Policy
LAMDA Terms & Conditions
By enrolling your child in LAMDA coaching sessions with Vibe Arts Theatre School, you agree to abide by these terms and conditions, which include the sections on online lessons and on exam changes, cancellations and credits. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Payments
- All LAMDA payments are final.
- There are no refunds for missed sessions.
- LAMDA places cannot be transferred.
- Full payment is required upfront for the upcoming term unless a payment plan is arranged in advance. If payment is not received for all sessions in the upcoming term the student will not be permitted to attend sessions.
Withdrawing from Coaching
- If you wish to withdraw your child from Vibe Arts LAMDA coaching for the following term, you must complete our online Notice Form at www.vibearts.co.uk/give-notice.
- Notice must be submitted before the end of the current term to avoid being charged for the next term. Notice will not be accepted during school holidays or in the days immediately before term resumes.
- If a student is withdrawn mid-term, or does not return without submitting notice, the full term's fee remains payable.
Syllabus and Coaches
- Vibe Arts primarily delivers the LAMDA Introductory and Acting syllabi from the earliest grades through to Grade 8 (Gold Medal). In some schools we may also offer additional syllabi, such as Speaking in Public, Speaking Verse and Prose, or Musical Theatre, depending on coach availability, scheduling, and the needs of the school. The syllabi offered vary from school to school, and families will be told what is available at their school when they register.
- Vibe Arts reserves the right to assign LAMDA coaches to students and to change coaches at any time.
- All our LAMDA coaches are experienced Acting coaches and Enhanced DBS checked.
Lesson Notes, Resources and Practice
- Parents/guardians and students should check TutorBird regularly to stay up to date. It is the parent/guardian's responsibility to make sure their child engages with the lesson notes, resources and set tasks.
- Parents/guardians agree to support their student to learn their LAMDA pieces and practise at home, and to continue progress with the Vibe Arts LAMDA knowledge resource sheets.
- Please send your student to each session with printed out pieces (linked in the lesson notes we email after each session), printed resource sheets, and a notepad and pen.
- Sharing or making any of our resources or LAMDA pieces available to others is strictly prohibited.
Online Lessons
Some LAMDA coaching happens online, one to one, on Google Meet.
How lessons work
- Lessons are held on Google Meet, using a link we send to the parent or guardian, not to the student directly. Please do not share the link with anyone else.
- All LAMDA lessons are arranged through the Vibe Arts office, by email at mail@vibearts.co.uk, on WhatsApp or by phone on 0208 058 18 58. Coaches never arrange lessons directly with families.
- We do not record lessons. Please do not record, screenshot or photograph a lesson either, because other people may be in the shot.
What we ask of families
- Please have a parent or guardian at home and within earshot for the whole lesson. We would rather they were not in the room, so the student can focus.
- Please use a shared space, such as a living room, rather than a bedroom, and make sure the student is dressed ready for class, with their camera on.
What our coaches do
- Coaches teach from a suitable, private space, and keep to our professional code of conduct.
- Coaches never message students privately, ask for photos, share their own personal contact details, or connect with students on social media. All messages go to the parent or guardian.
If something goes wrong
- If you are struggling to join, or will be late, please phone us straight away on 0208 058 18 58.
- Your coach will wait for 10 minutes. If your child has not joined by then, the coach will leave the lesson, it will not be restarted, and it will still be charged.
- If the connection drops during a lesson, the coach will try the link again for a few minutes and message the parent or guardian. We will rearrange the lesson if it cannot go ahead.
- If anything in a lesson makes you uncomfortable, please stop the lesson and tell us.
Cancelled and Banked Sessions
- If Vibe Arts has to cancel a session, including for reasons beyond our control such as extreme weather, pandemics, local authority closures or government restrictions, we will make every reasonable effort to reschedule it or offer an alternative, for example an online session. If that is not possible, we will provide a credit for future LAMDA payments. Vibe Arts reserves the right to cancel or amend LAMDA sessions in these circumstances without liability.
- Sometimes a LAMDA session in a school cannot go ahead because of a school event that is fixed on that day and beyond the student's control, such as a school trip, an exam in school or a school event. Where this happens we will do our best to "bank" the session, which means making it up at another time.
- Parents/guardians must tell us as early as possible about any school trip or other fixed school event that will clash with a LAMDA session, so that we can bank and reschedule it.
- Banking is only for school events. Sessions missed for anything outside school, such as holidays, other absences or illness, are not banked and are not made up.
- Banked sessions may be made up as double sessions. This is arranged by us, and families are not able to choose otherwise.
- If a coach is unwell or unavailable, the session may be covered by another Vibe Arts coach (a cover coach), who is also experienced and Enhanced DBS checked. Cover coaches have access to previous lesson notes and a handover from the usual coach, so that lessons run as smoothly as possible.
Behaviour, Health and Contact Details
- During LAMDA sessions, students are expected to follow instructions, behave appropriately, and refrain from being disruptive.
- Parents/guardians must disclose any medical conditions or allergies to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their child.
- Parents/guardians are responsible for informing Vibe Arts of any changes to their contact details.
Exam Readiness
- Entering a student for a LAMDA exam is always a decision for the LAMDA coach and Vibe Arts. It is not something that can be requested, and students are not automatically entered for an exam each term. A student takes an exam when their coach judges them to be ready, which may take longer for some students than for others.
- The coach decides which grade a student works towards, and when. Our coaches are guided by LAMDA’s recommended Guided Learning Hours and qualification time for each grade, together with the student’s progress, confidence and skills.
- Vibe Arts does not rush students. Parents/guardians and students cannot require a student to skip a grade, to take an exam by a particular date, or to take an exam before the coach considers them ready, and we will not enter a student in response to pressure, a requested date or a deadline. We reserve the right to decline to enter a student for an exam where we do not consider them ready.
- We are always happy to talk about a student’s progress. Please speak to their coach or email mail@vibearts.co.uk. Decisions about readiness remain with Vibe Arts.
Booking an Exam
- When the coach decides a student is ready, we will email the parent/guardian a link to the Vibe Arts LAMDA Booking Request form, suggesting the earliest possible date on which the student could take the exam.
- To request a booking, parents/guardians complete the online booking request form, confirming their choice of date. Please choose the date with care, taking into account any other student or family commitments, because dates cannot be changed once they are confirmed (see Exam changes, cancellations and credits).
- The current LAMDA exam fees (plus the Vibe Arts booking administration fee) are listed on our LAMDA page.
- Full payment of the exam fee (including the booking administration fee) is required to complete and submit the booking request form. Payment plans are not available for exam fees, and all exam bookings are final.
- On receipt of the completed form and full payment, Vibe Arts will contact LAMDA to schedule the exam based on the information provided.
- Exams may take place on either a Saturday or a Sunday between 9:30am and 5:30pm, and exam times are confirmed by LAMDA two weeks before the exam.
- Parents/guardians or a designated adult must chaperone students to and from the exam on exam day. Most students take their exams at LAMDA, Barons Court, London, unless another more local public centre has been advertised on registration.
Exam Changes, Cancellations and Credits
Exam bookings are final
- All LAMDA exam bookings are final, so exam fees cannot be refunded or transferred to someone else.
- LAMDA sets a booking deadline for each exam date, usually around six weeks before the exam. If the deadline has not passed and there is a genuine clash, please contact us and we can ask LAMDA whether the date can be changed. That is LAMDA’s decision, not ours, and we can never get the exam fee back.
- Once the deadline has passed, the date is locked in. LAMDA does not allow dates to be changed once they are confirmed.
What if my child cannot make the exam?
- Please tell us as soon as you can, and always before the exam if you possibly can. Email mail@vibearts.co.uk, or tell your child’s coach, who will pass it on to us. LAMDA asks to be told before the exam, so if we only hear after it, LAMDA may decline to give a credit.
- Credit notes are not available just because a student does not feel like taking the exam, or has other plans. LAMDA only considers one for a serious reason that was outside your control, such as illness, injury or bereavement.
- To ask for a credit note we need your child’s name, the exam and its date, what happened, and when it happened. You do not need to give medical details or send any evidence: share only what you are comfortable with.
- LAMDA only accepts credit note requests from us, not from families, so we make the request for you. We must make it within 10 working days of the exam date. After that, LAMDA will not consider it.
- After you tell us, we will send you a short private page where you can say what happened and choose whether we pass the reason on to LAMDA.
What a credit note is
- Whether to give a credit is always LAMDA’s final decision, and nothing to do with Vibe Arts: it is entirely up to them. In general, they may give 50% of the exam fee for illness, injury or bereavement, 100% where the illness is contagious, and other situations are looked at one by one. We cannot promise any outcome.
- A credit note is credit for LAMDA exam fees only. It is not money back, and it cannot be paid out in cash. LAMDA issues it to us, normally within 10 working days after the exam, and it is valid for one year.
- You use it towards a future LAMDA exam entered through Vibe Arts. When you are ready to rebook, we send you a new booking link with the credit already taken off. If the credit covers the whole fee, you pay nothing. If there is a balance, you pay the balance. If LAMDA decides not to give a credit, you can still book again at the normal price.
- Our booking administration fee is waived when the credit is for illness or bereavement.
If your child sat the exam but was not well
Please tell us. LAMDA has a separate process, called special considerations, for students who took the exam while affected by something. It may ask for evidence, and we will guide you through it.
If LAMDA changes or cancels an exam
If LAMDA moves or cancels an exam date, or an exam cannot go ahead for a reason outside your control, we will rebook it for the next available date. If that is not possible, we will work with LAMDA to arrange a credit.
Photos and Exam Result Announcements
If parents/guardians agree to photography upon sign-up, Vibe Arts may share a photo or video announcement of their student's exam result on social media platforms, using their first name only. They may also be included in social media around delivery of LAMDA at Vibe Arts. This is governed by our Photography & Video Policy.
Matthew Rowland · Principal, Vibe Arts
Alex Turney · Principal, Vibe Arts