Frequently Asked Questions

Want to learn more about music lessons at Kanata/Stittsville’s U-Rock Music School? Here are the answers to (we hope) all your questions.

Be sure to contact us if you don’t see the answer to any other questions you may have.

Fees and Registration

What are your protocols regarding COVID-19?

You can read about our COVID-19 protocols in this blog post.

How do I register my child for lessons?

You can register online at our home page at www.u-rockschool.com

Or you can call us to register for lessons any weekday from 9am to 2pm at 613-457-5064.

How much are private lessons?

PRIVATE LESSON fees vary depending on how many lessons you purchase, starting at $26.50/wk. Ask us for details! Fees are the same for ALL private lessons, regardless of what instrument you choose, including vocals. SHARED lessons are only $17.70 per student.

Unlike most schools we do not have ANY registration fees. So, if you are comparing our rates, please keep this in mind. Our many performance events all year long are also FREE, and our two major rock concerts (January & June) cost only a modest ticket cost of $10 per adult. Kids are always free.

GROUP LESSON fees start at $24 per week, depending on the program and the length of the class. ALL groups run for 30 minutes, except our teen band which runs for 60 minutes every week. There is always a second teacher added to any group lessons at U-Rock with 6 or more students.

I’d like to enroll my child/teen in your school. Are there auditions?

We have a first-come first-served policy for enrolment. There are no auditions required. However, our weekly lessons are limited in number and our groups are purposely small, so if you want to sign your children up, please register online as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. FULL payment or one month’s fees (depending on the session you sign up for) are due within 24 hours of receiving our registration email. We will not hold unpaid registrations for more than 24 hours, so please reply as soon as you get your lesson time confirmation from us.

Please do not register children under 7 years old for private lessons. We have special age-appropriate group sessions for younger children.

How much are group lessons?

Shared lessons are only $17.70 per student (maximum 3 students). Group lessons start from as little as $24 per 30-minute weekly lesson, some sessions like our teen band run for 60 minutes every week so pricing is based on the amount of time spent in lessons too. Fees will always be posted with all program info on our website. Prices are subject to change without notice. We always offer our best rates for full year registration.

Do you offer trial lessons?

No we do  not. We accept new students on a first come basis, and we always fill up very quickly.

For a short commitment, try our six-week summer program. We feel this shorter session is the perfect amount of time to get comfortable with a new instrument or try out vocals. We’ve also found this is the ideal time for most children and teens to get a feel for what to expect from lessons, and most choose to then continue on during the school year. Plus, our summer session allows students to test out more than one musical option at a time.

Is there a registration fee to enroll my children at U-Rock?

No, unlike other music schools we have never charged for registration. We do require either a deposit or the full lesson fees after you sign up. This secures your child’s lesson time and also gives us the commitment we need from all our families to fulfill the obligation to the session you are registering for.

How do I pay for lessons?

Lesson fees are collected at the time of registration in the following three manners: EMT (electronic money transfer), credit card payment, or personal cheque.

To secure your child’s lesson time, a deposit payment is due immediately at registration, often paid by EMT. The remainder of the fee can be paid in one lump sum by EMT or credit card at least one month prior to the session start date, or can also be paid by providing us with monthly post-dated-cheques, all dated on the first day of each month. ALL cheques MUST be dropped off one month before the lesson start date. Monthly lesson fees are collected for the number of weeks that correspond to the specific session you are registering for.

Cheques are payable to Cathy Hallessey/U-Rock Music School. You may prefer to pay for the full session in one payment. In this case, either a credit card, an EMT or personal cheque is acceptable, and must be received immediately after your child is registered. If you do not pay your full fee or deposit fee, the lesson time you requested will be available to others and you may lose your lesson time.

All summer programs, including The Roxies, Pop Patrol, U-Rock Kidz Bands and any other summer GROUP classes are paid in ONE full payment only, collected by EMT or cheque at the time of registration.

There are no refunds or credits for prepaid GROUP sessions as we limit the number of students per class. If your child drops out you are fully responsible for the entire session fee. U-Rock Band Camp fees are also non-refundable. Staff is hired well in advance, based on the number of students enrolled in each program, so when a student drops out, we cannot offer a refund.

Missed lessons are never refunded for any of our group & private summer lessons and cannot be rescheduled.

Prepaid 4-week PRIVATE lessons in the summer and school year TRIAL lessons are not refundable and any unused lessons cannot be rescheduled or carried over to the next session.

Deposits paid in advance for all U-Rock upcoming sessions are also non-refundable and also not transferable to another student in the program, including family members.

Credits for any eligible missed lessons or lessons cancelled by the teacher must be scheduled during the same session and cannot be carried over to the next one. It is each student’s responsibility to arrange for a makeup class prior to the end of the session.

Can I pay monthly by EMT, credit card or PayPal?

Registration deposits AND full session payments during the school year CAN be paid in full by E-transfer, credit card or personal cheques. Monthly post-dated cheques are also an option for payment, but this option includes a small admin fee. We do not accept monthly payments by e-transfer or credit card, only full session payments.

Our SUMMER session and day camps are payable at our U-Rock online store by credit card, as are all our group lessons during the school year session. You may also pay by e-transfer as well.

Should I register my child/children online even if the lesson times I want are full right now?

Yes! Families who register with us are the first ones we contact as soon as any lesson times become available. This can happen at any time and if your children are pre-registered they are at the top of the list and have a very good chance of joining our school mid-session if someone else has to drop out.

Do you give tax receipts so I can claim my child’s music lessons?

We sure do – just ask us and we will send yours by email.

We have lots of kids and they all want lessons. Do you offer special family pricing?

We do! The third child in your family can benefit from a 10% discount as long as all three children are enrolled in our school for full sessions, at the same time. This discount does not apply to our summer programs.

Can our children share a lesson time?

Yes! Sharing makes lessons fun. Ask us for details.

Are there ever any other fees we have to pay throughout the year?

The only extra cost is a very modest ticket fee for our two big semi-annual concerts (school year program only), simply to cover the venue & sound technician costs. You pay for lessons all year, we don’t expect you to pay for anything else. There are no fees at all for ANY of our open mic events or for our community and/or charitable/fundraising shows. Unlike other music schools, we don’t charge for handouts, such as sheet music and other learning materials that we provide at lessons or send you by email. Piano students will need to buy a book for each skill level, but no other costs are ever added. This is a HUGE money saver compared to other schools.

About lessons

At what age can my child start private lessons?

Private lessons are available for children age 7+. If your child is younger than 7 and you wish to start private lessons, we would need to meet and assess his/her skills before you can register them for lessons.

We DO have wonderful group lessons for children age 5-7.

Are there lessons for kids under 7?

Yes, we offer group lessons to children as young as 5 years old and group lessons for children age 7+ who aren’t quite ready yet for private lessons or who may be shy and prefer a group environment. These group lessons are periodic and may not be available all year long. Give us a call for details.

Do you provide instruments with lessons?

Our GROUP lessons for 5-7 yr olds,  8-11 year olds DO NOT require children to bring their own instruments.  We provide everything they will need at lesson time for these specific group sessions.

However, instruments are required for all PRIVATE lesson students. Students must bring their own instrument to their lessons, except our drummers & piano/keyboard players, who must own a drum kit at OR a piano/keyboard at home but only need to bring their drumsticks and music theory books to lessons.

Does my electric guitarist or bass player need to bring an amplifier to lessons?

No, just bring the guitar; we have amps that are used for all lessons.

How can I help my child/teen succeed at lessons?

There are lots of things parents can do to help their children succeed. We have written a blog on this topic because we want your children to succeed at learning their chosen instrument and do their very best. Click here for lots of details on how to help your budding rock star.

Students in private & group lessons are encouraged to request a progress report, on the 10th week (the halfway mark) of every school year session to provide parents with important feedback on how their rock stars are doing at their lessons. We are always happy to give families feedback on progress at any time.

Do children need to practice every day?

Yes, ideally your rock star should practice everyday for 15-20 minutes. But we know everyone has busy lives so practicing 3-4 times a week is fine too. Children and teens who practice regularly advance far more quickly and also enjoy a great sense of accomplishment when they are able to master their skills and then participate in our many performance events. Parents of children under 12 must establish routines to help their kids succeed at their lessons.

We have no idea where to get a guitar/drum kit/ukulele/keyboard, etc. What do you suggest?

We highly recommend Fleet Music in Bell’s Corners as the place for pretty much all your musical instrument needs. Their sales staff are all experienced musicians and will help you select what you need, within your budget.

Please don’t buy guitars or ukuleles from Toys R Us. These are toys, and will not stay in tune for lessons.  Long & McQuade in Kanata is also a good store, they have a 30 day return policy too which is handy if you end up getting the wrong size guitar for your child or wrong kind of drum sticks etc. It happens. They also rent instruments by the month.

GUITARS: Acoustic, steel string, narrow body guitars are ideal. DO NOT buy a classical, nylon string guitar for your child. We teach rock & pop, not classical music. Brands we like: Fender, Ovation, Yamaha, Art & Lutherie, Epiphone and any acoustic guitar with a truss rod.  Prices range from $150 -$400. Electric guitarists should consider getting a starter package, like the Fender Squire electric guitar kit, which comes with a small practice amp, a tuner, a guitar strap and a soft case.  Prices for electric guitars range from $250-$400. All guitarists will also need: a tuner, picks (medium gauge), a strap. Electric guitarists also need a patch cord to connect to a small amplifier for home practice (the Fender Squire kit comes with both).

DRUMS: All drummers must provide their own sticks. We recommend Los Cabos 5A drumsticks.  For home practice an acoustic or electronic drum kit is ideal.  Our studio drum kits include a Roland TDK 1 electronic kit and our master kit is a D Drum DD3X. There is a great starter electronic drum kit at Costco (online) that comes with a stool and headphones. You’ll thank us later!

UKULELES: Any wooden ukulele with nylon strings from $50 -$150 will do. Just avoid anything made of plastic.

KEYBOARDS: Any real-touch keyboard with a foot pedal will do.

Do you offer March Break or Summer Camps?

U-ROCK BAND CAMP ages 9-16 is now offered every summer, but spaces are very limited. For full details on our 1 & 2 week Full Day CAMPS please go to our summer programs section.

U-Rock is always closed during March Break. Our teachers need a little rest too 🙂

Can my child/teen take one-hour lessons?

Yes! If your child is over 12 he/she can take one-hour lessons. Children under 12 will not benefit from one-hour lessons unless they are splitting their time between two kinds of lessons. Example: 30 minutes of singing, followed by 30 minutes of guitar/drums/ukulele/piano, would be fine for children 10+.

Do you have concerts/shows/performance opportunities?

Yes! Our school is the only school in the region that offers all students no less than 6 live performance opportunities every school year. We host two large scale rock concerts at the end of every 5 month session, complete with a HUGE stage and light show. This is added to our famous open mic events at Hurley’s, plus summer outdoor fairs or community concert events. NOTE: Any student who aspires to be in the two big rock shows MUST perform at least once at an open mic event as a requirement to qualify to be selected for the main concerts (drummers are exempt from this rule). Other awesome examples of U-Rock shows: Canada Day concerts, community fundraisers, Arts in the Park concert, various local community fair concerts, and many more. We also encourage and prep our interested students for their upcoming auditions and competitions at local and regional events. Many of our talented students have won major contests and some have even gone on to get recording contracts in the industry. One recent U-Rock graduate, Andrew Waines, can now be heard on Majic 100 Radio, and several much younger students are now recording original songs! PLUS, we are the only music school in Ottawa that offers auditions with well known Music & TV producers. About 30 of our talented students have already been cast by SlimeTV/ You Can’t Do that on Television, for their 30th anniversary TV, radio and music projects.. So, we aren’t just a music school, we are so much more!

What are these bands I see in your music programs? Can my child join a U-Rock band?

Our band programs are an add-on to weekly lessons during the school year. They offer our students an opportunity to improve faster as young musicians, in a positive group setting along with their peers. We’ve noticed a direct correlation between our students who also take band and their ability to excel much faster at their chosen instruments. Skills are honed and extra coaching makes a big difference too.

In the summer we also offer 1 & 2 week U-Rock BAND CAMP! Ages 9-16 please see our summer programs section for more details.

At what age can my child join the band program?

We offer different band and vocal group programs for children and teens age 5-18 years old.  Many groups do not require any experience or even any instruments – we provide them! A moderate level of skill is required in some of the bands, such as our Crushers teen band and our U-Rock Band Camp and campers must have one year of lessons for both of these groups. We do vary the availability of our many band programs throughout the school year and during our summer session. The Roxies (age 7-11) run all year long. The Crushers teen/tween band (age 13-17) runs only during the school year However, our KIDZ band (age 10-12) and Pop Patrol (age 6-7) often run during the school year too.

I have a very musical 5 year-old, do you have any programs or lessons for very young ones?

Pop Patrol is our latest group for kids age 5-7. They learn to sing, learn the basics of playing ukulele, piano and percussion instruments.

Our summer offerings also include a vocal band for 5-6 year olds. Perfect for the little rock stars and divas that love to sing! Call us for details as this group is only offered periodically.

My 6 year old is super keen to start learning an instrument. What do you have for that age group?

We have several great programs for younger kids, including an intro to band and vocal/performance groups called KIDZ band (age 6-8) as well as POP Patrol (age 5-7). Additional group lessons are offered during the summer months and school year sessions and are ideal for children who aren’t yet sure what they’d like to learn: guitar, drums, ukulele, piano or vocals…they can try everything so that when they are ready for private lessons at age 7+ they will know what they like best. Call us to find out more.

Can our child bring a friend to their lessons from time to time?

This is a great question. Every spring we host a BFF week (bring-a-best friend to lessons week), you will be sent an invitation for your child to do that (if they wish) during that specific week if you’d like.  Friends and/or siblings are not allowed to attend lessons at any other time, sorry.

My child isn't interested in performing at school concerts, is that ok?

Absolutely! Not all musicians need an audience. If your rock star is shy that’s not a problem. We just hope they come to the shows to watch and cheer on the other kids.

About U-Rock Music School

There are lots of music schools, why should we choose U-Rock?

Because we are AWESOME 🙂 Check out our website testimonials, our Facebook page, our Instagram and Twitter pages and then if you still need convincing, just ask one of our many award winning students who make every day special for us.

What also sets us apart from ALL other music schools in Ottawa, is our amazing performance opportunities for all our students. We offer a minimum of 6 major shows/concerts, Open Mics and LOTS of other live performance events during the school year. Even our U-Rock Band Camp has a concert event in the summer.

We are also the only music school in Ottawa where the owners are the teachers. This is quite unique and ensures that you have consistent qualified educators teaching your children at all times.

PLUS, we are the only music school to have been selected as a finalist for 4 years in a row for the 2019, 2018, 2017 & 2016 Business Excellence Awards, hosted by the West Ottawa Board of Trade.

U-Rock Music School was also nominated for the 2018 & 2017 Top Choice Awards for best Ottawa music school, for the 4th year in a row. In 2019 & 2018, we were also named as one of the Top 3 BEST music schools in Ottawa! U-Rock also was chosen from a large group of local business in west Ottawa, as a nominee in 2018, 2017 & 2016 for Stittsville’s Business Appreciation Awards, among numerous other awards.

Mostly we think people love our school because we LOVE what we do and share that passion for musical adventure with every student we teach. Being at U-Rock is like being part of a cool musical family. Our students thrive in our fun & challenging learning environment.

U-Rock is also the only music school in Ottawa to have been selected by famous TV producer Roger Price and his KAMP School as “THE VERY BEST source of young talent in the entire city.” More than 30 U-Rock students were chosen by Roger and his team for music, film and radio production work this past year.

Come meet us – you’ll see why we are the best choice.

Finally, YOUR CHILD’s SAFETY is very important to us too. All full-time and part-time teachers at U-Rock have documented vulnerable sector police checks for your peace of mind and security.

What musical instruments do you teach at U-Rock?

We teach vocals, guitar (acoustic, electric and bass), drums, ukulele, keyboard/piano, mandolin and banjo. We also have preteen and teen bands and vocal performance groups for all ages from 7-18. Group lessons for children age 5-6 are sometimes also available.

How long has your school been in business?

U-Rock Music School is celebrating 25 years in business this year! We started teaching young rock stars in 1997.  We ABSOLUTELY love what we do. We have been nominated as Small Business of the Year, more than 14 times since 2016. These accolades include:

TOP3 Music Schools in Ottawa Award 2020, 2019 & 2018 – nominated as “best picks ” as one of three best rated music schools in all of Ottawa.

The West Ottawa Board of Trade, Finalist, Small Business of the Year, 2018, 2017 & 2016 (we are also members of the WOBT)

Top Choice Business Awards, 2020, 2019, 2018 & 2017 – Nominee Business of the Year  (Music Schools)

City of Ottawa / Stittsville Business of the Year Appreciation Awards, nominee in 2019, 2018 & 2017.

Top 25 Most Popular Kids Activities Awards, for 2019, 2018, 2017 & 2016 from CanadianKidsActivities.

Are you open every day for lessons?

During the school year: We are open from 3pm to 8pm Mondays through Thursdays, and from 3pm to 7:00pm on Fridays.

In the SUMMER:

We are open for private and group 30 minute lessons from 4:00pm to 7pm on Tuesdays & Wednesdays in July & August.

PLUS: Monday-Friday U-Rock Band Camp (our FULL DAY music camp) is open from 9am to 4pm in July & August.

We are CLOSED on Saturdays & Sundays all year long.

Are there many teachers and are they all musicians and qualified?

The school’s founder and co-owner are the primary teachers at U-Rock. Cathy and Brian run the school and together they teach about 120+ weekly students. They are very skilled and experienced musicians with impressive music credentials and have both been teaching for over 20 years. See ABOUT US on our main page header and click on “Meet the Teachers” for more details. Both are professional musicians who are also in bands of their own. As such, they are able to teach all aspects of music education, performing and songwriting. Some sessions require an additional teacher, in such cases you can be sure the teachers have been fully trained by both Cathy and Brian so that they excel at U-Rock’s unique teaching methods.

Lessons at U-Rock are consistent with the same teachers and you can be confident that your child/teen will always be learning from the best music teachers in the business. Our U-Rock University graduates are chosen to return to U-Rock to teach after they’ve received their 5 year award of accomplishment and have fully completed our music education program. Our teachers shadow teach along with us for a full year before they teach on their own so that their teaching styles match ours perfectly.

Our grade 10-12 students are also offered an opportunity to help us out at larger group sessions and/or at U-Rock school concert events, community events and summer camps to earn their volunteer hours.

Do you follow the school calendar for statutory holidays?

Yes, we do!

We observe the following statutory/provincial holiday closures:

Labour Day Monday, Thanksgiving Monday, Christmas Break (two weeks), Family Day (February), March Break (one week), Good Friday & Easter Monday, and Victoria Day, plus Canada Day (July) and the Civic Holiday Monday (August).

U-Rock is closed for the last two weeks of August.

How do we communicate with our child’s teachers in between lessons?

We encourage all of our families to keep in touch by email or text. This allows us to respond when we aren’t teaching. It’s always great for us to get feedback and we like to encourage parental involvement in the learning process, especially for our 12 and under students.

Please DON’T call us between 3-8pm as we are busy teaching and will not be able to take your call. You can leave a message though and if it’s urgent (ex: your child will be missing a lesson that day) please send us a text so that we can notify your child’s teacher 613-853-7748. We may not be able to reply until later, but we will see it.

Can I also talk to my child/teen’s teacher before or after their lessons, at the music studio?

We ask that all families contact us by email, text or phone if they want to talk to us.  Our daily teaching schedule doesn’t allow us sufficient time to update or chat with parents during lessons. We want everyone to get full lessons. However, please DO contact us any time from 10am to 2pm Monday through Friday, we are always happy to hear from you. You may call, text or email us on weekends but we are closed from 7pm on Fridays until 10am on Mondays, so will not likely get back to you until regular business hours. We also host Meet & Greets on Fridays at 7pm during the school year, you must book an appointment for this, but we are always happy to see you  🙂

Do you teach adults too? Or can parents sit in on lessons?

We DO accept adult students at U-Rock!

Family members/parents/siblings CANNOT sit in on lessons at any time. Come to our Open Mic events instead – that’s why we host them 🙂 If you want to meet with us at ANY time please do let us know – we are always happy to see you and update you on your child’s progress. Please simply request an appointment with us, after teaching hours.

We also offer meet & greet sessions with our NEW families on select Fridays after 7pm (please request a date to meet us in advance). This way your child/teen gets to visit us before their lessons start and will have a better feel for what their lessons will be like. Plus, you’ll feel more at ease dropping off your rock stars if you’ve met us in ahead of time. Just call or write us to ask for an appointment time.

Parents should also encourage their children to practice while they watch & listen now and then – you may be surprised by what your rock star can teach you, we hear that many great concerts take place at home after lessons.

Do you welcome referrals?

We sure do! 80% of our students are referrals from other happy families. We also thank you for your referrals by offering a small credit on school merchandise, so please let us know if you’ve referred another family.

How will we know if there are special events coming up at the school?

Any time we have something fun going on, we will let you know. We send group emails to update our families on just about everything from our open mic events to parking etiquette at the school. Please check your emails regularly.  We are VERY good at keeping in touch. We also post everything newsworthy to our Facebook page, Instagram and our website. U-Rock’s Facebook page is THE best way to keep on top of everything from renewal reminders, our lesson swap page, and many awesome videos we post of our students, both at their lessons, and at our shows.

Do you have school T-Shirts and merchandise for sale?

Yes! We do. Our school t-shirts are awesome and available for sale all the time for $25 (tax included). We do not mark up our merchandise, you pay what we pay. Our new U-Rock ball caps are only $17 and available in black, red, white and pink. Brand new this year” Rock UR Socks Off – adorable socks available in black or white and adult and kids sizes for $12 & $10 a pair. Some of our groups, like The Roxies, have their own band t-shirts provided as part of their registration packages, often for FREE (40 week sessions only). We are hoping to get even more merch like hoodies, winter tuque/hats and water bottles very soon.

What is the Music Rox Fund?

We started the fund in 2015 to provide children and teens of lesser means an opportunity to get music lessons for free during the summer.  Applications are done online and the selected students will receive 6 weeks of FREE lessons of their choice during our summer program. It’s our way to give back to our community and allows us to provide as many kids as we can with an opportunity to learn music.

Policies

What if I need to reschedule a lesson?

Life is hectic, we get that. So, we now offer online lessons as an option if your child cannot attend in person for any reason.

PLUS, we started our unique U-ROCK LESSON SWAP GROUP on Facebook to allow families with lesson time conflicts to post a request for a lesson swap online to other U-Rock families in our members-only Facebook GROUP.

We are the ONLY music school in the universe (no joke!) that offers this amazing option which can save you money and could even mean never missing another lesson again. However, you MUST join our Facebook page to take advantage of this option.

This unique solution gives ALL our private lesson families a chance to successfully switch lesson times with others when they need to. The swap group is not an option for students in group sessions, sorry.

Not a swapper? We WILL allow a maximum of 2 rescheduled lessons per session, but ONLY with 24 hours’ advance notice and ONLY for serious medical reasons.

U-Rock WILL NOT offer any alternate lesson times or credits for ANY conflicts such as family vacations that fall outside the school calendar, conflicts related to sports activities, personal/family or school events. If you have any such conflicts DO take advantage of our LESSON SWAP GROUP to avoid missing any lessons. We’ve had a 95 % success rate with our group in the past year, thanks to all our families who have joined to help each other out.

Last minute lesson cancellations are forfeited if they don’t meet the above criteria and cannot be rescheduled.

Our summer lessons (private lessons only) also require the same 24 hours’ notice AND for serious medical reasons only. Please note there is no swap group option during the summer. U-Rock’s Summer Band Camp does not have any rescheduling options due to class size limits.

What is your cancellation policy?

Information about our cancellation policy is on the school policies page.

Oops! I bounced a cheque. What happens now?

Sometimes these things can happen. Please notify us if you know this has happened unexpectedly. We charge a $50 service fee for any bounced cheque to cover our bank costs.  EMT payment or cash will be required immediately (within 24 hours) to cover the missed payment.

What if we need to contact you during a lesson?

We provide both of our cell phone numbers and the school landline at registration so that in an emergency you can reach us during teaching hours. However, we may not be able to reply until after the lesson is over. Feel free to leave a message, as we do check them when we can.

We have more than one child in lessons at U-Rock, can we switch their lesson times when the need arises, or if one is sick?

Yes, providing you let us know and of course the children must be in lessons with the same teacher in order to do this.

Can one of my children take the whole hour, if one can’t make it that week and my children are taking lessons back-to-back?

Provided they share the same teacher, yes. But please let us know in advance so we can prepare their lessons accordingly. Also, it is not recommended for children under age 12 to have one-hour lessons in the same subject. But once in a while would not be an issue.

What happens when the weather is bad? Are lessons cancelled?

Mother Nature is always full of surprises, but we never close due to bad weather. It is entirely up to you if you want to brave the rain/snow/heat to get your children safely to their lessons. We cannot close our school for situations that are out of our control. There are no refunds or rescheduling allowed if lessons are missed due to bad weather, sorry.

If U-Rock cancels lessons for any reason, how will we find out?

If WE ever have to reschedule our lessons (sometimes teachers get sick too) we will contact you in advance by email to reschedule the lesson time at a later date. If after we’ve offered you 2 different lesson time options but you do not reschedule anything with your teacher, the missed lesson will be forfeited and will not be carried over to the next session.

Can parents and siblings wait inside while lessons are going on?

Ww respectfully ask that ALL families come and meet us BEFORE starting lessons so that you and your children will feel at ease coming to our home each week. Our school is run from our home and the foyer is very tiny.

NO PARENTS/CAREGIVERS/SIBLINGS ARE ALLOWED INSIDE, THANK YOU!

There is a bench for our students to wait on, but no room for families. We ask that parents or caregivers drop off their rock stars no sooner than 2 minutes before their lesson time each week and then return to pick them up promptly on the half hour.

ALL students must wait on the bench until the previous student in lessons ahead of them comes up (or down) from their respective lessons. Shoes & boots must be left OUTSIDE on the mat by the front door at all times to avoid blocking the door. We do make exceptions during extreme weather conditions, we have a fireplace on the front porch to keep boots warm. Coats/hats/etc must be brought inside with you to your lesson studio. Thank you for helping us keep everyone safe and distanced while managing rock star traffic flow on our busiest days! 🙂

Our RING security system: There is a digital clock on the front porch, when it is your lesson time, RING the doorbell, we will reply via intercom, but if we are busy teaching we may not reply but we will (remotely) unlock the door to let you in. Listen for the mechanical unlocking sound and then just open the door and let yourself in. Do not ring before your lesson time. Please always leave your shoes, sandals or boots on the mat OUTSIDE our front door before you come in, then sanitize or wash your hands.

PLEASE ALWAYS WEAR YOUR MASK.

You have a nice front porch, can we wait there in warmer weather?

You sure can, keeping a safe 2 metres apart. When the weather is nice we welcome any of our families to wait on the front porch, but never inside the house. There is a small park on our street and also a fantastic splash pad (summer only) and a very large park only 2 blocks away, you can get there by the footpath three doors down from us on the left.