Piano is a cumulative skill, so regular attendance is essential. Students who attend consistently make the strongest progress because each lesson builds on the last.
Our teaching calendar closely follows the Bromley school term dates to help families maintain a consistent routine and minimise clashes with school holidays.
When the studio first opened, we did our best to accommodate every reschedule request because we genuinely wanted to help families.
However, in just one year, we received over 200 reschedule requests.
Many parents understandably think moving one lesson is straightforward. In reality, it often meant checking the timetable, contacting five or six other families, exchanging numerous messages and rearranging several schedules over several days - all to accommodate a single change.
More importantly, frequent rescheduling disrupts routine and affects your child's progress. A fixed weekly lesson helps children build good practice habits and make steady progress.
With a full timetable and a long waiting list, there aren't spare lesson slots sitting empty each week. Rescheduling usually means trying to create space that simply doesn't exist. We also don't have a full-time administrator, so every reschedule takes valuable time away from lesson planning, teaching and supporting our students.
In many cases, repeated requests simply meant the original lesson time was no longer the best fit. That's why families commit to a fixed weekly lesson time when they join the studio.
Every student has a dedicated weekly lesson reserved exclusively for them. Our teachers prepare each lesson in advance and are paid whether or not a student attends.
A missed lesson also leaves an unfillable gap in the timetable. If we then arrange a make-up lesson, we pay the teacher a second time while only receiving payment for one lesson. Unfortunately, this isn't sustainable for a small independent studio.
Like many children's activities, including dance, gymnastics and swimming, most piano studios do not routinely offer make-up lessons. A regular weekly lesson is reserved for every student, allowing us to provide a consistent, high-quality learning experience for all.
Since introducing our no make-up policy, attendance has been excellent and students have made much better progress. It has also eliminated the constant need to rearrange missed lessons, allowing us to focus on teaching rather than scheduling.
We still want students to keep progressing between lessons. If your child is unable to attend, you're welcome to upload a video of their playing to the Practice Space app. Your teacher will review it and provide feedback to help your child stay on track until their next lesson.
This allows learning to continue without disrupting the studio timetable or other families' lesson schedules.
Our no make-up policy isn't about being inflexible. It's about running a fair and sustainable studio so we can focus on what matters most: providing outstanding piano lessons and the best possible learning experience for every student.
.webp)
