Terms and conditions for schools and other settings or organisations
These terms and conditions are for schools, settings and other organisations who have booked services, or schools who have WEMA teachers working in their schools. Parents/Carers should see our separate terms and conditions for tuition, instrument hire and music centres for which parents/carers are charged.
For the purpose of these terms and conditions:
– WEMA means West of England Music and Arts (and its trading arm West of England Music Ltd)
– School means any school, setting, or organisation of any kind, who receives WEMA services
– a Term refers to a three-term academic year: autumn, spring and summer unless otherwise specified.
– Teacher, WEMA employee or WEMA staff means any person working on behalf of WEMA, either as a contracted employee or otherwise.
Please see below for terms and conditions relating to schools booking the following services:
- All services provided to all schools
- Instrumental tuition (small group and individual lessons) (School Billed Lessons)
- Music curriculum/class teaching
- Workshops, events, festivals and programmes
- Instrument Hire and Loan
- The Small Schools' discount scheme
All services to all schools/settings
WEMA sends a ‘Letter of Assurance', in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education, to each school in the September of each year, which confirms all WEMA staff are recruited and DBS checked in line with KCSIE and Safer Recruitment. In line with this and data protection regulations, schools are asked not to take copies of WEMA staff DBS certificates.
Schools must always book services and make changes to services with the WEMA office (music@wema.org.uk / 01454 863147), never directly with the WEMA staff in your school. Changes or bookings not received by the school office cannot be guaranteed.
Should a school wish to use the services (on any type of contract) of a WEMA employee (or former employee), or allow a WEMA employee to deliver services in their school contracted directly via a third part (such as parents), within 6 calendar months of the (former) employee working in the school/setting through WEMA (eg providing instrumental lessons, whether billed to the school or parents), the school will be required to pay a ‘finder's fee' of an amount equal to the value of that WEMA employee's services provided to or at the school in the last 6 months of the WEMA employee's work at the school.
Instrumental tuition: small group and individual lessons
Applies to:
School billed lessons (where the school pays WEMA for the lessons, rather than WEMA invoicing parents directly)
We typically deliver 30 lessons per academic year. Due to the uneven length of school terms the number of sessions offered in each term may vary, but will add up to 30 over the year.
Schools can request more than 30 if required.
The minimum visit for a teacher is usually 30 minutes. Please contact us if you do not have sufficient pupils wanting lessons to make up 30 minutes and we will be able to offer alternatives.
Once you have requested a number of hours of teaching for each instrument, we will continue to deliver this number of hours until you tell us otherwise. You do not need to re-book your lessons each term or year.
Schools are requested to require parent/carers register with the Music Hub’s online portal when they apply for lessons with the school. This is so that we can send education information, such as end of year reports, and notify parents when their child misses a lesson. It also helps us to monitor progress and participation for our inclusion monitoring.
If you wish to change the number of hours you have booked:
- Increases in hours can be made at any time and will be accommodated as soon as the teacher has availability. This is typically straight away.
- Reductions in the number of hours for any specific teacher* need to be given with 5 term-time weeks’ notice. The exception to this is in September, when you can reduce your booking without notice up to the Monday of the second full week of the autumn term.
*'Any specific teacher' means that increases and decreases are counted for each individual teacher, not your total booked time. This is because we need to give teachers due notice if their hours are reducing. Eg, if you increase your piano teacher's time by 30 mins and decrease your trumpet teacher's time by 20 mins, the 20 mins trumpet decrease still requires 5 weeks' notice, even though your total booking has increased by 10 mins overall.
Schools can schedule lessons as they wish, but we recommend the following so that lessons are productive and inclusive:
- Group lessons: 2 students for 20 min lessons, 3 or 4 in a group for 30 mins or 5 or 6 in a group for 40 mins
- Paired lessons of 30 mins, or
- Individual lessons of 20 or 30 mins
We do not normally deliver a lesson of less than 15 minutes duration. Please contact us for more information.
If the teacher is unavailable (eg sickness) the lessons will be made up later in the academic year. If missed lessons cannot be made up by the end of the academic year, a credit note will be issued.
If the school cancels lessons (eg a school trip) and gives 7 days’ notice, the lesson will not be charged for and will be delivered later in the year.
Lessons cancelled with less than 7 days’ notice will be charged for and count as a delivered lesson.
Schools are prohibited by law from recharging parents/carers more than the amount charged to the school for the same tuition.
Music curriculum/class teaching
We typically deliver 30 lessons per academic year. Schools can request more than 30 if required.
The minimum visit for a teacher is usually 60 minutes.
Once you have requested a number of hours of teaching, we will continue to deliver this number of hours until you tell us otherwise. You do not need to re-book your lessons each term or year.
If you wish to change the number of hours you have booked:
- Increases in hours can be made at any time and will be accommodated as soon as the teacher has availability. This is typically straight away.
- Reductions in the number of hours need to be given with 5 term-time weeks’ notice. The exception to this is in September, when you can reduce your booking without notice up to the Monday of the second full week of the autumn term.
If the teacher is unavailable (eg sickness), we will do our best to provide a cover teacher. Where this is not possible, the lesson will not be charged for.
If the school cancels lessons (eg a school trip) and gives 7 days’ notice, the lesson will not be charged for. However, any lessons cancelled within 5 term-time weeks of the end of a contract will be charged for.
Lessons cancelled with less than 7 days’ notice will be charged for.
Workshops, events, festivals (on-off activities) and
Programmes (regular activities, eg weekly)
Applies to:
All large-group activities: World music workshops, Music Explorers/Prelude Programme (WCET/First Access), Let’s Sing, Beat Bus, Live Music, singing festivals, out-of-school events
For most activities, we will provide teaching resources and instruments as necessary and will liaise with schools to make sure arrangements are in place.
Schools must provide a suitable learning environment for lessons.
Schools are responsible for ensuring adequate supervision and support for the class attending the workshop or programme.
Cancellation:
Once you have requested a service, schools are liable for the cost of the service. A 14-day cooling off period will be allowed, during which you can cancel a booking and no payment will be due. Where an activity takes place less than 14 days from the booking date, the full charge will become due at 5pm on the day before the activity is due to take place.
For activities booked within a Package:
- If 6 weeks’ notice is given of an activity being cancelled, a new date will be offered for the activity to be re-arranged.
- If less than 6 weeks’ notice is given of an activity being cancelled, we may not be able to re-arrange and the school will still be liable for the full package fee.
For activities booked as standalone events outside a package:
- Cancellations more than 3 months before an event – 25% charge applicable.
- Cancellations more than 30 working days and up to 3 months before the event – 50% charge applicable.
- Cancellations within 30 working days of an event – 100% of charge payable.
For weekly activities (eg Music Explorers/Prelude, Beat Bus, Let’s Sing etc)
- Lessons cancelled with less than 7 days’ notice will be charged for and count as a delivered lesson.
Whole Class instrumental programmes (known as Music Explorers/Prelude Programme, First Access, WCET)
- These programmes receive significant subsidy through the DfE Music Education Grant and the funding request specific outcomes from the activity.
- Schools are required to meet the programme delivery standards included in the programme framework.
- This includes the provision that a school adult must be in the teaching room, engaged with the lesson, at all times
- The class teacher works with the Music Hub teacher to ensure student continuation is targeted after the programme has finished.
Instrument Hire and Loan (to schools)
Includes where instruments are provided as part of an activity (eg workshops, Music Explorers/Prelude)
Schools are liable for the cost of repair or replacement for damage or loss, accidental or otherwise, either during the activity or whilst stored between activities.
The instrument is for use during the Music Service activity only, and must not be used for other purposes without permission.
Instruments must not be sold, re-hired (without permission) or disposed of, without consent.
Where an instrument is hired to the school for a specific pupil (eg for school-billed lessons), schools are prohibited by law from recharging the parent/carer more than the amount charged to the school by the Hub for the hire/loan.
Together with its accessories, the instrument must always be used with care and placed in its case when not in use.
The instrument should never be kept where it will get wet, or too cold or hot (eg next to a radiator or in direct sunlight). This will cause damage to the instrument.
The instrument, case and accessories must not be defaced in any way. This will be considered damage and the appropriate repair/replacement charge made to the hirer. A name/address label can be attached to the case, but should not be permanent.
Any damage must be reported to the Music Service immediately and you must not try to repair it yourself. Any repairs must be done by a specialist repairer recommended by the Music Service and at the cost of the hirer.
Small School discount
- If you have fewer than 100 pupils on roll, we will reduce our charges by 20% for:
- One package option plus any additional singing activities OR
- All singing activities plus your first whole or half day world music workshop per academic year.
- Additional workshops per academic year and all other activities are charged at the full listed price. You must indicate your eligibility at the time of booking.
