PARENT AGREEMENT
 

How lessons are operated

 

1. We (Tutors4Berkshire) have recruited a team of tutors, who are fully DBS checked and specialised in a number of subject areas up to A-Levels. You have the option of choosing an online or a home-based tutor. 

 

1. You are entitled to a free trial lesson with the tutor before the commencement of lessons either online or to your home, to assess whether the tutor meets your requirements. 

 

1. During this time, you will be sent a welcome pack to your email which includes a Progress Tracker & access to our ‘Homework’ section on our website where your child will have the opportunity to try out a sample of worksheets. You will also be sent a link to fill in a short registration form. 

 

1. After the trial, the Customer Care Manager (CCM) would be in touch over the phone to find out how you have found the lesson. If you would like to go ahead with the tutor, the CCM would be in touch with you to arrange a start date for lessons and to arrange a set up of payments with us through Direct Debit. 

 

1. Your chosen tutor would then carry out weekly lessons with your child, providing regular feedback and homework. 

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Payments Summary

 

Once you have completed a taster lesson with your allocated tutor, the CCM would contact you to see if  you are happy to go ahead  with lessons.  The CCM would discuss payments options and you can opt to set up a Direct Debit on GoCardless  on a weekly or monthly basis. The Direct Debit ensures payments reach us on time and automatically, in order for us to pay our tutors efficiently. GoCardless also allows us to add or cancel payments on your behalf and send you a summary of payments that have been debited, which eliminates any discrepancies. 

 

How Direct Debits work

 

When you set up a Direct Debit on GoCardless, payments recur automatically from your bank account. On GoCardless, your bank account becomes a ‘Mandate’ on our system and on the Mandate, there is an associated ‘subscription’ which details the recurring payment e.g. if the payment is a weekly or monthly recurring payment. The mandate or subscription can be cancelled by us per your request at any time at any time on GoCardless, or you may cancel this through your bank/ online banking.  If necessary, we may also need to inform you about any outstanding payments which would need to be added as ‘one-off’ payments to your mandate. 

 

Admin fees and contract

 

We do not charge any additional administration fees and there is no contract associated with our bookings, which means that the Direct Debit can be cancelled at any time from our side per your request on GoCardless or you may from your side (through your bank/ online banking).

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Starting a payment plan

 

The CCM would inform you of the payment recurring options in setting up a Direct Debit on GoCardless i.e. if you would prefer your payments to be debited weekly, fortnightly or monthly (e.g. the 1st of every month). The CCM would then ask for your bank details and set up the Direct Debit on GoCardless for you accordingly. Payments are set to recur in advance of each month of lessons. 

 

Adding payments

 

A subscription on a monthly Direct Debits accounts for payments of 4 weeks at a time. However there are some months which have 5 weeks and so the extra week would not be accounted for. If this occurs, the CCM would inform you that he/ she would need to add an extra payment for that particular week of the month. 

The CCM would also be in contact if a payment fails on subscription. In this circumstance, the CCM would inform you that a ‘one-off’ payment will be added to your mandate to cover the failed payment.

 

Outstanding lessons

 

If you wish to stop lessons indefinitely, the remaining lessons on payment would be non-refundable and you would be expected to complete those remaining lessons with your tutor.

Lesson cancellations and refunds

 

As payments on a Direct Debit are taken on a recurring basis, we monitor and ensure that every payment is accounted for. If you need to cancel lessons for any particular reason, you MUST provide BOTH the CCM and your tutor with 24 hours notice. The tutor needs to make preparations for the lesson and to organise his/ her day and time to teach your child. If notice is not given, then there is no obligation for the tutor to make up the lesson. 

However, despite this, as a gesture of goodwill and upon the discretion of the individual tutor, he/ she would inform you if they are able to make up the missed lesson if they happen to have some availability, but again, there is no obligation for them to do so. 

In any case, missed lessons CAN NOT be refunded, but only moved forward to an agreed date, which your tutor would arrange for you.

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Emergencies

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If there is an emergency, we can fully understand that providing a 24 hour notice period is unfeasible. In this case, the tutor will arrange an agreed time with you to move the lesson to a different day and time.

 

Holidays

 

If you wish to take a holiday abroad, providing you give 24 hours notice, the tutor can make up the missed lessons upon your return. However, you may choose to opt to continue the lessons online on Zoom, Skype or Microsoft Teams whilst you are away, so that you won’t need to make these up later. 

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In any case,  despite your child’s absence from lessons, payments would not be refunded as your child’s place has been reserved. In essence, this means no other child can take your child’s time-slot with his/her tutor, whilst you are away. 

 

Tutor Cancellations

 

If a tutor happens to cancel a lesson, they will arrange an agreed time to catch up the missed lesson with you. Again, refunds will not be issued but tutors will be responsible for making up the missed lesson with you. 

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Safeguarding & Child Protection 

 

When lessons are taking place, parents or carers aged 18 and above are expected to be at home with their children for Safeguarding reasons, Child Protection & by Law. If the parent is not at home and the child is, then the tutor will not be required to teach the child.

The lesson will still be charged and the tutor will have no obligation to make up the missed lesson (same principles apply; see 24 hour notice period).

 

Books, Resources & Assessments 

 

Tutors4Berkshire does not purchase/ provide books for students. However, we have a collection of worksheets on our website which your tutor may use to set your child homework. 0n our welcome email to parents, we also attach a progress tracker  relevant to your child’s curriculum/ level of study, which the tutor would use to assess your child’s progress.  

 

Changes to Terms 

 

There are occasions when we may need to make slight changes to our terms and conditions. The CCM would inform you via SMS/ WhatsApp of this if this is the case and send you the renewed terms and conditions.