COVID-19 Update

Message from Victoria Jacono-Gilmovich

Dear families,

We’re always mindful of health and hygiene at the studio, but given the global health situation, I wanted to communicate the extra measures we’re taking to keep the Inner West Institute of Music a healthy and hygienic learning environment. Creating and maintaining a safe studio space is an important part of our students’ experience.

What we’re doing:

  • Reminding students to wash or sanitise their hands (there are sinks and soap in both our Five Dock and Balmain studios)
  • Reminding students to bring their own equipment and instruments to the lessons
  • Enhancing the cleaning procedures that are already in place (eg extra sanitising of instruments)
  • Asking that any student feeling unwell in any way please stay at home to limit the spread of infection. This includes symptoms of any illnesses.
  • Asking teachers to limit any tactile demonstrations to the absolute minimum.
  • At this stage, all lessons are still going ahead. In the event of school closures , we will continue to deliver the individual lessons as these are in a different learning environment to that of a classroom. For those of you with in-house lessons, please liaise with your teachers about whether you are ok with them coming into your house.

IWIM supports our teachers and will be advising them that if they feel the need to withdraw from lessons due to their own health concerns or feel the need to turn away a student who is visibly unwell, we ask that you understand that they are not only protecting themselves and their families, but also their full roster of students. We appreciate this is an anxious time for some families. If you are unable to attend lessons please be mindful of giving adequate notice. Our terms and conditions can be reviewed here.

If the situation becomes more extreme, we will look into the option of offering lessons via Skype for those teachers that are able to do so and families can use this method to continue lessons. If this is the case, I suggest that lessons continue at the same times and days to maintain consistency. We will ask that where possible the lessons don’t take place in a bedroom and are loosely supervised. There is also a wealth of resources online and we will give links to these if we need to go to an online system exclusively for a period of time.

Some of our events as advertised on facebook and the website will now be cancelled or postponed. This already applies to the Term 1 Soiree – Royal Freemasons’ Benevolent Institution, Open Day, 1st grade Music Theory Intensive Camp and the Workshop with Barry Green. Please keep an eye out to be informed of changes as they happen. The date of the half-year concert hasn’t been advertised as yet and we will await further information before making any decisions.

For the Early Childhood Music/ Bluebell Music / Italian Music Classes – All classes are still on in Five Dock studios as usual. If and when the Department of Health advises school closures in our areas classes will stop for the advised time. In this case the classes will go online.

You will be able to experience Bluebell Classes in the comfort of your own home. More information will be sent out to enrolled students later this week on how to access the online classes via Bluebell Music’s director, Julie Sekers.

Thank you for your attention to these matters, and please reach out if you have any questions or suggestions.

Inner West Institute of Music is dedicated to giving priority to the health and safety of our students, their families, teachers and the wider community.

Yours sincerely,

Victoria

 

Note from Julie Sekers – Bluebell Music / Early Childhood Music / Italian Music Classes

All classes are still on in Five Dock as usual.

If and when the Department of Health advises school closures in our areas we will of course close down for the advised time. In this case we will go online!

You will be able to experience Bluebell Classes in the comfort of your own home. More information will be sent out to enrolled students later this week on how to access the online classes.

For now it is business as usual. Let’s all work to keep each other safe.