Terms and Conditions

We understand that it can be hard to pay fees by the due date and we wish to let you know that we are sympathetic and not unreasonable. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you cannot make the deadline.

We are happy to arrange with you a reasonable alternative payment date or help you set up regular payments if you cannot pay the term fees all at once. The most important point is that if you need more time to pay the fees then please communicate with us before we contact you. It makes all the difference. The policies for late fees below apply where fees become overdue and there has been no communication with us and no payment arrangement agreed to.

i) Fees and Lessons

Fees are payable by the due date as set out on your invoice please.
Our fees are calculated based on 32 weeks of lessons in a year. These lessons include onsite as well as online classes. Our individual term fees are billed based on 8 weeks each term. Our term fee structure therefore allows for sickness, public holidays and unforeseen circumstances, as most school terms are 9 or 10 weeks long. As we do not charge extra fees when terms are longer than 8 weeks, we will not be reducing the fees when a term doesn’t offer 8 weeks of classes unless the total of lessons for the year for a particular class is less than 32 lessons.
- Any child who decides to leave at the end of a term but has not had the full quota of classes offered by the school, may return the following term to complete their course.

- In the case of pandemics or other unforeseen circumstances- if ALSD cannot fulfil their obligations outline above with regular lessons, alternative lessons or online lessons we will consider credits. Refunds may also be considered for those leaving Christchurch permanently.

When a child does not attend lessons due to their own or families’ decisions or due to sickness, the full-term fee is still payable, but they will have the opportunity to attend alternative lessons to make up for the ones they miss, wherever possible. Please ask us about this.
New students are welcome to treat their first lesson as a trial. If they do not continue after one lesson then there will be no charge. If they continue to attend lessons then the first lesson is covered by the term fee.
Term fees that are not paid by the due date with no prior arrangement made for an alternative date will incur a $35 fee.
-In the past the $35 was added to all fees and offered as a discount to those who paid their fee on time. Now we will only charge the fee to those who do not pay their fees on time and who have not communicated with us.

A further administration charge of $30.00 may also be charged, at our discretion, every time a new statement of overdue accounts is sent out for an overdue invoice.
Our term fees reward those who pay promptly, and also for any students taking more than one class, thus we do not offer family discounts as well.
We strongly advise against making payments in cash. We accept no responsibility for any cash that may go astray, in spite of our best endeavors to ensure that this does not happen.
If a term fee, or part thereof, remains unpaid as at the first day of a new term then we reserve the right to exclude the pupil concerned from all classes until all overdue fees are paid. The fee for the new term would also be required to be paid by the new term’s due date in order for the pupil to recommence classes. In these circumstances, we may request that payment be made by credit card.

ii) Refund Policy

Fees are not refundable where a child does not complete a full term. Refunds are not given if you change your mind after the first lesson of a term, part way through a term or the time of your class no longer suits. New students please see i) 4 above.
If your child changes their mind before the new term starts and you have paid the new term fee, consideration will be given on a case-by-case basis. Please see below for more information.
Credits may be given under special circumstances with a medical certificate
 

iii) Withdrawing from Classes

To avoid being charged for any of the next term’s fee, confirmation that a child is withdrawing from classes needs to be given in writing or by email, to the office not the teacher, two weeks before the commencement of the new term.
If you withdraw your child less than two weeks before the commencement of their first lesson of the new term, but before they attend their first lesson you may be invoiced for 50% of the new term fee.
If your child attends any lessons of the new term, you will be charged the full-term fee.
If you are not returning to a new year of dancing it is courtesy to let us know as soon as you make the decision so we can allow those on waiting lists to enrol.