“It was amazing to have the opportunity to have a go, I can’t believe what I did. I was so nervous but you created a friendly environment which felt safe. I never imagined I would have gone upside down.”
Our priority is ensuring our students feel comfortable and safe. We support students through each and every move, ensuring they feel confident when attempting something new. There is always a crash mat under our silks, and we work carefully and attentively at the level of our students’ ability.
Keeping our bodies fit and well is very important at Cirque de Silk. At the beginning and end of every class, we carry out an intense warm-up and cool-down to minimise the risk of injury. Our instructors always check for existing injuries, and provide appropriate exercises for each individual. Please note if you arrive later than 10 minutes to class you will not be able to participate, all students must be able to warm up before getting in the air.
We check our equipment on a six-weekly basis. This involves a thorough examination of our aerial silks, aerial hoops, and the rigging equipment. Our beams were designed by structural engineers at John Beveridge and fabricated and made by Castle Welding ltd. We have had the beams load tested by High Performance Rigging, and we have our rigging equipment inspected by a LOLER inspector every 6 months.
Documentation of load testing is available upon request.
We take the responsibility of keeping our students safe in our studio very seriously. This does not just mean with rigging and spotting but also including safeguarding our students. All of our teachers are DBS checked and lead teachers have had relevant safeguarding training. We have a DSL present at the school who deal with any safeguarding concerns or issues. Please see our safeguarding policy in our ‘legal documents’ here.