It has been announced that members of the National Education Union (NEU) intend to strike in the coming months.

Depending on the number of NEU members in a school, this may cause disruption, including limiting the number of pupils who can attend or complete closure. Currently strikes may affect schools in Kent on Wednesday 1 February, Thursday 2 March, Wednesday 15 March and Thursday 16 March 2023.

We anticipate that this would only have an impact on lessons in school taking place during school hours. Since our Music Centres run outside of school hours, we anticipate that lessons and ensembles at centres will not be affected. However, we will keep a close eye on the situation and inform affected centre members should things change.

While we aim to be as proactive as possible in many cases it may not be possible to know whether particular schools will be affected by strike action until the day itself. If your lesson is affected, your teacher will be in touch as soon as possible with some alternative options:

• Where possible, re-arrange the lessons to a different day/time.
• Arrange a catch up at the end of the summer term (please note, there are no available catch-up weeks in the spring term)
• Offer an online lesson at a different time, agreed with the parent/carer/pupil

While our teachers will endeavour to find a suitable alternative with you, this may not always be possible. In this case your lesson will be credited back to you.

If your lesson was affected and you have not heard from your teacher by a week after the affected date, please contact us on customerservices@kent-music.com.

Many thanks for your understanding in this unusual situation. We look forward to continuing to provide excellent music education for you.