In the first instance, please visit https://cmst.co.uk/signup and following the instructions to see what lessons are available in your school.

Follow the sign up process for your child to be added to the waiting lsit.

The teacher will contact you as soon as lessons can start. Their teacher will advise you on what instrument and accessories you will need, and also if there is any music required before the first lesson.

If your requested instrumental discipline is not listed, please check with the school if they have alternate provision. If not, complete the Expression of Interest form

If we do not currently supply a teacher for your chosen instrument, we will wait until sufficient demand is met to supply a teacher to visit the school.

This depends on the group type you sign up to - the different costs can be found here. The length of the lesson may vary with the number of pupils. For instance Group Type 1 is based on 4 pupils in 30 minutes. If there are only 2 pupils in the group, the lesson length will be 15 minutes.

In a full school year CMST will deliver 34 lessons. As a guide we normally schedule 12 lessons in the Autumn, 10 in the Spring and 12 in the Summer. However this may vary to allow flexibility for school INSET, our own INSET, and other factors such as Bank Holidays and school closures due to extreme weather, etc.

CMST aims to teach the same day each week with either a fixed or rotating timetable, depending on the schools’ requirement. Wherever possible, your CMST teacher will send you a copy of the proposed timetable before the first lesson so you will know exactly when the lesson will take place. Music lessons will commence in the 2nd full week of the Autumn term and the 1st week of the Spring and Summer terms unless you receive a different communication from your school or CMST teacher.

If the lesson has been offered and your child was absent you will still be charged.  If possible, the teacher will make up the time, but you will be charged regardless.

If the teacher is absent they will make all reasonable attempts to offer another lesson before the end of the academic year. If a teacher cannot make up the lesson a refund will be offered.

The lesson will still be charged but as long as sufficient notice has been given by the school, parent or carer then the lesson missed will be made up where possible. For full Terms & Conditions please refer to your service agreement or CLICK HERE.

We suggest your child has an A5 pad for the teacher to make notes/suggest practice items etc.

Once a year, your teacher will give a fully comprehensive Progress Report detailing your child’s attainment in all areas of their instrument and giving suggestions for progress in the future.

You can also contact your child’s teacher via your school or through the CMST office at any time and the teacher will endeavour to get back to you as soon as possible.

There are various ensembles for varying abilities run by CMST staff. If you are interested in your child taking part in this amazing experience please speak to your CMST teacher or contact the office.

In most cases instruments are not provided by the teacher but occasionally schools do have spare instruments which can be borrowed.

If this isn’t possible then head HERE to see your other options.

Always ask the instrument teacher before purchasing an instrument as there can be many variables in quality and playability which greatly affect your child’s ability to learn and play. Including; sizes, types, materials, etc.

As per our terms and conditions you must write to our office/email office@cmst.co.uk with 6 weeks notice of cancellation. You will be charged for any lessons scheduled within that period.

Invoices for your child’s lessons will be sent by email. Payment terms are 14 days from the date of the invoice.

There are various ways you can pay (for further details please refer to your invoice):

• by BACS/Bank Transfer To make payments via BACS or bank transfer you will need to quote our sort code: 20-87-94 and our account number: 43781631 If you use online banking you may wish to make Cornwall Music Service Trust one of your payees. It is preferable that your invoice number is used as a payment reference. However, should your bank not allow you to change a reference, please use 'ACC****' where **** is your parental account number.

• by Monthly Standing Order – We can calculate the annual charge and spread your fees as monthly payments from your bank or building society. Please contact office@cmst.co.uk for more information if you would like to consider this method of payment

• Via Paypal through our Pay an Invoice page using your debit/credit card

• by cheque (£1.50 admin fee applies)

Please email us at office@cmst.co.uk regarding this option. We can calculate the projected fees for the academic year and supply you with standing order and regular payment details.

You will still receive invoices and statements of account for information only/for you to verify your regular payments have been received.

Invoices for ongoing current lessons will be sent out just after the end of each term for the next term in advance.

Invoices for new starters will be sent as soon as the teacher has advised the office that lessons have been arranged.

Emails are sent from office@cmst.co.uk but are routed through our pupil database system, SpeedAdmin. If invoices are going into your spam folder, it may be worth adding all the following domains to your safe sender domains

cmst.co.uk

cornwallmusicservicetrust.org

speedadmin.co.uk

speedadmin.dk

The bottom right figure on your invoice email is your current account balance. This includes the charges for this term and any outstanding invoices or credits.

You can see projected charges for the year and obtain a statement of account from your SpeedAdmin portal.

The invoice will show the lesson type charge rate you signed up for and a total amount, from which the number of weeks can be deduced.

Over a whole academic year we aim to deliver 34 lessons, typically the full Autumn Term is 12 lessons, The Spring Term is 11, and the Summer Term is 11, but this may vary due to scheduling clashes such as SATS weeks, bank holidays etc. If your child starts later in the term/academic year, the total weeks will be amended accordingly.

Teachers mark their registers when they are absent. They will where possible schedule a make up lesson, either in a “spare” week or by delivering a double-length session if appropriate.

We allow staff until the end of the academic year to do this. Undelivered lessons will be credited at this point.

No. We must pay the teacher for their full weekly contracted time and charge parents accordingly.

If the teacher is given sufficient notice of an absence, they will try to give some extra time to that pupil later in the term where possible.

Any remission allowance will be itemised on the invoice. If it is not, it could be that you failed to notify us of the remission when signing up for lessons. If notification is received after we have submitted our claim to Cornwall Music Education Hub you will be liable for the full amount this term but we will be able to claim for future terms. Please contact the office.

If a remission allowance shows, the balance is the difference between the cost of the lesson and the remission, which is a set amount.

We must be notified of this before lessons commence. Please pass the invoice you have received on to the school and ask them to email us to confirm their agreement to pay. We will then amend your record.

As per the terms and conditions you agreed to when signing up for lessons, 6 weeks notice of discontinuation must be given in writing to the office. You will be charged for the number of lessons scheduled within the 6 week period starting from the receipt date of your correspondence.

The notice period is linked to the teacher. A new instrument with the same teacher (e.g. flute instead of clarinet) will not incur additional charge. If a child stops and takes up a new instrument with a different teacher (e.g. guitar instead of clarinet), the notice period for the first instrument and lessons on the new instrument will be charged concurrently if the end/start dates overlap.

Invoices are sent to whomever made the original application and agreed to our terms and conditions. We will only change debtor information if we receive written confirmation from the new payee.

If you believe an invoice has already been paid, please email the office with:

1. Date of payment

2. Method of payment (i.e. bank transfer, paypal, cheque)

3. Name on bank account

4. Cheque number if relevant

It is rare for us to mis-log a payment. If an incorrect invoice or payer account reference is quoted, and/or there is not enough information to tally a payment with a payer, a received payment may be put in a holding area until it can be correctly allocated.

A very small number of people have reported that after entering their invoice details on our website payment page, they are taken straight to the “Thank you for paying” page without being asked for payment details. If this happens to you, please email the office.