Holidays (ONLY the ones listed below) are factored into tuition payments. Therefore if your lesson that week falls on a holiday, you do not pay for that week and it does not need to be rescheduled. Please refer to a calendar and/or TDSB calendar for exact holiday dates. You will also be reminded by email.

We are closed for a 2 week seasonal holiday at the end of December and beginning of January.

We are also closed for regular private and group lessons over one week for March Break.

We are also closed for Good Friday.

We are also closed the following Monday holidays:

• Labour Day 
• Thanksgiving Monday 
• Family Day 
• Victoria Day

Our regular year of classes end at the end of June.

10) SUPPLY TEACHERS

Orrett Music Academy reserves the right to provide a supply teacher while a regular teacher is ill or away. All supply teachers are approved by the director. If a student chooses not to attend such a lesson, the regular missed lesson policies and max allowances apply. While teachers at Orrett work hard to minimize such absences, experience has shown that occasional exposure to a different teacher is often beneficial to a child. When a supply teacher cannot be found in time students will be contacted by email will have their lessons cancelled and rescheduled (and this will NOT count towards the max allowable reschedules per session).

11) CARE OF CHILD

Orrett Music Academy does not assume any responsibility for the care of students or any children while they are on school premises.  All students under the age of 18 MUST be accompanied by a parent or caregiver while attending private lessons, group classes, and events hosted by Orrett Music Academy OR must have the expressed written consent of the Orrett Music Academy administrator present for transfer of care.

12) DO PARENTS SIT IN ON LESSONS?

For both in-person and online lessons, this is an excellent question and the short answer is: sometimes. At Orrett we believe in the Parent, Teacher, Child learning triangle which states that all three participants (including Parent) must be actively involved in lessons to help ensure a child thrives. We also wish to develop lateral benefits of music lessons such as the opportunity for a teacher to become a positive role model for a child and this often requires them to have alone time. With online lessons sometimes parent involvement is critical, especially with young children. On a child by child basis, the teacher and parent will mutually decide what is the best fit. Sometimes having a parent present for most or all lessons allows more engagement, behaviour management, and support from the parent but, in other cases, it can be a distraction or nervous situation for certain children. Please communicate with your teacher about what is best for your child and expect a two-way positive discussion. At bare minimum every teacher will ensure a quality conversation is had at the end of the lesson with the parent to get them up to speed.

13) PHOTO / VIDEO CONSENT

By enrolling with Orrett Music Academy you hereby give consent for us to take photos and videos of your children to print and post at the school, use on our website, social media, or other academy related materials. We will never sell or directly profit from any said images nor will they ever be shared with a third party for any reason. We do not use the full name of any student with any photograph or video. You may opt out of this consent by sending an email to hello@orrettmusicacademy.com but please note that means we also cannot include photos or videos of your child for contests, student of the month, etc.

14) PARKING

For in-person lessons, once a student has registered (after a possible trial class and once payment has been submitted), each family is entitled to up to 2 FREE PARKING passes for use in our parking lot behind the building off Cosmo Road (NOT to be confused with city parking). Be sure not to lose them as we are not permitted to hand out more that 2 per family. Please note that the pass indicates 30 minutes of complimentary parking (as is indicated on our lease.) It is highly unlikely that a family parking for slightly longer (such as 45 or 60m) would get a ticket but we cannot promise this so that decision is up to you.

***During the hours of 3-6PM the parking lot can be quite busy. Please plan to arrive early as it can take up to 15 minutes to find a spot. Although registered students get free parking passes, Orrett Music Academy has no control over who uses the shared lot.

15) WITHDRAWING FROM LESSONS

Music lessons are a wonderful and important part of the development of your child. Patience and parental involvement are both critical components of ensured success. If you are thinking of cancelling lessons please first inform your teacher. Often, given this information, a teacher can make temporary (or even permanent) adjustments to the teaching plan to attempt to bring renewed enthusiasm to the lessons. If that is unsuccessful please contact admin. We would first try and find you another teacher as sometimes this new dynamic helps, then a new day and time if scheduling is the issue, then finally we’d suggest another instrument

If after all of these important efforts, you wish to stop taking lessons you must inform us in writing by the 15th of the month to stop payment for the following month. (For any month except September.) If notice is given after the 15th of the month, payment for the following month will be processed and students may continue with lessons. If you are on equal monthly billing, your payments will then stop. If you paid using one of the year at once options, we will refund the difference. 

Please note that any lessons missed by the student that have not been made-up are forfeited. Lessons missed by the teacher (where no supply teacher was present) are credited or refunded. 

16) TERMINATION OF ENROLMENT

Orrett Music Academy works hard to create and maintain a safe, positive, and respectful environment for all staff and students. As such, Orrett Music Academy reserves the right to immediately cancel the enrolment of any student / family for reasons of disruptive behaviour, aggressive or condescending communication (oral, verbal, or written), inappropriate conduct by student and/or parent, frequent absences, repeated late payments, or other reasons at the sole discretion of Orrett Music Academy. In such cases, remaining tuition (if applicable) would be refunded.

17) DECLINED CREDIT CARD FEE

A $25 fee will be added to any declined Credit Card payment. For this reason we advise that you keep us updated with new cards, expired cards, and more.

18) PERSONAL PROPERTY

Orrett Music Academy does not assume any responsibility for personal property (including, but not limited to clothing, cameras, cell phones, purses, wallets, vehicle etc) lost, damaged, or left unattended on Academy promises, in common areas, or the parking lot behind the building.

19) EMAIL AUTHORIZATION

Orrett Music Academy uses communication via email regarding school related information. By registering for lessons at Orrett, you give Orrett Music Academy permission to send communication by email to the email address(es) you have provided. This is mandatory for enrolment at Orrett. If, in future, you are no longer registered for lessons with Orrett, you may withdraw this consent at any time.

19) ABIDING BY POLICIES

Registration at Orrett Music Academy assumed that you have read and will abide with all polices above. It is subject to change at any time. You will be notified by email if any changes are made. This document will remain online and you may make a request for a written copy at any time. We thank you for your attention to all details and for your anticipated cooperation.