Andrew Hodges  

The Legal Stuff - Terms & Conditions

 

Because of the complexities of the time and travel involved in making the lessons possible these terms & conditions are an essential element in the smooth organisation of the lessons. Learning the violin is a long-term commitment and whilst the student is asked to be as committed as possible circumstances may conspire to create difficulties.  These terms & conditions have therefore been designed to be as fair and as flexible as possible to both the student and the teacher.   Please take the trouble to read them so as to avoid the possibility of future misunderstandings.

 

Please be aware that short-notice cancellations are a particular problem to manage because of the difficulties of the travel timetable and for this reason this type of cancellation will cause the lesson to be lost and the fees not refunded.    To avoid this the student (or parent) need only give notice at the time of the lesson preceding the absence to avoid unnecessary loss of a lesson.  Students, and if appropriate parents, upon commencement of their lessons, are therefore assumed to have agreed to the terms & conditions (which are available to be read before commencement of the lessons).  

Please do not be offended by these terms and conditions being upheld.

 

1 Lessons & Times

1. Lessons are normally weekly at agreed times during school term times but may extend into school holidays by mutual agreement.

2. Students will be provided with not less than 30 lessons and not more than 40 lessons per year unless varied by mutual agreement.

 

2 Variations to Lesson Times & Dates

1. Requests to vary the timing of a lesson will be considered where a minimum of a week’s notice has been provided by the student (or parent), subject to available space.

2. Students may request to miss a lesson with the following conditions:

   Where notice is provided of 7 days or more the lesson missed will be treated as a postponement not a cancellation which means the lesson fee is not lost. 

   Where notice is provided of less than 7 days (for any reason) the  lesson missed will be counted as a cancellation and the lesson fee is lost.

3. Fees for cancelled lessons where notice of less than 7 days is provided are not refunded.

4. Lessons cancelled by the teacher at short notice (e.g. teacher illness or unavoidable delays)  will be made up to the student. Please note that this will not apply to lessons cancelled due to late payment (see 5.3 below).

 

3 Holidays & Absences

1. Notice of student holidays must be provided with a minimum of seven days notice but ideally more if at all possible.

2. The teacher will provide as much notice as possible of teacher holidays but in any case will provide 7 or more days notice to the student.

3. In the case of student long term illness or a student extended holiday period these terms & conditions may be varied by mutual agreement between the student (or parent) and the teacher.

 

4 Payment

1. Lessons are booked in sets (not in terms).

2. The lesson fees are paid in advance and are due on or before the first lesson in the set.

3. By commencing a set of lessons the student (or parent) commits to the next period covered by the set of lessons (except notified holidays and agreed absences).

4. Fees for violin tuition are non-refundable and non-transferable.

5. Payment may made by cheque (payable to AHA! Coaching Ltd) or on-line (banking details available upon request).

6. On-line payments must include an identifying reference (e.g. your surname).

7. On-line payments must be accompanied by an email sent to andrew@andrewhodges.co.uk confirming that you have authorised the payment.

8. On-line payments should use the Faster Payment Service where your bank provides you with the facility.

9. In the event of a payment being 10 or more days late a late-payment fee of £2 may be added.

 

5 Termination of Tuition

1. To terminate the lessons the student (or parent)  must give a minimum of three lesson’s notice.

2. If more than 4 consecutive lessons are missed by the student the teacher may choose to terminate the lessons.

3. In the event of late payment the teacher reserves the right not to attend an unpaid lesson. The student remains liable for the lesson fees.

4. If, in the opinion of the teacher, the pupil is failing to benefit from the tuition, the teacher may , after discussion with the student (and parents), choose to terminate the lessons with immediate effect.

 

6 Video Reviews

1. A video review consists of a video having been sent, follow-up videos subsequently being provided and completed by the receipt of a review completion note.

2. Any follow-up videos requested will be clearly sign-posted as such and will NOT count towards the set of 5.

3. Videos sent AFTER the completed review will count as the commencement of the next video review and WILL count as one of the set of 5.

4. Video reviews are normally responded to within 48 hours except during school holiday periods which may take longer.

5. Videos should be of HD quality (if possible) and shot in good lighting conditions. Poor quality videos cannot be reviewed. One replacement video is permitted.

6. Sets of 5 must be used within 12  months of the set being paid for. At the anniversary of payment the set will expire and no refund provided for unused videos reviews.

7. All videos created by the student are treated as strictly confidential between the teacher and the student with exception of generic videos created by the teacher (which by definition will not feature the student) which may be published on this or other sites owned by AHA Coaching Ltd.

8. Due to the complexities of the EU/UK Brexit agreement, the Video Review Service is only available to citizens of the UK and other countries not in the EU/EEA.

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7 Child Protection, Safeguarding & Intellectual Property Policy

1. Due to child protection & safeguarding requirements the use of video/recording devices in lessons and performances is strictly limited.

2. In lessons, videoing for the purposes of reinforcing a learning point is only performed with explicit permission. 

3. In lessons, where a work has reached a satisfactory level, a video record may be taken as part of the students record of achievement but only with explicit permission.

4. In the case of minors, parents must provide explicit permission.

5. The video file will not be published to social media except with the explicit permission of the student or parent.

6. In performance circumstances, video recording policy is divided into two groups; those who are regarded is INVOLVED, usually in the performance area, and those who are regarded as UNINVOLVED, usually not in the performance area.

7. INVOLVED people in the performance area are regarded as having provided implicit permission for recording unless explicitly stating their wish not to be videoed.

8. UNINVOLVED people who are unintentionally videoed will be edited from the recording unless their permission is granted.

9. Videos of INVOLVED people may be published to this website or to social media.

10. The intellectual property of the videos rests with AHA Coaching Ltd. All rights reserved.