Terms and conditions

1. Introduction

This agreement stipulates the Terms and Conditions, governed by the law of England and Wales, upon which a place has been offered to your child. Once you have accepted a place for your child you are agreeing to be legally bound by these Terms and Conditions. Submission of your Enrolment Application form is acceptance of the following Terms and Conditions.

We ask that you read the Terms and Conditions carefully before submitting your Enrolment Application form to us.

2. Duration

The following Terms and Conditions will remain in force until the pupil concludes their education with Milverton Education or is either voluntarily withdrawn by parents or carers by completing a Leaving Form (please refer to Point 11, Notice Period) or excluded by way of authority granted by these Terms and Conditions. We have the right to change the Terms and Conditions throughout the academic year. Any changes will automatically take effect 28 days after being announced.

3. Authority of the Principal

Parents or carers authorise the Principal, or their nominated deputy, to take such action as they consider being in the best interest of the pupil on a day to day basis.

4. Provision of Education

Milverton Education shall endeavour to do all that is reasonable to provide a suitable educational environment for every pupil. Although we strive for excellence in the educational advancement of our pupils, Milverton Education cannot guarantee that the pupil will achieve their desired examination results or that results will be sufficient to gain entry to other educational establishments.

Whilst Milverton Education will assist with the administration of public examinations, pupils are still required to register as private candidates. Finding a suitable examination centre, the meeting of deadlines for registration and costs incurred by taking the examinations are the responsibility of the parent or carer.

5. Parents or Carers’ Responsibility

It is the parents or carers’ responsibility to inform their local authority or local government, where required, that they are electively home-educating their child.

Milverton Education aims to work in partnership with parents or carers for the educational advancement of young people enrolled in the school. In line with the Department for Education Elective Home Education Guidance for Parents****, the responsibility for educational provision for electively home educated pupils lies with the Carer.

Milverton Education expects parents or carers to use the relevant Parent Portals to monitor their child’s progress, assist their child with managing deadlines, and ensure assignments and assessments are completed and correctly submitted through Google Classroom.

Parents or carers are expected to support their child by providing necessary materials as determined by Milverton Education. To enable the school to support children and young people, parents or carers are expected to inform Milverton Education of any changes in their child’s life that may impact on their learning within the school.

Parents or carers are responsible for ensuring their child has access to an appropriate location from which to study. Milverton Education is not responsible for the home (or any other) study environment. It is the responsibility of pupils and parents or carers to ensure that any additional materials such as textbooks are purchased as required.

Parents or carers are responsible for ensuring that their child attends lessons. Parents or carers must also ensure that their child has access to the internet and the correct technology to take part in lessons. Refunds will not be given for poor internet connection or if there are issues with the device that the pupil is using.

If pupils are unable to attend a live lesson a carer must notify the school via email, and detail the reason for the absence as per procedure. If a pupil misses a live lesson, they are expected to watch the recording of that lesson at a later date. If a pupil misses a lesson because of an individual issue then they are expected to watch the lesson recording.

Parents or carers of pupils who do not attend regular, full-time school are responsible for ensuring the legality of home-schooling in their country.

6. Age Eligibility

For reasons of child protection and safeguarding, Milverton Education cannot accept newly enrolled individuals to classes if they are over 18 years of age, unless the provision is specific to adult learners. Please view our Safeguarding Policy for further information.

7. Admissions

Relocating Families 
If you are relocating to a new address, you must notify Milverton Education via email.
Enrolment application and payment 
Upon submission of an enrolment application you will be required to pay a one off enrolment fee. The enrolment fee is non-refundable even if you change your mind and decide not to proceed with enrolment after making the payment. At the point of enrolment you will be made aware of the subjects which are at full capacity and given an opportunity to join a waiting list.

An enrolment deposit will be required to secure a place ahead of your start date. The deposit will be refunded (to the bank account originally used to make the payment, unless closed, please note exchange rates will vary) within 28 days of the completion of the pupil’s courses or termination of this agreement after any outstanding fees are deducted.

Any breach of the Terms and Conditions will result in full or partial forfeit of your deposit.  Please refer to our website for the current enrolment fee and enrolment deposit costs.

Upon submission of an enrolment application your child’s enrolment will be processed in line with the next available start date (up to approximately 12 working days after submission of a complete application). You will be able to select your child’s preferred start date on the enrolment application and you will be issued a tuition invoice in-line with this start date which must be paid by the deadline indicated. Failure to make payment within the deadline set out will result in your child’s start date being delayed. Your tuition invoice will not be recalculated under these circumstances. If on successful completion of your application Milverton Education is unable to process your child’s enrolment by the pre-agreed start date, you will be enrolled into the next suitable start date and your fees will be adjusted accordingly.

If you fail to pay your child’s tuition fees within 28 days of the invoice first being issued your enrolment application will be removed from our system. In this circumstance you would receive a refund of the enrolment deposit payment but not the enrolment fee. If you wish to re-enrol at a later point you will be required to re-submit the entire application including paying the enrolment fee and enrolment deposit.

Please only submit an enrolment application if your child is ready and available to start lessons within the next month. The exception to this will be in the run up to a new academic year when we will accept enrolment applications several months prior to the start date. Early applications for the next academic year may take longer to process than the timeframe outlined above.

When submitting an application for your child, we require you to provide a copy of official identification for your child which details their date of birth. We also require proof of your current address. Please follow this link for the current government guidelines on acceptable proof of address documentation.

In order to attend Milverton Education, your child should be at least B1 level of the Common European Framework (CEFR) in English.

Returning families
If you are returning to Milverton Education you will be required to complete the entire enrolment application process including payment of the enrolment fee and enrolment deposit.

8. Timetables

There is an expectation that your child will be available to participate in lessons from Monday-Friday.

Timetabling is at the discretion of the school. Whilst we will endeavour to place your child into a timetable that meets the time preferences you have indicated, in some circumstances this may not be possible due to availability constraints. All of our live lessons are recorded and made available for pupils to view at a later point. In circumstances where the only lessons available are at unsuitable times we would recommend your child uses the lesson recordings to access the learning content.

The school timetable is designed to ensure there are no clashes within each year group. If a family chooses to enrol in multiple year groups, Milverton Education cannot guarantee that clashes will not occur.

The school timetable is subject to change.

9. Fees

Milverton Education will seek to keep fees stable but reserve the right to increase fees at any time with at least 30 days prior notice. Liability to pay fees and any other additional expenses is the responsibility of the elected payer.

No refunds will be given for minor disruptions to the provision of lessons. However, please note that you may have a right to a refund for more significant disruptions under The Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Payment Options

Fees can be paid on a termly or yearly basis. Fees are charged from the first day of the academic year to the last day of the academic year.  There are no fees payable over the summer holidays.  When starting part way through the academic year your fees will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.

All fees and other expenses payable are set out on the Milverton Education website.

Payment Option 1 : Termly Fees – Instalments

Termly instalment invoices are sent out in advance of the start of each term and are split into three instalments. If you join part way through a term your tuition for that term will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.  The date of your first payment will be determined by the intake date upon which your child is joining.  You are liable for the full terms tuition, no refunds are provided if you choose to leave part way through a term.

Payment Option 2 : Yearly Fees – Full Payment

Your yearly invoice will be sent out in advance of the start of the academic year and is due 21 days prior to the start of term one. If you join part way through the academic year your yearly tuition will be calculated on a pro-rata basis. The payment date will be determined by the intake date upon which your child is joining.  No refunds are provided if you choose to leave part way through the academic year.

School Textbooks

Textbooks are provided by Milverton Education via a digital platform. Payment for textbooks and resources is required to access Milverton Education lessons. Pupils are granted a license to their textbooks for the current academic year. Fees for textbooks are not pro rata’d for pupils joining after the start of the academic year. Refunds are not provided for textbooks when a subject is dropped.

Incompletion of Agreed Payment(s)

Fees which have not been paid in full by the pre-agreed due date stated on the invoice will result in pupil exclusion and a possible late fee being added to your invoice.  If no effort is made to contact Milverton Education and make the payment within two weeks after the invoice due date then the pupil will be removed from the school and your enrolment deposit will be retained (if your debt is lower than your enrolment deposit you will be refunded the difference within 28 days from your removal date).

Parents and Carers are liable to pay all costs, fees, disbursements and charges including legal fees and costs reasonably incurred by Milverton Education in relation to the recovery of any unpaid fees irrespective of the value of the claim.

10. Enrolment Update : in advance of each academic year

All current pupils are required to complete an Enrolment Update Form and pay a tuition deposit to secure the pupil’s place for the next academic year. The tuition deposit will be deducted from your first tuition invoice of the new academic year.  The amount of the tuition deposit will be detailed within the Enrolment Update Form.

Payment of the tuition deposit is a commitment to continue with Milverton Education in the next academic year. As such, the tuition deposit will be retained by Milverton Education if you choose not to return.

Your child’s enrolment will continue into the next academic year, until you submit a leaving form, and you will still be liable for payment of tuition fees.

11. Notice Period

Notice to leave the school must be submitted via email to the School Principal. There are three leaving dates throughout the academic year; these coincide with the last day of each of the three terms.

Your exit date will be the end of the current term, provided that you have notified us no later than 14 days before the end of the current term. If you notify us after this deadline your exit date will be the end of the following term. You will be liable for the term’s tuition up to your leaving date.

If payments have not been paid in full your enrolment deposit will be retained (if your following term’s tuition is lower than your enrolment deposit you will be refunded the difference within 28 days from your removal date).

We do not offer any refunds for lessons not attended.

Returning to the school after Leaving

If you have been with Milverton Education in the past and wish to re-enrol, you will be liable to pay the full amount of the enrolment fee and enrolment deposit again and must follow the enrolment processes as specified in Section 7 above.

Deletion of Classwork and Coursework

When leaving Milverton Education, pupil profiles are removed from our platforms and classwork and coursework will no longer be available or retrievable after the leaving date. Pupils and families should download all work they would like to retain prior to leaving Milverton Education. The school does not take responsibility for any work lost through not downloading pupil work prior to the assigned leaving date.

12. Confidentiality

We understand the importance of pupil privacy and it is entrusted that any publication, including photographs, videos and other posts by Milverton Education on our website or on social media will be in the best interests of pupils and require consent from the carer. By agreeing to our Terms and Conditions, you give consent for your child to appear in recorded lessons if they choose to use the microphone or webcam feature of the virtual classroom. These recorded lessons may be viewed by other pupils and staff within Milverton Education however they will not be shared externally. All staff are required to complete the safeguarding protocol.

Parents and carers are provided the opportunity to specify the permissions granted to Milverton Education for internal and external sharing of pupil information upon enrolment in the school. Parents and carers are required to notify the school in writing if there are changes to the approved permissions.

13. Internet Security

Milverton Education will take all reasonable steps to ensure that your child uses the facilities of the school platform for appropriate purposes, but your child will be held accountable for any misuse. Deliberate misuse will be treated as a breach of Milverton Education rules which will be investigated and may result in the expulsion of a pupil from the school.

Pupils will use YouTube and other resources from the internet as part of their lessons. The school will never direct anyone to anything that is not educational. Although Milverton Education is committed to teaching pupils about the responsible use of technology through lessons and extracurricular activities, it is the parents’ or carers’ responsibility to ensure that they have appropriate content controls and internet security software to protect their child from inappropriate online content.  While we endeavour to provide lessons which are internationally inclusive, we cannot always guarantee that pupils in non-UK countries will be able to access UK content online.

14. Usernames and Passwords

The platforms for use in Milverton Education should only be used by the enrolled pupil. Usernames and passwords for Milverton Education platforms should not be shared. Any misuse will be treated as a breach of Milverton Education rules which will be investigated and may result in the expulsion of a pupil from the school.

15. Data Protection

The school will use the information you provide to us relating to you and your child, together with other information, for administrative monitoring, accounting, planning and control of the curriculum and examinations, publication of examination results, provision of references, analysis for education and management purposes and other purposes necessary for the good management of the school and the welfare of its staff and pupils. We may disclose some or all of this information to service providers and agents for these purposes.

You agree and consent to our processing of the information you and your child provide to us for the purposes outlined above which shall include, where necessary, the processing of sensitive data relating to your child’s health, their religious denomination and ethnic or racial origin.

Milverton Education has a policy of recording all live interactions between teachers and pupils. All lesson recordings remain securely on our software provider’s servers. Lesson recordings will only be shown to pupils who are currently enrolled at Milverton Education, or Milverton Education staff.

Parents or carers give Milverton Education permission to contact any exam centres where a pupil has sat exams and request the exam results be released to Milverton Education.

16. Behaviour

The Principal has the authority to deal with all disciplinary matters arising and to delegate disciplinary powers amongst the staff as appropriate. Parents or carers and pupils accept such authority of the Principal unconditionally.

The Principal reserves the right to exclude pupils as a result of the poor behaviour of the pupil or inappropriate or abusive behaviour of the carer, which contravenes our school policies.

At Milverton Education, we strive to respect pupils and families, and to ensure they are empowered to thrive. We understand the importance of wanting to support your child at home during their live lesson time; however, this must be carefully balanced with a trust placed in teaching staff to equip your child to learn independently.

17. Academic Honesty

All work submitted by pupils must be their own. By submitting work for marking and feedback, pupils agree that the work submitted is original and that any extraneous sources used are fully cited and referenced. The school reserves the right to ‘screen’ work for similarity at any time, particularly where there may be suspicions that cheating and/or plagiarism has taken place. Pupils agree to undertake assessments with monitoring by proctoring services as deemed appropriate by the school.

Pupils and parents or carers will work in partnership to ensure that all assessments are completed in accordance with ‘exam conditions’ and no extraneous sources are used to gain advantage. Pupils who commit academic malpractice may result in a loss of marks or grades, being reported to the associated exam boards or being excluded from the school. The Principal is responsible for decisions made regarding this.

18. Cancellation of Lessons

Lessons that are cancelled due to the fault of the school (e.g. teacher connection, system break down, staff illness) will either be covered by a cover teacher or made up in the form of cover work or recorded lessons. Milverton Education does not offer refunds for cancelled lessons that are supplied with one of the provisions listed above.

Cover teachers may not be specialists in the subject they cover.

19. Changing Enrolment

Dropping subjects

If you wish to drop subjects you will need to email the School Principal to confirm. This can be actioned on a termly basis only prior to the term commencing. You must submit your request  at least 14 days prior to the end of the current term for the changes to take effect for the following term. Term dates can be found on our website.

Current subject selections and costs will remain in place until the end of the current term.

No refunds will be provided for tuition fees already paid.

When dropping a subject, it is the pupil and parent/carer’s responsibility to download any work they would like to retain for that subject. Once unenrolled from a subject, classwork will be removed from Google Classroom. Milverton Education does not take responsibility for any work lost through not downloading pupil work prior to the assigned ‘drop’ date.

One to One Tuition

One to one tuition is booked via email with the school. By placing a booking, families agree to attend any booked sessions. Refunds are not provided for sessions that are cancelled or unattended by the family. Lessons can be rescheduled up to 48 hours in advance.  If a session is rescheduled more than 3 times by the family it will be cancelled and no refund provided.

Sessions that are cancelled or unattended by the teacher will be rescheduled.

20. ‘Cooling Off’ Period

You are entitled to withdraw your acceptance of these terms and conditions and enrolment of your child within 14 days of the submission of an Enrolment Application Form. We will deduct from any refund an amount for the supply of the service for the period for which it was supplied, ending with the time when you told us you had changed your mind. Please note our enrolment fee is non refundable.