Carmel-Amelia | caring-for-our-students

PHILOSOPHY

Our teachers are committed to providing valuable and rewarding dance classes in a caring and encouraging environment. All skill levels are catered for to ensure that all students can achieve their personal best. Students are encouraged to develop technical & performance skills with confidence in a safe dance environment. Friendship and team work is actively built on and students are encouraged to support and encourage each other in class and throughout the school. Senior students often take on a mentor type role towards junior students which makes our junior students feel safe and cared for.

People can be drawn to dance for very different reasons, and we work with parents and students to find the correct pathway so every dancer is supported, whether it’s for:
• physical and creative activity in a fun and structured environment
•  positive physical and mental health to compliment academic study
•  enjoyment of training up to an elite level and the pursuit of excellence for it's intrinsic benefits.
•  aiming for a career in the dance and performing arts industry.

We feel the most important thing from our perspective is to help shape the development of children and young adults by providing them a strong and confident foundation in their chosen passion. Many of our students have gone on to have careers in the dance industry, training and performing with high profile companies and fulltime orgainsations around the world, but many have also moved into very different careers in which they still harness the skills imparted to them from their training & experience at CASOD.

Read our Child Safety Policy

Read our Child Safety Staff Code of Conduct

A safe place to learn

All children attending CASOD have the right to feel and be safe, respected, valued and protected from harm. Children should be made aware of, and feel confident in, their rights and responsibility and feel free to voice any concerns to teachers at all times.

We are strongly committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children that interact with our organisation, as students, siblings or friends of students, or audience members of performances. We have a Child Safety Policy that our staff are all trained in.

All teachers and staff have Working With Children Check, First Aid and are committed to the safety and well-being of our students.

Our facilities have a single entry point where children can be safely dropped off for classes and attendance is taken for all classes.

We have private & accessible toilets and changerooms which are separate for boys and girls.

PRIVACY FOR STUDENTS

All children attending CASOD have the right to privacy in their classes. For this reason at CASOD parents do not stay and watch classes. Parents should remember that whilst they are known to their own child they are a stranger to all other students in the class.

In some cases where windows look into classes we will also ask parents not to stand and watch class. Having unknown adults peering into windows can be unsettling and embarrassing for many children.

*PHOTOGRAPHY IS ALSO NOT ALLOWED*

We believe that students need to focus on interacting with their teachers and class mates to get the most out of their classes. In this regard we follow the same practice as kindergartens & schools.

Parents will get opportunities to watch their children in class when we have open days and in performances. At these events the children will have been prepared and will have been encouraged to "present" their work to an audience.

Quality and excellence in service

We work hard on continuous improvement within the business to ensure we are providing the most engaging programs with children. We hold ourselves to the highest standards in our operation and we always welcome feedback from parents (and students too!)

Encouragement and perseverance

We foster positive student-student and student-teacher relationships and provide an environment where children have confidence to learn and try new things, and feel safe to make mistakes and learn from them

CASOD REFUNDS POLICY

DANCE FEES ARE PAID BY TERM, IN ADVANCE, AND ARE NOT REFUNDABLE DUE TO ABSENCE OR ILLNESS.
FOR EXTENDED HOLIDAYS (4 WEEKS +) WE MAY CONSIDER A PART-TERM PAYMENT IF WE ARE NOTIFIED IN ADVANCE.
EXAM ENTRY FEES ARE NOT REFUNDABLE UNLESS STUDENT WITHDRAWS BEFORE THE CLOSING DATE *if medical certificate is provided exams can be done at a later session if one is available.
CONCERT & TROUPE COSTUME/PRODUCTION FEES ARE NOT REFUNDABLE UNLESS STUDENT IS WITHDRAWN BEFORE THE DUE DATE.