Terms & Conditions

AK Studios Terms and Conditions Code of Conduct for Students & Parents

We are fully committed to safeguarding and promoting the well-being of all students, parents, staff and volunteers associated with us. To ensure the effective running of our business and to protect all individuals connected with us, it is important that the following Code of Conduct is read, respected and adhered to at all times:

Students must:

• Participate within the rules and respect all the teachers/staff and their decisions.

• Respect their fellow students.

• Not distract, bully or harass other students during the class.

• Not use bad language.

• Be polite and display good manners at all times.

• Treat all equipment with respect.

• Inform the teacher before the class starts if they have an injury or illness.

• Wear their uniform/appropriate clothing and footwear for classes.

• Remove all body jewellery

• Wear hair up in the correct style for the particular lesson. Grooming is an essential part of dance training.

• Not bring fizzy drinks or chewing gum onto the premises. They may bring in a sealed drinking bottle, containing water only and have the student’s name on where possible.

• Put litter in the bins provided

• Leave all valuables at home. AK Studios will not be held responsible for the loss of any items.

• Inform the teacher immediately if they begin to feel ill or sustain an injury during the class.

• Finally, we want all of our students to have fun!

Parents must:

• Encourage your child to learn the rules and perform within them.

• Ensure they are dressed in the correct uniform and with their hair in a neat ponytail or bun (class depending).

• If your child is under the age of 12, they must be accompanied by a parent or guardian until

their timetabled class begins. AK Studios is not responsible for any student

outside their class time.

• Keep the teacher informed if your child is ill or unable to attend classes.

• Endeavour to establish good communications with teachers and staff for the benefit of all.

• Never challenge or threaten a teacher or member of the team. Any concerns must come

directly to the school principal, email akstudiosdance@gmail.com

• Always collect your child promptly at the end of a class.

• Pay all fees on time as stated on the registration form. A late payment fee will be issued if failure to do so.

- If you choose to withdraw from a class we must be given notice prior to the next month.

commencing or payment for the full term must be paid.

- If your invoice is not paid in full by the end of each month , your child will not automatically be enrolled in their class for the following term and their place may be offered to the next person on the waiting list.

• Payments are spread out across the 12 months making each direct debit the same and cheaper.

- No refunds will be made if you choose to leave AK Studios mid month.

- No refunds or invoice adjustments will be made for holidays, parties, trips and short illnesses.

- Students who are absent for a length of time due to injury or illness will be considered a

Disciplinary Procedure

• Students that breach this Code of Conduct will first of all be reminded of the rules.

• Repeated breaching this Code of Conduct may result in separation from other students (i.e.

the student will be made to sit out).

Continuous breach of this Code of Conduct will result in AK Studios and the parents being informed at the end of the class by the teacher.

• If there is no improvement, then parents will be contacted again by the teacher and they will be invited to discuss the future behaviour of their child and agree joint strategies for monitoring.

• In extreme cases, where physical violence, verbal abuse or intentional damage to property is involved, the sequence of actions outlined above will be by-passed and the teacher will contact the parents as a first step. Exclusion of the child from classes may be considered.

Photography/Filming

I give permission for my child’s photograph to be taken or be included in any filmed media. Photographic and filmed media may be used and reproduced by AK Studios for teaching, promotional or demonstrational purposes on our website or the school Facebook page and/or Instagram feed.

Photos may be taken using the teachers personal device. The photo will be deleted from the device immediately when the photo has been used for its purpose, or transferred onto a password protected device owned by AK Studios.

Please contact us immediately if you do not agree to us using any photo’s or videos of your child.

Emergency Medical Treatment

I give permission to any of the schools trained first aiders to make emergency decisions as necessary with regard to treatment or injury received during any activity until such time as an emergency contact can be called. I authorise them to sign any medical documents which may be necessary for the emergency treatment should the emergency contact be uncontactable immediately. Please make us aware if your child has a medical condition or injury or any sort.

AK Studios Safe Guarding Policy

Safeguarding Children and Child Protection Policy

This policy must be read and understood by all members of staff at AK Studios. 

We will make sure this policy is accessible to all staff, parents and students, where appropriate, and will make sure that all teachers / staff members can understand this policy by

a) having training days

b) Have up to date training.

All staff and volunteers have a strict duty never to subject a child to any form of harm or abuse. Failure to adhere to these procedures will be treated as gross misconduct.

Our Responsibility

At AK Studios we recognise we have a responsibility to protect and safeguard the welfare of all children and young people we work with and have an explicit duty to do so under the Children Act 1989 and 2004 and the Education Act 2002 (England). We believe that the welfare of the child is of paramount importance. That no child should be treated any less favourably than others in accessing services that meet their needs and that all children without exception have the right to protection from abuse regardless of their gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or beliefs.

A ‘child’ is anyone who has not yet reached their 18th birthday. The fact that a child has reached 16 years of age, is living independently, in further education, or working does not change his/ her entitlement to services or protection as a child. Our guidelines apply to all

children and young people until their 18th birthday.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people means:

Protecting children from maltreatment, preventing impairment of a child’s health or development, ensuring that children are growing up with the provision of safe and effective care and taking action to ensure that children have the best life chances.

We will do this by:

• Identifying and responding to concerns about a child or young person

• Providing a safe and happy dance environment

• Having a health and safety policy and risk assessments

• Thinking about equality and diversity and representation and support in your school

• Using safer recruitment strategies such as all staff having DBS check and references

before they star working at AK Studios.

At AK Studios all concerns and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously. It is the responsibility of all staff and volunteers to take steps to protect children, to keep them safe from hazards and to take appropriate action in the event of an accident. It is the responsibility of all staff and volunteers to take reasonable steps to protect children and young people from harm and abuse while in contact with our school and our staff and to report any incident of or suspicion of abuse to the Designated Safeguarding Person or in their absence directly to the appropriate statutory authority.

Designated Safeguarding Lead

At AK Studios our designated safeguarding person is Mrs Annie Keating.

Managing Injury

If a child has a physical injury and there are concerns about abuse attention should be sought for the injury first then procedures for referring to children’s social care should then be followed. Contacting the emergency services for medical treatment must not be delayed for any reason.

Managing Recruitment

All individuals working at AK Studios who have contact with children and young people are required to hold a valid, clear DBS check. All staff and volunteers will be recruited in line with safer recruitment guidance. No staff will be employed or able to volunteer if they are barred from working with children and in the event of an incident where a member of staff has to be dismissed (or chooses to leave) because they have harmed a child DBS will be notified.

Managing Allegation

If any member of staff or volunteer has concerns about the behaviour or conduct of another individual within the organisation the nature of the concern should be reported to Annie Keating. The member of staff who has a concern or to whom the allegation or concern is reported should not question the child or investigate further. Annie Keating will report the matter to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO).

If allegation or concern is raised about a member of staff, outside of work, this may still present a risk of harm to children for whom that member of staff is responsible and as such the general principles of this policy still apply.

Harm to Children

Everybody working with children at AK Studios must be alert to the needs of children and the risk of harm. All staff and volunteers should be able to recognise and know how to act upon evidence that a child’s health or development is being impaired or that a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. At AK Studios we will make every effort to protect children from harm when they are visiting our setting/ attending our classes.

We Will Ensure:

Appropriate recruitment and selection procedures.

Provision of safeguarding training for all staff and volunteers.

Ensuring all staff and volunteers hold clear current DBS checks.

We will take all reasonable steps to ensure health safety and welfare for all those who access our organisation in accordance with our health and safety policy.

We will take all practicable steps to ensure that no one working with us or for us would put a child in a situation of unreasonable risk to their health and safety.

We will not harm or abuse children within our care and will take all reasonable steps to ensure no one working with us or around us within the community could harm or abuse a child in our care.

We will ensure good reporting to our DSP and onward to children’s social care where ever we suspect harm and will foster an environment of good communication, transparency and trust.

All staff and volunteers have a strict duty to never subject a child or young person to any form of harm or abuse. Failure to adhere to these procedures will be treated as gross misconduct.

During the admissions process relevant contact and medical information shall be collected and access to emergency information will be available to teaching staff and volunteers at every session.

Where We Suspect Harm and Abuse

Every member of staff has a duty to be alert to the signs of harm and abuse.

Where they have concerns, these should be recorded carefully and accurately.

All concerns should be discussed with the AK Studios designated safeguarding lead.

A decision shall then be made with the DPL regarding sharing this concern onward to children’s social care or the police as required.

Where possible and only if it is safe to do so the teacher who has the concern or the DSP should let the parent / carer of that child know if they intend to raise that concern with children’s social care and they should seek their permission to share information. Please be

aware if the parent declines to consent and your concerns regard harm / significant harm you are still duty bound to share with children’s social care.

All information sharing must be Data Protection act and GDPR compliant. Sharing must be discrete, appropriate, honest and accurate but it is important for all staff and volunteers to be aware GDPR and Data Protection law does not create a barrier to sharing safeguarding information and all concerns MUST be shared with the DSL and children’s safeguarding as necessary.

Recognising Harms and Abuse

Below are the definitions of harm to children and young people use these to help you recognise harm and ensure you cause no harm.

Physical abuse: A form of abuse the at may involve hitting shaking throwing poisoning burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of or deliberately causes illness in a child.

Emotional abuse: The persistent emotional maltreatment off a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless, unloved inadequate, or valued in so far as they meet the needs of another person only, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond the child’s developmental capability, as well as the over protection and limitation of exploration and learning or preventing the child from participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the Ill treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying (or cyber bullying), causing children to frequently feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, although it may occur alone.

Sexual abuse: Involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing rubbing, touching outside of clothing. They may also include noncontact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the internet). Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children.

Neglect: The persistent failure to meet a child’s physical and/ or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to: provide adequate food, clothing, and shelter (including

exclusion from home and abandonment); protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger; ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care givers); ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include an unresponsiveness to a child’s basic emotional needs.

If A Child Tells Us They Have Experienced Harm and Abuse

Always listen to what the child has to say with an open mind

Do not ask leading or probing questions

Never stop a child who is talking freely about significant events

Make a note of the discussion, taking care to record the timings, setting and people present, as well as what was said

Do not ask children to make a written statement

Never promise a child that what they have told you may be kept secret. Explain that you have responsibility to share information

Inform the DSP for your organisation immediately.

2025.