Blog posts

Covid 19 Risk Assessment

Wednesday, September 16, 2020 by Ceri Jones | Uncategorized

A draft covid 19 risk assessment is now available to view from the student portal. 

The addendum to the teaching contract to allow online lessons to take place is also still available to view. Should you have concerns regarding these terms and conditions changes please contact me.

Prior to resuming face to face lessons I will require each family to complete the updated tuition contract. However as the situation keeps changing with the rule of 6 etc I am awaiting confirmation and further advice  from the ISM and DCMS prior to sending out the new arrangements.

As you will see from the risk assessment pupils who travel to lessons on public transport will need to remain as online lessons temporarily.

Where it is not possible to return to teaching in school pupils may be offered a lesson at my home studio in River subject to availability and Covid regulations! 


Term 1 Update

Saturday, August 29, 2020 by Ceri Jones | Uncategorized


Welcome back to the new school year and well done to those of you who have kept playing and learning all through summer! 
Enjoy your first week back and good luck to those of you starting new schools!

Lesson slots are now uploaded to the student portal calendar to allow you to book your lessons for term 1-  September and October

I appreciate that until school timetables and arrangements are confirmed you may not be able to book in a repeating lesson and so have set every lessons as individual slots available for any instrument to allow for changes in parent working patterns and school timetables. Please can you ensure you have booked in for September lessons.

If there is a specific/repeating time you would prefer and you cannot see it on the calendar please contact me.
All slots are open for all instruments and 30 minutes long even if you have a 20 minute lesson to allow for technical/internet glitches.
ALL  lessons will remain online for September and October. Risk assessments are continuously being reviewed in line with the current COVID guidance but currently studio lessons must remain online.

String Instruments - Socially distanced tuning is available so an out of tune instrument is not a barrier to continuing to learn.

Bursaries - If you have been notified you have been awarded a `Kent music bursary please can you let me know. They have a new online application process this year. 
If your financial circumstances have changed you may be eligible for support - For further information please see the Kent Music Financial Assistance Scheme.

Contracts - I will be reissuing the lesson contracts as I do every September the main change is to reflect the change to online zoom teaching. Please can you also ensure your details especially phone number and email address and details are correct in the student portal. 

Invoicing
To reflect the ever changing "new normal" while many parents were on furlough invoicing had been altered to monthly as a temporary measure for the summer holidays and to use any credit left over from lessons cancelled due to Lockdown.
To allow for budgeting 
Term 1 invoices will be issued at the end of SEPTEMBER to cover September and October lessons 
From term 2 (November 2nd) we will return to termly invoicing with blocks of 5 lessons (minimum) booked and paid in advance. 

New Pupils
As Whole Class Instrumental teaching is unable to resume in schools until January 2021 I do have online slots available for new pupils or pupils who may no longer have access to a teacher. I also have loan instruments available thanks to the Beatrice Jeffery award - If you know anyone who may be interested in piano keyboard cello viola violin percussion or drama lessons please direct them to the Owl music website www.owlmusic.co.uk

and finally - Henry the Hodgepodge
Footage of Henry is available as requested on our instagram account.........https://www.instagram.com/cj_owlmusic/
Stay safe and well!

Lesson Slots

Tuesday, July 21, 2020 by Ceri Jones | Admin

Lesson slots are now uploaded to book your lessons for the rest of July and August!

If there is a specific/repeating time you would prefer and you cannot see it on the calendar please contact me.

All slots are open for all instruments and 30 minutes long to allow for technical glitches.

Once you have booked your lesson I will change the instrument type to confirm the lesson. 

Please check the Student Portal for any practice notes and repertoire/resources allocated to your child

New guidance will allow for some face to face in school teaching at the schools discretion if Covid safe working arrangements are possible. In order to allow continuity of lessons I have opted to continue to teach online initially during term 1 2020/21 until schools are able to settle pupils into their new routines.

Face to Face Studio lessons are currently not possible due to guidance from the ISM and are likely to remain online for September and October however again this will be kept under constant review as the situation changes.