artKids Terms and Conditions of Enrolment
Please note we run a structured art class we are not an after-school child-minding service.
Privacy
Any personal and medical information you supply to artKids Australia will not be disclosed outside our artKids Tutors and Assistants without your express consent, except where required by law. artKids Australia will, from time-to-time, email parents and carers of students and past students for marketing purposes, and always with the option to unsubscribe from our contact mailing list should you wish.
Enrolment Term Time
artKids Australia runs on a standard public school 10-week term. Saturday terms are also 10-weeks - note we DO run over long weekends unless the Saturday is a public holiday (eg Easter Saturday).
We provide a rolling enrolment system, that is, your child is automatically re-enrolled in their class each term. This gives you the convenience of a secure place and not having to enrol each term to secure your child's place - we do that for you! If you need to withdraw, you need to let us know as soon as possible to allocate place to those on Waiting List. As a minimum, one week before term starts or you will be charged a $50 'help place' fee.
Term Session times
Our after-school workshops run from 3 to 5 pm. We take responsibility for your child on site as soon as school finishes. Parents must collect children at 5 pm.
Our Holiday programs have two sessions which run 9.00 am 12.00 pm and 12.30 pm 3.30 pm. A full day session can be booked with a half hour lunch break. The lunch half hour is supervised free of charge. Students should arrive no earlier than 15 minutes before the start of their booked in session or additional supervision fees will be charged. Students should be collected promptly at the end of their session as our staff need to clean and re-set the room for the next activity.
Students Fees
Our fees include all materials used in class, a light snack and GST. Our artKids teachers meet the children on site and provide free supervision while children eat their afternoon tea and before taking them to the classroom or to the nearby hall facility. Parents should provide afternoon tea; however, a light snack of rice crackers is available should children forget we don't want starving artists!
Our Holiday programs include either morning or afternoon tea only students staying for the full day need to bring lunch.
Like all ACT Schools, we have a strict NUT FREE Policy.
External Students
External students are welcome to attend classes at another school and should be at the designated school or hall by 3.30 pm at the latest. There is no discount for students attending from another school as our art classes start at 3.30 pm. Please contact us to see if we can get a class started at your school.
Art Materials Non-Toxic
All materials are included in the class fees. All attempts are made to provide paints and other materials which are non-toxic. It is the parents responsibility to advise via Enrolmy's Safety Form and at the start of class with the teacher of any known allergies and to check the ingredients if unsure.
A One-off Paid Trial Class
If you are unsure whether your child will like the class or not, you can request a once-off Paid Trial class, payable before the trial session.
If your child likes the class and you choose to book for the term, the remainder of the term fee is invoiced (assuming the trial class has already been paid).
You will need to contact [email=admin@artkidsaustralia.com]admin@artkidsaustralia.com[/email] to book a trial session.
Mandatory Kindergarten Paid Trial Classes for classes other than K-2:
We like Kindy kids to attend a once-off paid trial class before committing to the full term in a mixed-age class. This is not necessary for our K-2 classes, however, if your child is not coping, we may advise you withdraw them and try again later in the year. As there is such a wide range of skills and ability to focus for children at this age, we prefer to see how the child copes with a class situation before agreeing to enrol the child for the term. We do not expect them to be drawing/painting for the whole session, but we do expect they can focus on art-related activities for the time.
artKids Art Scholarship program donations and recipients
We have an artKids Art Scholarship program for those experiencing financial hardship. Please contact us for more information on how to donate or how to become a recipient.
Collecting Children After Class
Parents collect their children at the designated finish time of 5 pm. Our teachers have their own families, evening studies and life commitments. We ask that you are on time to collect your child. In some instances, there are unavoidable delays such as traffic. Please text or call your class Tutor and let them know you are on your way. A term confirmation email is sent out at the start of each term with your Tutor name and mobile number. Please note that continual late collection of students will result in the cancellation of your booking.
Children Walking or Cycling Home from Class
Parents must provide written permission - by email or text - to the Tutor for us to release the child to walk or cycle home. If it is a last-minute decision, a phone call to the Tutor with a follow up text message confirming permission is preferred. artKids staff are not allowed to take the child's word only and will follow up with a phone call to confirm. Please understand we do this for your child's safety and not to annoy you.
Enrolment Confirmation and Payment
Fees are due one week prior to the class start date unless you have organised fortnightly instalment payments with Admin. Please note your child is NOT confirmed until payment is made. If you believe you may have difficulty paying on time, please let us know so we can ensure your child's place is secured.
Payment is by direct debit or fortnightly instalments. Please contact Admin to notify you would like to pay by instalments and set up fortnightly payments. We do not charge for this service and it is up to the parent to ensure payments are made regularly. If not, you'll be required to pay the full amount before you child continues with the classes. Please do this BEFORE the start of term so that your child's place is secured.
Children may join mid-term if there are places available in the class and fees will be pro-rata.
We do not run on Public Holidays and fees are not charged for public holidays. We continue to run our Saturday class if there is a Public Holiday Monday and our term fee for Saturday classes reflects this. No credits will be given if parents choose to not attend on those Saturdays as the class is still running.
Cancellations and Feedback
We want your child to have an enjoyable art experience. If your child is unhappy for any reason, please let us know immediately so we can work with your child to find the cause as each child and situation is unique. No matter how small the incident may seem, if children are having friendship issues, if someone has made an unkind remark, or if children say they are 'bored', we want to know so we can work with them to stay in art class. We have worked successfully with unhappy kids in the past and encouraged them to stay and they have continued to grow in our artKids program.
Please note we have an Extension program for children 9 yrs+ who have expressed interest in a more individualised, interest-based program for them.
If you do choose to cancel your child's enrolment within the seven days before the class commencement or during the term, we are happy to refund the remaining term fee less a $55 administration fee.
Children with Learning Needs and artKids Behaviour Management Policy
As much as we can be, our goal is to be inclusive. We find art is a great way for children with differing learning needs or with English as a Second Language to express themselves. However, our Tutors are passionate artists firsts, educators second and are not special needs trained educators.
We ask parents to fill in our Safety Form Learning Needs Additional Questions when booking online to assist us with children's learning needs, diagnosed or not. We will work with parents and children in line with our Three-Week Behaviour Improvement Policy (see below) to aim for an enjoyable art experience for all students in our class, however, should your child's learning needs and/or behaviour take our Tutors away from the bulk of the students, we will suggest small group or one-on-one tutoring as an alternative. We are more than happy for parents, carers or support workers to attend our classes with a child or we can negotiate a shorter class time.
Three-Week Behaviour Improvement Policy:
Children with disruptive behaviour for whatever reason can impact the class greatly. We aim to have a positive experience for all involved and have set up our behaviour improvement policy to ensure this.
- In the first week, we observe disruptive behaviour and then discuss with parents the child's needs within the class setting, whether or not we can accommodate them in an artKids class and agree on a behaviour management plan.
- Working with you and your child, we will aim to see an improvement in the child's attentiveness and behaviour in the second week and check in with parents.
- If necessary, we will try a final third session before we suggest private or semi-private tutoring alternatives. In some cases, we have suggested a reduced art time, finishing up at 4.30 pm, and that has worked well in many situations. We reserve the right to ask students to not return or try again at a later date when they have matured.
We are open and flexible to try different things but also need to keep in mind the dynamics of the whole class.
Make-Up Session Policy: Ill Children and Extended Holidays
To be eligible for a make-up session, parents MUST text or call the mobile of the designated teacher to be eligible for a make-up class. The teachers details are emailed at the beginning of each term in our Term Confirmation Email. We take our Duty of Care seriously to ensure your children are safe and it is frustrating to waste art-making time for attending students by following up on the whereabouts of ill children.
Children are deemed to be ill if they are showing signs of runny nose, listlessness, high temperature, coughing, stomach pains, etc. Parents/carers will be called and asked to collect their child immediately. The child will be isolated within the room until they can be collected. If your child has an ongoing, non-contagious symptoms such as a chronic cough or runny nose due to allergies, please note on the Safety Form.
If your child has not attended school because they have been unwell, please DO NOT send them to art in the afternoon!
If you know ahead of time that you will be away, for example, an extended trip, family emergency or unexpected ongoing illness with doctor's certificate, please let us know and we can make discuss arrangements. Please do not take this as a given - we have ongoing financial commitments that must also be met.
Where multiple classes are offered at the same school, your child can attend a make-up class on another day after advising the teacher or Admin. If there is only one class at your school, you can attend a session at another school, or at our Saturday morning class in Turner 9.00-10.15 am by advising us at admin@artkidsaustralia.com to make the arrangements. Alternatively, you can put a make-up session towards a 3 hour school holiday program session and pay the difference. If there are multiple classes missed, we may suggest you can attend a school holiday morning or afternoon session as a make-up. Please ask!
Saturday sick children: Where children are ill on a Saturday morning, parents must advise the teacher before the start of the class, your child can attend a make-up session at a school during the week or it can go towards a School Holiday program session. Please note bookings are per term as we have ongoing financial commitments too.
In special circumstances of prolonged illnesses with a doctors certificate, we can provide credit for missed classes to be used in the following term.
Liability Waiver
As a participant or guardian to a participant, you agree to take on full responsibility for any damages, injuries and for physical and/or personal property, which your child might incur whilst participating in classes and/or events organised by artKids Australia Pty Ltd.
