Ballet shouldn't charge the same

[wholelottahistory]

Dd is on grade 2 and we've just had an email saying classes will go ahead as non-sylabus classes on instagram live.
There has been no reduction in fees - dd does 2 hours per week and it costs about £11.50 per lesson.
Our school fees have been cut by 25% for next term, and a musical theatre class she does has been cut by about 45% as it will be on zoom.
Conversely, her individual singing lesson with peripatetic teacher is still £20 for 30 mins on skype, but that is 1 to 1.
Wibu to email ballet school to mention I feel there could/should be a small reduction?
I think she will get governmental help although I know it is slow....

Interesting to hear about your school. Ours is still charging full price. They are even charging school lunches at full rate. Lots of unhappy parents!

Our school lunches are included in the price of fees not an extra anyway.
But they have furloughed a lot of non teaching staff and supposedly have some reserves of money so offered the reduction.
Also no mini buses, match teas etc

Ours isn't charging until back at physical lessons although they have uploaded some exercises to YouTube.

Crikey, that's a lot of after school classes she does. She must be exhausted! (Misses point completely :)))

Just cancel the ballet class completely. How on earth can you safely teach ballet remotely? The teacher is a CF.

You sound like you'd miss £11.50 a lot less than your Dd's ballet teacher. She is probably just trying to keep afloat.

What Daftodil says

Yes, I'm with the above poster, if you want lessons to Continue after this event then perhaps just try to help support if you can afford to - should hopefully only be a few
Months and she's still getting support in her Learning way

Why do you think the teacher would get government help? How big is the ballet school? Do you want the ballet school to still be there after lockdown eases? Can you afford to pay for the classes? How old is your DD?

I run after school classes. They usually cost £9 but as I am now doing them over zoom I am charging £5. People seem to think that's fair.

A lot of small business owners can’t get help as self employed. Maybe the owner of the ballet school is in this bracket? Discussion is the best starting point- with her, not MN.

It does in all likelihood come down to whether you want a ballet school to be there after this is over.

If you dont want to pay just deregister her and hope that when this is all.over a) the class still exists and b)they'll have her back

You've budgeted to spend the money and the ballet teachers probably still has to pay rent etc so you are really paying as a place holder so she can reopen after this crisis. She is probably self employed. If you can afford the lessons why do you feel so strongly about a £5 a week or whatever discount that could put the teacher out of business?

I still pay childminder and school
in full. childminder needs it to survive, school has asked everybody who is not financially hit to pay full so people who are less fortunate can get bigger reductions, which is very fair.
School also has a full schedule of lessons planned on zoom , so i wouldn’t see a reason for a reduction

My DD's classes have changed the prices as follows:

• swimming - no lessons, no charge
• trampolining - no lessons, reduced charge to keep the club going
• ballet - no physical lessons, no charge - but there is the option to pay a (lower) fee to join online Zoom sessions if you like.

I've not heard anything from the peripatetic music teacher than she usually sees at school, but it is normally school that invoice for this so I'm guessing no charge there either.

My DDs’ dance classes have reduced their rate and I think that’s right. It’s not the same on zoom, there’s a slight delay with the music which makes it hard plus we don’t really have the space to do it properly.

I get that the dance school wants to keep afloat and still needs to pay the teachers but my DH (main earner) has got no income coming in at the moment and we’ve had to freeze the mortgage, and lots of people will be in the same situation. Had she not reduced the rate we would have had to think about stopping them

As someone in a similar self-employed job, it isn't any less work to do classes online - in fact I've found it requires even more planning than normal, we've had to adapt teaching methods, learn how to use the technology quickly and invest in some new equipment to make it work. Like everyone adapting to working from home it's taking time and mental effort, alongside dealing with everything else that's happening. I've given students/ parents the option of pausing for now if they don't want online tuition but for those who do the fees are the same and they've all been happy to pay that. Some are even still paying whilst not having tuition because they said they could afford to and wanted to support - we'll make up lessons in real life at some point later down the line. Some have stopped because their income has dropped or work situation has changed and of course that's fine - they may come back if and when their situation improves.

We will get help but we're not expecting to hear about the government self-employed support for at least a few weeks and they've said that won't be paid until June. Universal Credit claims are taking a long time as they're overwhelmed by the volume of new claims.

I meant to add that I've said if anyone is experiencing financial difficulties but wants to continue, to let me know and we'll sort something out - we're all in this together.

If she runs as a limited company there will be no help
She may well have a contract for the space she uses she is still paying for.

My e excise classes are going on at the same level via Zoom and although it’s not the same, it’s better than nothing. I would have paid each month anyway, so that we can resume them physically at some point in the future.

If people stop paying, they won’t be back.

Crikey, that's a lot of after school classes she does. She must be exhausted! (Misses point completely smile)

@Soontobe60 You didn't miss the point, you chose to be judgemental and critical.

I don't think it's fair to charge in full for a class that is being done over video. I've done a few and honestly, they're not the same. If you're doing something wrong the instructor cant help you if it's one way and cant exactly manoeuvre you into place.

Everyone is struggling just now, small suppliers cant just foist the responsibility for their overheads onto individuals. There has to be an element of choice in there rather than being forced to do "the right thing".

Hmm, DSs pre-school music session is still charging the full price on zZoom. It is a bit pricey as he doesn’t really focus, but I know that this is the main source of income for his teacher, and that he probably relies on that money far more than we do, so we are paying.

Saying that, though, we can warrant it, as DH is still on full pay and nursery have said we do not need to pay fees until they resume (if he gets to go back at all).

Cubs have said we’re welcome to pause standing orders until it’s back up and running although they’d appreciate it if we didn’t. I’ve made the decision to pause it because I refuse to pay for something we’re not using.

Cubs is a charity, so it's not like they have to pay volunteers' wages. However, for most groups, subs barely cover activities and building upkeep, new materials, reduced camp fees etc all come from fundraising (and far too often from the volunteers' own pockets). Also, costs of insurance, any online resources, capitation etc will still have to be paid. However, we wouldn't expect anyone to pay unless they could easily afford it as a donation - a lot of our parents will be furloughed or losing their jobs, so of course we wouldn't be asking them to pay towards Scouting. It just means more fundraising and juggling of costs once we're back to normal

My DD’s ballet school has told us not to pay for the summer term. There are no lessons via Zoom etc. For those of you suggesting the OP has already budgeted for her DD’s classes, that was before this pandemic, for all you know her finances are suffering, not just the ballet teachers.