Firstly, please excuse the length of the newsletter this time, but there’s a lot to get through. Please do read right through as there’s lots of important stuff covered, with year end and restart dates at the bottom of this post. As always, any questions about any of it, feel free to give me a call or email – or [email protected]
End of Year Dinner
I apologise for the late notice, but we’ve decided to have a dinner to celebrate another great year with the Illawarra Kung Fu Academy. Everyone is welcome – both kung fu and qi gong (tai chi) students. Feel free to invite along your partners, parents, etc.
The dinner is on Friday 12th December at 7pm, at the Dragon Garden Chinese Restaurant in Kiama. I MUST have RSVPs as soon as possible, please – ideally by the end of this week. Your RSVP needs to include the dinner cost of $28 per person. You can pay me in class or deposit the amount direct to the Academy bank account. If you need bank details, please ask. And be sure to include your name with your deposit! If you want to reserve your place and sort out payment later, please call me on .
Sydney School gathering on 20th December
The Sydney headquarters school is having an end of year gathering on Saturday December 20th from 12 noon until 2pm. Everyone and their families welcome, at Level 2, 15 Goulburn Street, Sydney. Drinks will be provided, but please bring a plate or snack.
New website
The Illawarra Kung Fu Academy has a new website! We hope you like it. Check www.illawarrakungfu.com.au and let us know what you think. There are still a few things to be tidied up, but if you see any broken links or anything like that, please let me know. Feel free to share the website around friends and colleagues to help spread the word about our school.
We are also making a point of being more active on our Facebook page at www./illawarrakungfu so please go and Like the page and share that too.
Fees
Sadly, costs of everything are always on the rise. We try to absorb as much as we can, but occasional increases are inevitable. Some fees have to go up, but we’re also making other changes to try to keep things as affordable as possible for everyone.
The Kung Fu 10 class pass will go up to $140 from next year. It will still last three months. However, the pass will now also be available to Qi Gong (Tai Chi) students and can be used at all classes. So if you attend both kung fu and qi gong, you can use your pass for all classes you visit.
Otherwise, from January 2015, the casual rate for Kung Fu will be $20 (concession rate will remain at $15).
Casual rates for Qi Gong (Tai Chi) will remain at $15.
The annual membership/insurance fee will remain at $75 and is payable before the end of February. I’m afraid all Qi Gong (Tai Chi) students will also have to pay this fee now due to insurance changes.
As ever, if you want to talk about payment plans for any of our fees, please call or have a chat in class. We’re always happy to accommodate as much as possible to make it as painless as possible financially for you to attend training. We’re happy to spread costs out.
Sashes for Adult Kung Fu classes
We’ve talked about this from time to time before, and now it’s coming to pass. We’re introducing the coloured sash system for the adult kung fu classes. It will follow the same pattern as already exists in the kids and juniors classes, but without the stripes breakdown used for those classes. As you know, we already have a strong syllabus in place – we’re simply assigning a sash to each of those levels, for a number of reasons. One is to stay ahead of potential legislation in the martial arts industry. Another is that a belt system is often expected and can be a great motivator. It’s also much easier for instructors to know what people are learning at a glance with sashes in place.
People will be given the sash relevant to their level at the End of Year dinner, or at the next class they attend if they can’t make the dinner. If you wish to purchase sashes for previous levels, you’re welcome to do so at $10 per sash. Subsequent sashes will be included with the cost of grading.
The sash system goes in the following order:
No sash > Yellow > Orange > Green > Blue > Purple 1 > Purple 2 > Brown 1 > Brown 2 > Black 1 > etc.
Christmas break dates
The longer break over the Xmas and New Year period is coming up. Please note the following last class and first class back dates:
Kids and Juniors Kung Fu – Last class for 2014 will be Wednesday, December 17th. First class back in 2015 will be Monday, February 2nd.
Adults Kung Fu – Last class for 2014 will be Wednesday, December 17th. First class back in 2015 will be Monday, January 19th. Friday San Da classes will start again with the first Friday in February, the 6th.
Qi Gong (Tai Chi) – Last class for 2014 will be Monday, December 22nd. First class back in 2015 will be Monday, January 19th.
As mentioned before, if you have any questions or concerns, please call or email – or [email protected]
All the best and may Halinka and I take this opportunity to with you all a very happy and healthy Christmas and New Year.
Sifu Alan