Fees & Payments

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• All students must have completed an online registration form by the person responsible for paying fees.

• Tuition fees are due on the first timetabled lesson of each 5 week block, this is the only time that our prompt payment discount applies. If you are not present on that day please pay by bank transfer.

• Fees have been calculated over the year which covers 30 weeks, this is divided into 6 blocks of 5 weeks. 

• Fees are not discounted or refunded for missed lessons. Lessons can be made up at another venue, but please check before attending. 

• If Lockdown occurs, all classes will continue online.  You will need to contact us if this causes an issue, we will do our utmost to help, taking each person's individual circumstances into account.

• Private lessons should be paid for when booked, if you do not attend or are late to a booked lesson it must be paid for. Your lesson cannot be extended because you arrived late. 48 hours notice is required if you need to cancel.

• Pupils are automatically re-enrolled in classes every Term/half term unless we receive notice in writing/email to stop classes.

• Two weeks notice is required in writing if a student is to be withdrawn from the school. Failure to do so will result in a further half term’s fees being due.*

• *Speech and drama - as these are small classes we require notice  a half terms notice if attendance is to stop

 

code of conduct 

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We wish to create a safe and nurturing environment for all our young people to flourish in, our code of conduct is structured to allow this to happen and ensure they gain the most from their classes.

• The school is only responsible for students while in class. 

• Students should inform the teacher at the beginning of each class if they have an injury.

• Should a parent need to speak to a teacher, this can be done by arranging a telephone appointment. Please avoid coming in to speak to a teacher between classes whenever possible, as it delays the start of that class for all the pupils. A parent should never enter a class once in progress unless it is an emergency.

• Pupils & visitors are expected to behave in an orderly, civilised and well-mannered way and to show respect to their teachers, assistants and other students when attending the Geraldine Lamb Dance School. Bullying is not tolerated (Please see our full Anti-bullying Policy below.) Aggressive, abusive or anti-social behaviour is not tolerated from parents, students or visitors in any part of the premises or at any time, whether toward GLDS staff, visitors or other Dance School Parents or students. Please conduct yourselves in an appropriate manner and respect GLDS staff, all visitors and policies at all times. All incidents will be reported and investigated accordingly and may result in the offender being asked to leave the school.

• The school cannot be held liable for any loss or damage to the belongings of students or any other person attending dance class locations. Please name all uniform items.

• GLDS teachers will never discuss the progress of a student with anyone other than their parent/guardian. all communication to the school is strictly confidential.

• The content of the school's emails and letters contain confidential information which is intended only for the recipient. Any unauthorised copying, forwarding, sharing of the material is strictly prohibited. 

• When contacting the school or a specific teacher, please use the correct channels it is inappropriate to do this over a teacher's personal Facebook messenger.

• If you are posting on social media please ensure you have read our Social Media Policy below.

• Parents \ Guardians and students must be aware that due to the nature of dance it is necessary for the teacher to use appropriate physical contact when training dancers.

• The correct uniform is expected to be worn for each class, outdoor clothing is not to be worn in class, no jewellery apart from small stud earrings, no watches or fit bits, hair should be in a ponytail or similar held off the face for all classes. From Grade 4 and above and all vocational classes hair must be in a bun. New pupils are expected to have the correct uniform by the end of their first term. Please use changing rooms to dress where provided. 

• If a student is going to be dropped off early or collected late this must be arranged with the teacher and the student must bring a book to read quietly.

• The school must be informed before a student takes part in any external dance classes, auditions or performances. This should be done annually in writing at the beginning of each school year. Also when a student joins us or a new activity commences.  We do not allow our students to attend another dance school studying similar styles of dance. This is also a matter of safeguarding, as we like to ensure that our pupils study under responsible, highly trained and registered teachers in a safe and supportive environment. From past experience, a student that attends 2 schools picks up bad habits bring them into our classes which in turn means they can be copied by other students which then takes twice as long to retrain.                

 

Media & Photography

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• Students may be photographed or filmed during school activities which could be used for publicity  &  social media purposes, please inform us in writing if you prefer for your child not to take part. This cannot be done retrospectively but if the dance school has been informed in writing we will not publish any further photographs or videos that include your child.

• All press releases of any nature relating to a student and GLDS must be organised by the school. If you feel you have a newsworthy achievement speak to Sue, Kirsty or Lara.

 

Examinations

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• Students will be notified by email when they are considered ready to be entered for an examination. The correct entry fee and online form must be returned before the closing date or the student will not be entered for that examination.

• It is very important that you do not miss any classes in to make the required progress, failure to do so will result in the student being withdrawn from the exam. We generally have another class that they can make up a missed lesson.

• Examination certificates must be claimed within 6 months of the examination after which time they will be destroyed. If you are no longer attending lessons please supply an A4 hard envelope with the correct postage so we may post your certificates.

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SAFEGUARDING Policy

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Geraldine Lamb Dance School recognise that we must safeguard* and protect children from abuse as defined in the Children Act 2004 and the Education Act 2002. All children have a right to protection from harm and abuse, regardless of age, ability, gender, racial heritage, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, identity, or additional vulnerabilities.

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Everyone at our organisation shares an objective to help keep children, young people, safe by:

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• Providing a safe environment to learn in

• Identifying and responding to children*, young people* in need of support and/or protection

• Supporting children’s development in ways that will foster a sense of self-esteem and independence

• Fostering a learning environment in which every pupil feels valued and able to articulate their wishes and feelings

  in their preferred method of communication in an atmosphere of acceptance and trust.

  * Safeguarding children is the action taken to promote the welfare (or wellbeing) of children and protect them from harm. Child protection is part of the safeguarding continuum and focuses on the activity that is undertaken to protect individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm

  * Child: A child includes babies, children and young people up to 18 years.

 

We at GLDS will endeavour to ensure that children at risk are protected from harm while they visit or are attending class. We will do this by:

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• Making sure our staff are carefully selected

• Ensuring all staff undergo an Enhanced Criminal Records Bureau disclosure

• Establishing and maintaining an ethos where children and young people feel secure, and are encouraged to talk, and are listened to

• Taking all reasonable steps to ensure the health, safety and welfare of any child or vulnerable adult in contact with us

• Not physically, emotionally or sexually abusing any child in contact with us

• Taking all reasonable steps to prevent any staff member or persons working for us from putting any child in a situation in which there is an unreasonable risk to their health and safety

• Taking all reasonable steps to prevent any staff member or persons working for us from physically, emotionally or sexually abusing any child

• Treating all children with respect including respect for diversity

• Reporting to the Principal any evidence or reasonable suspicion that a child has been physically, emotionally or sexually    

      abused in contact with us or anyone in our organisation

• Referring to statutory authorities all incidents reported to the Principal

• Using our safeguarding and child protection procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who

       need to know, and involve children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately ·

• Using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately

• Creating and maintaining an anti-bullying environment and ensuring that we have a policy and procedure to help us deal

       effectively with any bullying that does arise ·

• Ensuring that we have effective complaints and whistleblowing measures in place ·

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Everyone working or applying to work for this GLDS is to be made aware of our policy for children’s welfare.        

Furthermore, this document should be issued to all staff and other people who are likely to have contact with children as part of their work with us. Copies of the policy will be held by the Principal.

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Anti-bullying policy

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We define bullying as any behaviour; physical, verbal, written (either electronically or in-person), that detrimentally targets another dancer. This counts as bullying when it physically or emotionally harms a dancer, targets a dancer for any actual or perceived characteristic, or creates a hostile environment in the dance studio.

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We understand that the underreporting of bullying is the biggest hindrance to stopping further harassment.  We have developed an online form that can be filled out anonymously or with personal information for students or parents to file in the case of bullying.  If you do not wish to provide personal information, we just ask to be supplied with a date, time, location, who was bullying, and details of the harassment. Should a member of GLDS staff witness an act of bullying they must report it to the Senior Management Team.

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We send this information directly to the Senior Management team, who are in charge of the implementation and studio-wide compliance to the anti-bullying policy. The team will contact the alleged bullying party, the alleged victim, teachers, assistants, and parents who may have possibly witnessed the event. Should, in addition, he/she find evidence that corroborates the report; this will serve as the basis for scheduling a course of action meeting.  GLDS staff members must intervene if they are made aware of the possibility that bullying is occurring including but not limited to witnessing bullying.

 

GLDS will not tolerate bullying in any form; physical, emotional, social or otherwise. We also recognise that bullying does not just occur between students. Parents or guardians, who harass another student, parent, or GLDS staff member. Since our goal is to empower people and embrace individuality, one documented bullying event will have repercussions, which may include being asked to leave the school (tuition fees will not be refunded.

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At Geraldine Lamb Dance School, respect and compassion are two of our core values. All dancers have a right to learn and develop their art in a positive, respectful environment. We realize that every situation reported through this form may require a unique follow-up.

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Social media Policy

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• Remain mindful that your behaviour on Social Media remains in keeping with GLDS's code of conduct.

• Any comments or posts perceived to be obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, discriminatory or hateful towards GLDS staff, students or families may subject the owner to disciplinary or legal action. 

• Should you wish to engage on Social Media while identifying as a studio dancer parent volunteer or employee, you may only do so with integrity, respect, and adhere to privacy and confidentiality policy. Any content revealing or referring to sensitive studio information is not allowed to be shared online. 

• Intellectual property laws (for example, costume design and choreography), must be observed by all studio patrons when posting online. This includes but is not limited to manuals, forms, handbooks, and syllabus, etc.



• While affiliated with our studio, (for example, images of your child in GLDS uniform) we will not tolerate any posts that are racially, sexually, physically or religiously offensive. 


• All matters pertaining directly to the studio – whether it be fees, scheduling, placements or performance opportunities – may not be communicated via Social Media. We have an open-door policy and encourage all communication, complaints and feedback to be communicated to the principal directly.



• We discourage parents, students and teachers from becoming ‘friends’ or ‘followers’ on Social Media unless there is an existing relationship. We consider all studio members to be family and as such feel the obligation to respect and monitor personal boundaries. 



• Please do not use teachers personnel social media accounts/messenger, if you need to contact a teacher please use the school Facebook page or email the school.

• Families found to be engaging in ‘hidden’ or ‘private’ groups formed for the specific purpose of discussing studio matters will be encouraged to join our closed Facebook group for public discussion and warned against discussing Studio matters in their private online groups.

• Photos or Videos taken from performances or rehearsals may NOT be posted online without permission from GLDS.

• You may not post photographs/videos that feature GLDS dancers other than your own child online without the proven consent of their parent/guardian and GLDS. 


• Identifying information of any featured minors – including names, ages or location – must be removed when posting on Social Media.

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General Data Protection Regulations

We would like to assure students and parents that we are complying with the updated General Data Protection Regulations.

There are certain points that you should be aware of:-

 

• All pupils must have completed a registration form to attend class. Information given to GLDS on the registration form will only be viewed by the school's Teachers.

• We do not share this information with any third party. However, some limited information will need to be shared with examination boards should the student choose to be entered for an examination. This will be made clear on the entry form.

• Personal information will be deleted upon leaving the school unless you request to continue receiving updates from us. If a student is absent for a half-term without contacting us we will delete their personal information.

• We do archive examination results which are kept securely.

• Pictures of our students may appear on the website, social media or in publicity material. We do not name students unless we have sought permission to do so from their parents or guardian. If you do not wish pictures of your child to be published in this way, please inform us in writing or by email.

 

Nature of work - Private Dance School

 

Description of processing

 

• The following is a broad description of the way this organisation/data controller processes personal information. To understand how your own personal information is processed you may need to refer to any personal communications you have received, check any privacy notices the organisation has provided or contact the organisation to ask about your personal circumstances.

Reasons/purposes for processing information

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• We process personal information to enable us to provide education and training conducted outside the State system, welfare and educational support services, to administer property used by the school, to maintain our own accounts and records, for administration in connection with the organisation of alumni associations and events, for fundraising purposes and to support and manage our staff. 

Type/classes of information processed

 

We process information relevant to the above reasons/purposes. This may include:

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• personal details

• family details

• financial details

• education and employment details

• disciplinary and attendance records

• vetting checks

• visual images, personal appearance and behaviour

• details of goods and services provided

We also process sensitive classes of information that may include:

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• physical or mental health detail

• racial or ethnic origin

• religious or other beliefs

• membership

• information relating to offences or alleged offences

We process personal information about:

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• employees

• pupils and students

• professional advisers and consultants

• sponsors and supporters

• services providers and suppliers

• complainants, enquirers

Who the information may be shared with:

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• We sometimes need to share the personal information we process with the individual themselves and also with other organisations. Where this is necessary we are required to comply with all aspects of the Data Protection Act (DPA). What follows is a description of the types of organisations we may need to share some of the personal information we process with for one or more reasons.

Where necessary or required we share information with:

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• educators, careers and examining bodies

• staff, students and school boards

• current, past and prospective employers

• family, associates and representatives of the person whose personal data we are processing

• central and local government

• healthcare professionals, social and welfare organisations

• police, courts, tribunals and security organisations

• voluntary and charitable bodies

• the media

• financial organisations

• suppliers

• service providers

• professional advisers