At Kent Music our number one priority is the health and safety of our students and the people we work with.
As such, while restrictions have now been lifted in England, we’re keeping some safety measures in place to ensure we can resume face-to-face activities safely and securely this school year!
We will work with schools and teachers to bring back face-to-face teaching in as many schools as possible. Many schools will have their own criteria and guidelines for staff and pupils, so while we’re able to teach as normal in some schools, we might not be able to teach in others yet.
Our staff are working hard to make teaching available in as many schools as possible. If we aren’t currently able to teach in your school, then lessons in your local Music Centre or online are great alternatives!
Find out how to apply for lessons in schools, Music Centres and online through our Music Lessons page.
Kent Music has been delivering high-quality tuition online since the 2020 Summer term and our teachers are experts in providing great experiences for students.
Online lessons can even be more accessible for some students, removing limitations of travel and having to carry instruments with you to school!
We provide support for our teachers and students to ensure online lessons are a positive experience for everyone. We have prepared a guide for students, parents and carers having online lessons which we’d encourage you to read: Online Instrumental and Vocal Lessons: Guidance for Parents, Carers and Learners.
Here is a flavour of some of the feedback we have been receiving about our online teaching since March:
“I’ve been really pleased with how the online lessons have panned out…I feel that [my child] has still been making good progress and that the lessons have been beneficial. Her teacher…has done an amazing job of adapting her teaching to manage the challenges of online delivery. Having weekly contact has helped my daughter stay focused and kept her motivated.”
“Excellent teaching – my daughter is making wonderful progress”.
“She’s enjoyed the online lessons and said it’s as effective as sitting next to her teacher in class.”
“Just as good as an in-person lesson, sometimes better”
We have set the following criteria for returning to teach in venues:
Alongside our venue guidelines, we are also asking all our teachers to:
We will let you know in advance if there is anything extra you’ll need to do, and information can also be found on each Music Centre and course’s page.
All the criteria we are working to has been developed based on guidance provided by the Department of Education as well as consultations with local schools, teachers and health & safety experts.
We have also developed our own guidance on safe face-to-face learning. It details both how our teachers and schools are keeping you safe, and what is expected of students in these lessons. Please find it linked below, and read through carefully:
We will release updates on our plans and what we have on offer here on our website and via the links below:
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Students and their parents/guardians will continue to be contacted directly about any updates which directly relate to them by their teachers or our Customer Services team.
Please refer to the FAQs detailed below for more detailed information on specific Kent Music offers and guidance.
If you have further questions you can contact our excellent Customer Services team on customerservices@kent-music.com
We are looking forward to the prospect of a safe return to lessons in schools in the foreseeable future! Meanwhile, we want to thank all our students, their parents and guardians, our teachers, and staff for your continued and enthusiastic support during this difficult time.
Please let your teacher know as soon as possible, and if they can, they will try to rearrange to another time or an online lesson if possible.
We are unable to offer refunds or credits for lessons missed by the student, the only exception being an absence of 5 consecutive weeks due to illness when the fee for 5 lessons will normally be refunded on production of a doctor’s certificate.
Please find our full illness guidelines in our Terms and Conditions.
At Kent Music our number one priority is the health and safety of our students and the people we work with.
Please refer to the Guidelines to keep you learning safely above for the full details of the measures we’re putting in place.
Safety precautions, guidance and policy can vary between different schools, meaning that currently some will allow external teachers to access the site and others will not. Meanwhile, other schools may not be able to offer teaching rooms of appropriate size or ventilation for our guidelines.
Our goal is to be able to teach in all the schools we did previously, and our team are hard at work right now to return to as many schools as possible.
If we aren’t currently able to teach in your school, then lessons in your local Music Centre or online are great alternatives!
Yes, absolutely! We plan to continue our successful online teaching for the foreseeable future.
If you have already been enjoying our online tuition and would like to continue, please contact our excellent Customer Services team on customerservices@kent-music.com
If you wish to start online tuition, you can find out more and register at the Music Lessons page.
Each Zoom lesson has a waiting room function, meaning anyone joining has to be admitted by the teacher running the lesson. The teachers will also lock the meeting room once the pupil/s have entered. Once the ‘room’ is locked, no one else should be able to access it.
While there are always risks when using new formats, Kent Music are confident that we have enforced all reasonably practicable measures to ensure pupils and teachers alike have a safe and positive learning experience while using digital platforms. We will continue to monitor the situation and ensure that all appropriate steps are taken where necessary.
Absolutely! Picking up and dropping off instruments can be arranged via appointment at Aylesham or Maidstone. Please contact the team on musicresources@kent-music.com to discuss and arrange an appointment.
You can find out more about hiring a musical instrument on our dedicated Musical Instrument Hire page.
We have continued to offer financial assistance throughout the pandemic to both existing and new beneficiaries.
The Kent Music Financial Assistance Scheme for the academic year 2021/22 is available for children and young people aged 5 – 18 years, living in Kent (not Medway) and attending a school in Kent.
Financial assistance can be applied to the cost of music lessons, as well as membership of Kent Music music centres. We provide assistance to students having music lessons from all sorts of music providers, not just ourselves as long as they are delivered in a Kent school or a Kent Music Music Centre.
As such, if you have an agreed lesson with any music provider in a school, please don’t hesitate to apply. Please ensure you are stating the correct provider when you apply.
Applications may be made throughout the academic year but are only awarded from the term and academic year when the application is received and are not backdated.
To find out more or make an application, please refer to our dedicated Financial Assistance page or contact our financial assistance administrator Gail Batty via email gbatty@kent-music.com or via phone 01622 358413.
