Commitment Required by the School Please consider whether your child has any other commitments such as school plays, exams, trips, holidays, after school clubs etc before agreeing to any dances, shows, festivals and examinations. It is also requested that parents consider the cost implications of rehearsals, transports, classes, costume hire, exam entrance fee, festival entrance fee per dance etc etc as it can drastically alter the fees per term. If parents normally book holidays during school holidays i.e. Easter, Summer and Autumn or you prefer your child not to have any involvement during these times then it is preferred that you do not commit to these events to be on the safe side as it interferes which rehearsal schedules for the teachers. The level of commitment required very much depends on the students involvement. A student has the following options and can do all options, just one, two or mix them around each term. It also depends on the time of year for example Sept - Dec is normally the busiest time with exam classes, normal classes, festival rehearsals, new dances being choreographed and workshops and demos. The principal has no issue with people not wishing to commit at this level as long as it is communicated well in advance. Therefore you have the following options: Attend the relevant dance, singing, acting classes for recreation Take ISTD examinations in Tap, Modern and Jazz (twice yearly April and Nov) Participate in festivals around Surrey throughout the year (depends on dances choreographed and they may not be entered for all festivals, parents choice) Perform in school shows, demos around Woking, performances in the West End Classes:- Timetables are posted for the following term at the end of the current term. Issuing this far in advance helps in two ways; firstly it gives the principal an opportunity to draft a timetable based on classes/dances she would like a student/s to participate in, secondly it provides the parents with potential cost implications so they can inform the school before the start of term if they require any timetable changes. It is the parents responsibility to notify the principal should they be unhappy about the amount of commitment required for the classes, this could be costs involved, clashing of dates, amount of hours, transport, festivals, rehearsals etc etc. Students are required to attend all relevant classes or otherwise notify the principal well in advance of absence. Examinations:- The principal enters students for ISTD up to twice yearly. Exam letters are posted to parents three months in advance and parents are requested to complete the acceptance form and return within fourteen days so a timetable can be arranged. Once acceptance has been completed you may only withdraw your child with a doctors certificate, this is a ruling by the ISTD, as refunds will only be given for entrance fee. Refunds are not given for classes or mock exams. It is not essential that students take examinations and they will not be entered until the teacher is certain they are ready. It is vital that students attend all their exam classes (13 weeks, 1 hr per week) and wear the appropriate dance attire. Exam classes are normally timetabled alongside normal dance classes or festival rehearsals. Festivals and Shows:- this is the biggest commitment as classes are timetabled for rehearsals throughout the year, there is also a lot of time required for journey to festivals and time whilst at the venue. It can also be quite costly due to class fees, entrance fees, costume hire and petrol. The school normally participates in 5 festivals during the year.  Students are offered the opportunity to participate in groups, quartets, trios, duets and solos. Letters are written to parents at the end of July with proposed dances for the festival year (Sept - July). Parents are required at this point to decide if they would like their child to have a dance choreographed, entries into which festival, amount of dances agreed to. Costs vary extremely due to the amount of dances a student does. Once the school then posts the entry to the festival organisers it will not refund fees should a student then change his/her mind. Rehearsal classes are normally timetabled for Jan- Apr and will run alongside normal dance classes. Our aim when choreographing new dances is to enter them into festivals and have them performed in the school show and demos. The majority of dances choreographed are used for maximum of two years so it's a huge amount of time to commit too.