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Attendance

You are expected to attend all classes and rehearsals. Poor attendance and/or poor timekeeping will have a detrimental impact on your learning and the learning of other students. It can also lead to disciplinary action in line with the Conservatoire's Rules and Regulations.

Illness​

Unforeseen absence due to illness should be logged on Asimut no later than 9:30am. You must not declare illness unless you are actually ill.

If you are involved in a large ensemble activity that day then you should:

  • declare illness on Asimut and
  • contact Artistic Planning by email (artisticplanning@rcs.ac.uk) or telephone (0141 270 8240) and
  • inform your Head of Department

If you are absent from classes due to illness for five consecutive weekdays then on your return you must submit a medical certificate to the AAS Office.

If you are absent from an assessment or unable to submit coursework on time due to illness then you should email the relevant Programme or Departmental PSA. In addition, to avoid a penalty you should submit a PMC (Personal Mitigating Circumstances) form with a medical certificate. The PMC form can be found on the landing page when you sign in to Student Outcomes.

Absence Requests​

Pre-arranged absence for attending external activities, for instance a scheduled medical appointment or external concert engagement, should be requested at least seven days in advance using the absence request form on Student Outcomes. You must use this system to request absence: it is not sufficient to speak informally to a member of staff about the request.

We strongly advise that you apply for authorised absence for all term-time external engagements, even if you have no Conservatoire activities listed in your Asimut timetable at the time of checking. Classes and rehearsals may change, and practical assessments may not be confirmed until three weeks before the exam. If your absence request has been approved, then we will not schedule any activities or assessments during that time.

It is your responsibility to list all affected classes, activities and assessments on the absence request form. Once the request is reviewed, your Head of Programme and Head of Department will make a decision on the outcome (approved, conditionally approved or rejected), which is then posted on Student Outcomes. Not all requests will be approved, especially if assessments would be affected by the absence. For this reason, you should not make any travel plans until you have received written notification that your request has been approved.

Unauthorised Absence​

Continued unauthorised absence, including unexplained illness, will have a detrimental impact on your learning and may result in investigation and disciplinary action.

In line with the Conservatoire's Rules and Regulations, students who fail to meet attendance requirements and who fail to respond positively to written warnings on the matter may lose the right to present for examination. In this case you will not be permitted to submit work or attend the examination and the outcome will be recorded as a fail.

Extension Requests​

It is expected that you will manage your time to ensure that all assessment deadlines are met. Work submitted late will not be accepted, resulting in the assessment being failed due to non-submission. You will also incur the associated financial penalty of £125 per assessment.

The following are examples of circumstances which the Conservatoire would expect you to manage:

  • minor illness or ailment (unless they resulted in you being unable to perform);
  • personal/domestic events that could have been planned for;
  • choices in personal life (eg attending weddings, holidays etc);
  • transport or travel problems (unless caused by a recorded local/national crisis or a natural disaster);
  • failure or theft of your computer or other equipment being used to produce the work to be assessed, including work not being backed-up;
  • programme demands or misunderstanding of deadlines/dates (including failure of others to submit group assignments).

If you know in advance that you will be unable to meet the submission deadline through good cause, you may apply for an extension to the deadline, using an Extension Request Form. Extensions should normally be requested a minimum of 48 hours in advance of the deadline. Extensions are usually only granted for 1 or 2 working days, exceptionally for a maximum of 7 calendar days.

Personal Mitigating Circumstances​

Where a significant and unexpected circumstance beyond your control has affected your studies and temporarily prevents you from undertaking an assessment or significantly impairs your performance in an assessment, you may submit a Personal Mitigating Circumstances Form. The following are examples of circumstances that would be considered as mitigating circumstances:

  • serious or incapacitating injury, illness or medical condition or emergency operation.
  • a significant family or personal crisis (eg bereavement or a serious illness affecting a close family member).
  • unforeseen, unpreventable events (eg being a victim of a criminal act, natural disaster, including severe weather affecting travel).

The Extension Request form and Personal Mitigating Circumstances form can be found on the Student Portal.

Timetabling of Music Ensembles​

Many of the ensemble activities within the School of Music are too complex to be captured in detail using Asimut. These are instead timetabled by Artistic Planning, including:

  • Symphony Orchestra
  • Chamber Orchestra
  • Wind Orchestra
  • Opera Orchestra
  • MusicLab
  • Contemporary Ensembles involved in the Plug Festival
  • Jazz Orchestra
  • Ballet Orchestra
  • Musical Theatre Pit Orchestras and Pit Bands
  • Conductors Ensemble
  • Repertoire Orchestra

Asimut should only be used as a guide with regards to these rehearsals. The main point of reference is the Orchestra and Ensembles folder on One Drive. The link to this will be sent to you via email and you can save this to your favourites to reference daily. If you are involved in any activity, you should carefully take down all rehearsal and performance details in your diary. It is compulsory that you attend all rehearsals. If you do not come to a rehearsal because it isn't on Asimut, but is on One Drive, that will not be accepted as an authorised absence.