We hope you are all well as can be expected and you are doing what you can to keep you and your loved ones safe. 

We thought that we would let you know about our current situation and the potential date for reopening. As you may or may not know, due to the unusual times that the country found itself in, we made the difficult decision to close The Mick Donnelly Academy of Music on March 23rd, as we felt we had a duty of care to both our students, parents and teachers. The situation with Covid-19 is unprecedented, and one that left teaching in limbo.

On July 13th the government announced further easing of restrictions on businesses in England. In these latest changes, categories of close contact services will now be free (subject to certain caveats, which we will go into later) to recommence.

With this in mind we intend to fully reopen on Monday 7th September, provided all provisions are in place and we have undertaken a detailed Covid-19 risk assessment and followed the government’s health and safety guidance. The risk assessment has to be checked by the Hartlepool Enterprise Centre, (which is owned and managed by Hartlepool Borough Council). There is a possibility that we could have an earlier soft opening date, however, this is also subject to the conditions above. These dates will be reviewed on a weekly basis. 

As soon as the risk assessment has been approved we will publish it on our website, mdamusic.com, so you have a chance to read through it. We are taking every effort to ensure that all students and teachers are in a safe environment including:-

• Managing arrival and departure at lessons / staggered
• Social distancing
• Teaching spaces / size etc.
• Cleaning of all teaching rooms after every lesson
• Transparent screens between teacher and student
• Sanitising units at all entry and exits
• Online teaching

These are just a few things that will be implemented at MDA. More details will be in our risk assessment.

Below is a link to the latest detailed document published by the UK Association for Music Education, which has been reviewed and supported by the following organisations:- Music Teachers Association, Musicians Union, Music Industries Association and the Incorporated Society of Musicians.  

https://www.musicmark.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Guidance-for-Providers.pdf

We intend to send an email out every week to keep students/parents informed of our progress.

Yours Sincerely 

Mick Donnelly