Dear Parents & Students,

Wow, this term has flown by!

How lovely it has been to see so much energy and enthusiasm from our students in class and to be able to welcome so many new families to VBDance this term too. As we fast approach the end of our dancing term, here are a few things to remind you of and dates to add to your diaries…..

TERM DATE REMINDER
Term finishes on Saturday 4th December and we return to classes on Tuesday 4th January 2022.

Replacement classes however, have been arranged on Saturday 11th December for all those students who had classes cancelled at Burgess Hill Girls on Saturday 13th November and also Miss Victoria’s classes on Saturday 2nd October.

OPEN CLASSES
We are desperate to be able to invite friends and family along to watch the VBDancers at the end of this term and share with you their progress and achievements in class. However, we do have to remain cautious of the COVID situation, recommendations from our risk assessor and also mindful of the procedures our venues are following. We will send out an update later this week to confirm if Open classes will proceed at the end of this term.

SHOW 2022
It is now full steam ahead for our Spring Term Production at The Hawth Theatre, Crawley. Fingers crossed, this time we will not have to postpone and we have been working very hard behind the scenes putting plans back in place. This is an incredible opportunity for our dancers to experience being part of a production in a professional theatre. It is an exciting and fun celebration and we cannot wait to get to work choreographing for our talented dancers!

All children from Year 1 upwards will be starting rehearsals in their classes after Christmas, and if you have not done so already, please put the following dates below into your diaries and make sure your family and friends are free to come and watch the show too!

Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th March (Dress Rehearsal Weekend)
Friday 18th March (Technical rehearsal after school hours)
Saturday 19th March (Matinee and Evening Performances)

Further details will be with you next week!

PRE SCHOOL AND RECEPTION SHOW
Our younger dancers will also have the opportunity to perform in their own special showcase April/May time and we look forward to sharing more information with you soon.

INVOICES FOR SPRING TERM 2022
Keep an eye on those inboxes for your Spring term invoice. We hope to send them out by Friday 26th November at the very latest. The deadline for confirming your place is Friday 10th December before we open up the classes to those on our waiting lists which are extensive for many of our sessions.

IMPORTANT UPDATE REGARDING PAYMENTS FROM APRIL 2022
From April 2022, the only method for payment of fees for ‘main school’ classes will be on a monthly basis via ‘Go Cardless’ and the option to pay termly will no longer be available.

Paying via Go Cardless is an efficient, hassle free and convenient method allowing you to spread the termly cost of classes monthly across 4 months per term. You will always receive an invoice in advance of the new term starting as normal and this will include your schedule as well as a monthly email reminder from Go Cardless notifying you of a pending transaction. We are encouraging families currently not signed up for monthly payment of dance fees to start getting signed up from now and you can do so by visiting and completing the link here:

https://pay.gocardless.com/AL000310F5RGZ4

Once this is done, Go Cardless will notify us and you will not need to do anything else.

In the meantime, you are still welcome to continue to pay via Internet Transfer, Credit or Debit card for full termly fees this December and details are included on your invoice. However, this will be the final term where you will be able to settle fees via this method.

If you are already signed up for Go Cardless you do not need to complete the link above.

DROP (DANCE) & CHRISTMAS SHOP –
Monday 20th December 10am – 3pm
At the time of typing we only have one space for our juniors left available!
Visit the link here to snap up this last place!

CONGRATULATIONS….

…to our fabulous Tappers who danced at the Burgess Hill Christmas Event on 20th November. Wonderful dancing matchedbysome spectacular Christmas jumpers! Well done to you all and thank you Miss Sophie and Miss Charis for the lovely arrangements of choreography.

…and also to Martha, Phoebe and Alice for their wonderful performances in the English Youth Ballet’s production of ‘TheNutcracker’ at The Hawth this November. What a pleasure to watch you dance and represent VBDance so beautifully. It was really nice to hear from other VBDancers who attended the show with their parents and were inspired by watching the performance.

CHILDREN’S DANCE SCHOOL OF THE YEAR!
We are thrilled to announce, VBDance are the winners of Prestige Awards South England 2021/2022 Children’s Dance School of the Year.
Prestige Awards celebrate businesses and individuals that consistently offer excellent products and services and the judging panel base their decisions upon areas such as service excellence, quality of the product/service provided, innovative practices, value, ethical or sustainable methods of working, as well as consistency in performance. Huge congratulations to Team VB on such a wonderful achievement, especially during a very challeging couple of years. It is heart warming to see our work recognised!
Thank you to all of our incredible dance families, supporters, venues and dancing friends for your support and encouragement. It is truly appreciated!
THANK YOU
A massive ‘thank you’ to our Saturday volunteers, Summer and Ruby who have assisted Miss Laura and Miss Lucy this term. We are very grateful for your help and the children thoroughly enjoy having you join them in their classes.

PARKING AT BIRCHWOOD GROVE CP SCHOOL
Building works have now commenced at Woodlands Meed College (next door to Birchwood Grove). As such, please can we remind parents that there is to be no parking or use of the drive at Birchwood Grove CP School before 5:30pm. Thank you for your cooperation with this matter.

LAST ORDERS FOR CHRISTMAS
Anyone who would like to order that perfect Christmas pressie for their favourite VBDancer, please note that the date for last orders for Christmas is Tuesday 30th November. Orders for VB merchandise such as onesies, hoodies, bags etc can be made here https://vbdance.bigcartel.com/

CONSIDERING ADDING A CLASS?
Now is the time to get in touch with us if you would like to add classes or make any changes to your schedule for January. With show preparations and choreography beginning very soon, the start of the new term is the perfect time to try something new and exciting. Don’t forget all existing VBDancers can come along for a complimentary taster class – just get in touch asap to get booked in.

UNIFORM & HAIR
Please can we remind all students about the importance of wearing the correct uniform and having their hair tied correctly for lessons. It allows teachers to identify corrections quickly and easily. All ballet students from Primary Ballet (with the exception of after school clubs) and upwards should attend class with their hair in a neat bun please.

All our uniform information can be found on our Parents Portal  https://vbdance.com/parents/ where you will also find a really helpful YouTube video of how to tie the perfect classical bun.

KEEPING UP TO DATE
If you have not done so already, do come and join our Facebook Page. It is a great way to stay connected with our dancing community!

We hope you have enjoyed this term as much as we all have enjoyed teaching the students and hope that you can enjoy a festive break with your families this year.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and  happy and healthy New Year,

Victoria and Team VB