Ideally, the College would like to make no charge to parents or students for any activity, inside or outside the College, which is relevant to education provision. 

The limits on the College's budget, however, will force us to make charges for certain activities and this policy outlines those areas.

The Charging Policy will operate on a boundary between activities funded by the College and activities funded wholly or partly by students or parents.  In order to reflect our changing circumstances, that boundary will be a shifting one, giving us the flexibility to charge only as prudent administration of our revenue funds will allow.

Whenever charges are made, there are students whose family circumstances may exempt them from payment.  The College will consider remission of payment for all or part of the charges providing that the parents or guardians of the students have a DSS grant as the only form of income.  Individual applications must be made for each individual event for which remission of all or a part of the charges is required.

When seeking voluntary contributions from parents or students for a particular activity, the College will always indicate whether the activity will be prevented from going ahead in the absence of sufficient funds.

Charges may be made for the following:

• Peripatetic and instrumental tuition
• Visits outside the College (Theatre, Concert, Other)
• Residential visits\journeys\exchanges etc, whether they fall in or out of College time
• Travelling costs incurred for Work Experience
• Completed work projects which students indicate they would like to take home (eg art projects, food projects, models, etc)
• Electronic consumables over and above a student’s allocated entitlement by the College – for assembling work for his\her Progress File during his\her career at the College
• Examination entry fees for examinations prepared for at College, where students fail to attend the exam
• Examination fees for non-prescribed examinations or those not recommended by the College for an individual student
• Fees for Awards (e.g. Grade Four Flute etc)
• Professional or “extra” contributions to enhance the students’ experience (outside formal teaching time) for which we would need to ask for voluntary contributions
• Curriculum-related visits outside the College students’ formal teaching timetable (e.g. Theatre\Research\projects etc) including enrichment activities
• Costs incurred for any items broken, damaged or defaced, where it is felt that this is as a result of a student’s conduct or carelessness (to include accidental damage, if appropriate).