How make-up lessons work

What a membership holds

A weekly membership reserves a standing time with your teacher, the same day and time every week. That reservation is what tuition pays for. The time is held for you whether or not you use it, the same as any standing appointment, and your teacher builds their week around it. When a lesson is missed on short notice, that time simply goes unused.

Where a make-up comes from

We ask for a week’s notice because that is what lets us do something useful with the time. With a week, the desk can offer your time to another member who has a make-up to book, and your own lesson is set aside to be taught later, in a time another member has freed the same way. Members trade open times with each other, and a week’s notice is what makes the trade possible. On shorter notice the time is too close to fill, so the lesson is missed.

For years the notice was twelve hours, and openings that short almost never filled. A week changed that.

Most reserved time works the other way: a booked court or appointment you miss is simply gone. Here, the lesson comes back to you.

Why a make-up is a lesson, and only a lesson

The request we hear most often is to apply make-ups to tuition instead of booking them, usually from a family whose weeks are full. It is a fair question, so here is the plain answer.

A make-up is a lesson waiting to be taught. Tuition already did its job the month you were away: it held your time with your teacher. Taking a make-up off a later month’s tuition would refund that held time, and held time is not refunded, here or anywhere. What we do instead is give the lesson back. If there is no room for it this month, it waits. If there is never room, it expires at 90 days, and it can go to the Community Fund before then.

Why make-ups expire

Make-ups are taught in open time, and there is only so much of it in a teacher’s week. Ninety days is long enough to find a time and short enough that what is on file stays bookable. Without a window, a bank of make-ups stops being lessons anyone will take and starts being a number.

The window is the only limit. There is no cap on how many make-ups you can hold, so if you are away for a stretch and give notice, every lesson you miss is banked, and each one gets its own 90 days.

Illness, late arrivals, and emergencies

A make-up exists because notice created an opening someone else could use. On the day itself, nothing opens up: the teacher is here, the room is ready, and the time was held for you. That is why illness on the day and arrivals ten or more minutes late count as absences without a make-up. Please stay home when you are unwell; we may ask a student who arrives with symptoms to head home too.

Genuine emergencies are different. Reach the front desk as early as you can, and we will handle it case by case.

The rest of the rules, in one place

• A booked make-up works like a drop-in: it cannot be moved, and a missed make-up is not made up again.
• Make-ups are booked with your own teacher first. Another teacher can work if you are happy with that.
• A make-up belongs to the student whose lesson it was. It cannot move to a sibling, a friend, or another account.
• If your teacher cancels, you always get a make-up, and we arrange a substitute where we can.
• There are no holds or pauses. You can give notice and return when things settle, or stay enrolled and use make-ups when you are back.
• When a membership ends, make-ups on file can be used or donated within the 30-day notice period. After that they expire.
• Some arrangements made at the desk before May 2026 sat outside these terms. They ended with the May 2026 policy update, and members were notified at the time. Make-ups on file then are good through December 31, 2026. From January 1, 2027, every make-up runs on the same 90-day clock.

Questions that come up

I’m too busy to reschedule. Can my make-ups come off this month’s tuition?

No. Tuition holds your weekly time, and a make-up is a lesson, so it can only be used as one. When a week opens up, book it. If the weeks are not going to open up, you can donate the make-up to the Community Fund. And if your schedule has changed for good, the fix is a different weekly time, which the front desk is glad to look at with you.

I stopped lessons a while ago and still had make-ups on file. Can I use them now?

Make-ups belong to a membership. When a membership ends, they can be used or donated during the 30-day notice period, and after that they expire. They do not carry over to a later return. If you come back, a new membership earns make-ups the same way from the first week.

Can I give my make-ups to my other child, or to a friend?

No. A make-up is the student’s own lesson and stays with them. The one way a make-up can go to someone else is through the Community Fund, where it covers a lesson for a student who needs one.

The desk used to let me put make-ups toward tuition. Why not now?

Those arrangements sat outside the policy, and they ended with the May 2026 policy update. Members were told at the time, and any make-ups on file then are good through December 31, 2026. Since May, every make-up runs on the same 90-day clock for everyone.

Why does no one get a make-up for being sick?

Because a make-up comes from notice, and a same-day absence gives none. Your teacher’s time is already committed to you that day. The rule is the same for everyone. Stay home when you are unwell, and let the front desk know as early as you can.

Can I pause my membership over the summer, or while things are busy?

No, but there are two good ways through it. Give 30 days’ notice and come back when things settle, subject to what is open then. Or stay enrolled, give a week’s notice for the lessons you will miss, and use the make-ups when you are back. A few weeks away usually suits the second; a whole season usually suits the first.

What if no time works before the 90 days are up?

The make-up expires, and that does not change your billing. Times go faster when you book early, and weekday afternoons and weekend mornings are often open when evenings are full. With your teacher’s agreement, an online make-up is sometimes an option when getting in is the hard part.

Can I move a make-up once it’s booked?

No. A booked make-up works like a drop-in: it holds its time, and if it is missed it is not made up again.

My teacher cancelled. What happens?

You always get a make-up, and where we can, a substitute teaches the lesson so nothing is missed.

What happens to my make-ups if I cancel my membership?

You can use them or donate them to the Community Fund during the 30-day notice period. Any left after that expire.

Where do I see my balance and the booking dates?

In your member account, alongside your schedule and teacher messages. The front desk can pull it up for you any time.