CONTRACT FOR THE PROVISION OF EDUCATION
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Terms & Conditions
1.1 The Terms and Conditions set out below (“Terms”) apply to the provision of online academic and educational services or any related products and services (“Services”) which we, Ducks Ed(“School”, “we”, “us”), agree to provide to you (“you”), the person completing the application form as parent, carer or guardian of the child who will take up the place at the School (“the Pupil”)
1.2. The provision of the Services to the Pupil will be subject to these Terms, along with the Schedule our privacy notice which can be found at Privacy Notice and our School Policies (defined below) and these together will constitute the entire Agreement between us and you will be taken as having accepted them when you complete the application form and provide payment to us.
1.3. If you do not agree to these Terms then you should not continue with your purchase of our Services.
2. Provision of Services
2.1.We agree to provide the Services, via Google Accounts, purchased by the School. The Services will be delivered in the form of specific subject classes covering the curriculum which may lead to causal tests, along with classes in some subjects which do not lead to a qualification (“Classes).
2.2. The Services do not include any formal examination process. Where a Pupil wishes to undertake examination or formal assessment this will need to be arranged through a separate, third party examination centre.
2.3. The Services will consist of live online lessons and the provision of other online materials and interactive content accessed via the pupil’s account.
2.4. The Services will be of satisfactory quality and fit for the purpose of providing online academic education for children attending Classes in years 1 (except Year 1 English) through to 6 and when we deliver the Services we shall do so using reasonable care and skill consistent with best practice and standards applicable to educational services.
2.5. Where Classes lead to an examination/ tests, we make no warranty or guarantee that a Pupil will achieve his or her desired examination results or that any examination/ test results achieved will be sufficient to gain entry to other educational establishments. You and the Pupil are responsible for researching which courses and qualifications are most appropriate to achieve the Pupil’s personal goals. All results will be dependent on the individual Pupil’s efforts, abilities, motivation, dedication and application in relation to their attendance at Classes and completion of work.
2.6. We do not provide any formal examinations or assessments. Pupils may take part in quizzes or casual tests to inform their learning.
2.7. You will be required to have access to the equipment (internet connection and a smart device) and resources (stationary and a workbook) in order to access the Services and we shall not be responsible for any delay or restriction of your access to the Services.
3. Term and Fees
3.1. The Agreement between us will begin when we provide you with our welcome email and portal log-in details (“Start Date”) and will continue until it is terminated in accordance with these Terms.
3.2. Access to the Services will be provided for a 4-week period on a rolling contract.
3.3 All classes will run in accordance with UK GMT/BST time and the teaching times and dates will remain the same, see Yearly Timetable
3.4. The Yearly Timetable will indicate what lessons might be swapped due to Public Holidays.
3.5. Our academic year runs all year. See Yearly Timetable
3.6. Your access to the Services will renew and will continue on a rolling basis until cancelled in accordance with these Terms.
3.7. Payment for the Services (“the Fees”) is charged in advance before the start of any learning. Any cancellations will take into consideration that whole monthly payment if it is not cancelled before any learning material is accessed.
3.8. All Fees will remain fixed for the duration of the academic year unless circumstances outside of our control mean that we need to increase the Fee. Where such a situation occurs, we will provide you with at least 30 days’ notice of any Fee increase and the reasons for the increase. If you choose not to accept the increase you are free to provide notice to terminate this Agreement by emailing info@ducksed.com and termination will take effect on the day that the Fee increase is due to take place. Any prepaid Fees in respect of Services which are scheduled to be delivered after the date of the Fee increase, will be refunded.
3.9. In the event you require us to liaise with or contact any third parties concerning a Pupil, then this will be outside of the scope of the Services and will incur a separate, additional charge.
4. Payment
4.1.Fees are payable in full, per month, in advance before the service commencement.
4.2. In the event of a payment failure, we may make a charge of £30 per payment to cover our administration costs.
4.3. Where payment of the Fee is overdue then we shall be entitled to suspend the Pupil’s access to the Services until payment has been made in respect of the outstanding amount and to seek recovery of interest, calculated on a daily basis as from the date payment is due until full payment (including accrued interest) is received at a rate of 5% over the Bank of England’s base rate from time to time. If non-payment continues for a period of 14 days, we may exclude the Pupil permanently and terminate this Agreement by giving you written notice.
5. Cooling off period
5.1. You will be entitled to a 14-day cooling off period during which time you can cancel this agreement and receive a full refund of the Fee paid by emailing us at info@ducksed.com.
5.2. Your 14-day cooling off period begins from the date of your welcome email.
5.3. You accept that you will waive your right to cancel and receive a refund during the cooling off period where you or the Pupil choose to log-in to their account before the 14-day cooling off period has expired.
5.4. You waive your right to a cooling off period after you access ready-made virtual videos on the portal.
6. Selecting and changing classes
6.1. Classes can be selected at the time of enrolment by completing the application form, or by any other method as we agree in writing between us. We will advise if the preferred choice of Classes can be accommodated within timetable constraints.
6.2. Pupils may change their choice of Classes twice each year. Despite any changes, Fees for all chosen Classes will be payable.
6.3. We appreciate that Pupils may wish to make changes to their Class timetable to fit in with their personal circumstances and we will do our best to try and accommodate any such requests, but any decision to accommodate a change is at our complete discretion. Pupils may make no more than two requests to change their Class choice and/or timetable per academic year after which an administration fee of £30 will apply.
6.4. We reserve the right to amend Class timetables where this is necessary for operational reasons. Where we need to do so we will provide you with at least 30 days’ notice of any proposed changes. Where we have provided at least 30 days’ notice and the Pupil is unable to continue with his or her chosen Classes following our changes to Class timetables then you will be entitled to end this Agreement and receive a refund of any prepaid fees for that half term period, if applicable.
6.5. In some cases, we may need to amend Class timetables for unexpected reasons outside of our reasonable control. Such situations may include an unexpected issue with teacher availability or the accessibility or availability of the systems used to deliver the Services. Where such a situation arises, we will use our reasonable endeavours to reschedule the class or offer a replacement date or time. In the event we are unable to offer a replacement date or time then you will be entitled to a credit of that class against future payment of Fees. No refunds or credits will be made where the Pupil is unable or unwilling to attend the rescheduled class.
7. Termination
7.1. If you choose to terminate this Agreement you must provide us with notice in writing to be received by us as follows:
7.1.1. For rolling monthly payments, 1 month’s notice to be provided (by way of example, for termination to take effect on 20th November, notice must be provided on or before 20th October).
7.2. If you choose to withdraw the Pupil part way through your monthly contract, you will need to give us 1 month’s notice but will not be refunded.
7.3. Any notice of termination must be provided to us via email at info@ducksed.com.
7.4. Either one of us may terminate this Agreement by giving written notice to the other, if the other party (including the Pupil) fails to comply with any of these Terms (including any School Policies) and this has not been corrected within 14 days of being asked in writing to do so.
7.5. In some cases, it will not be possible to correct a failure to comply and in those cases the Agreement will be terminated immediately on written notice.
7.6. We may terminate this agreement where we are unable to continue providing the Services for any reason. In such circumstances we will provide you with notice in writing and provide you with a refund of any Fee in respect of Services paid for that will not be received.
7.7. We will be entitled to limit or suspend a Pupil’s access to the Services where we reasonably determine that you or the Pupil is in breach of a School Policy or is acting or behaving dishonestly, inappropriately, fraudulently, or in a way which is abusive or intended to cause offence to us or any other pupil accessing the Services.
7.8. Where we limit or suspend access to the Services as set out above, then following such action we shall arrange a meeting with you and/or the Pupil to discuss the matter and to determine whether access will be removed permanently. Where we decide to withdraw access permanently then our arrangement will terminate. Any decision to provide you with a refund will be entirely at our discretion and will be based upon the circumstances and the proportion of Service already delivered to you.
7.9. If we terminate this Agreement because you or the Pupil have failed to comply with any provision of these Terms and/or any School Policies then all Fees will become due immediately.
7.8. If you terminate this Agreement because we have failed to comply with any provision of these Terms and/or any School Policy then we will immediately refund any prepaid fees to you.
8. School Policies
8.1. To make sure that all pupils fully benefit from the Services and to ensure the safety of all pupils accessing and using our Services, you and the Pupil must comply with the Expectations and other policies as introduced or amended from time to time.
9. Liability
9.1. Nothing in these Terms shall limit or exclude our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or for any fraudulent misrepresentation.
9.2. We shall not be liable (whether caused by us, our agents, employees or otherwise) to you for: any indirect, consequential or special damages, losses or costs or any failure to deliver the Services where we are prevented due to a reason beyond our reasonable control or which arise from your choice of Services or Classes or your use of the Services once delivered.
9.3. We warrant that the Services are of satisfactory quality and reasonably fit for the purposes in which they are intended to be used. Save for the warranty set out above, all warranties and representations are excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.
9.4. You accept and acknowledge that you will remain responsible for the Pupil at all times. Pupils should be supervised during use of the Services. Where any of the Services include interactive or practical exercises, activities or experiments then you will be responsible for ensuring that the Pupil is safe and able to engage in the activity or experiments.
9.5. Our entire liability to you shall be limited to the amount of the Fee paid by you in the 1 month prior to the time any loss is sustained.
9.6. Nothing in these Terms seeks to excuse or limit your legal rights as a consumer.
10. Data Protection
10.1. The School will process all data which might identify you or the Pupil (“personal data”) in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR and any legislation which replaces or amends it. Full details of this are set out in our Privacy Policy. If you have any questions about how we handle your data or wish to make any changes to the personal data held please email us at info@ducksed.com.
11. Confidentiality
11.1. Any information that you share with us will be kept confidential, except where we are required to disclose by order of a court of competent jurisdiction or a governmental, supervisory or regulatory body or where we have any concerns as to your safety or the safety or a safeguarding concern of a Pupil. Please note, we do not view a family’s choice to home educate in itself a safeguarding concern.
11.2. Where we provide you with log-in details to access your account you agree not to disclose or share such log-in details with any other person and to inform us immediately should you suspect or discover that a third party has obtained your log-in detail.
12. Intellectual Property to Services
12.1. As part of the Services access may be provided to materials, tools, videos, resources, documents, workbooks, PDF’s, information, templates, images, data and other content (“Content”).
12.2. You accept that we are the owner or licensee of all Intellectual Property Rights and any other rights existing in the Content and that the Content can only be used by you or the Pupil personally, in connection with the Services and no Content should be shared, copied, disclosed, reproduced, published or made available to a third party, whether or not for commercial reasons without our express consent.
12.3. Nothing in these Terms operates to transfer ownership of any Intellectual Property Rights in any Content to you or the Pupil and you may not use any of our Intellectual Property Rights including but not limited to our trade marks, business names, domain names and any logos without our prior written consent.
13. Head Teacher Consent
13.1. By proceeding with enrolment or purchase, you provide the Head Teacher of the School, or their nominated deputy, with your consent and authorisation to take such action as the Head Teacher may reasonably consider as being in the best interests and safety of the Pupil on a day-to-day basis.
14. Force majeure
14.1. We will make every effort to deliver the Services as agreed, but sometimes things may happen which are outside of our control (“Events”) and which will affect our ability to effectively deliver the access to our Website or deliver the Services. Examples of Events can include, but are not limited to, acts of god, extreme adverse weather conditions, epidemics, pandemics, industrial action, lock down, war or threat or preparation for war, terrorist attack, interruption to or loss of internet services or other third-party services and unexpected teacher unavailability.
14.2. If such an Event occurs then we will do our best to provide recordings of or reschedule any cancelled Classes or to provide a reasonable alternative. If the School is unable to reschedule or replace Classes as described we will refund you proportionally for any missed Classes.
15. Jurisdiction
15.1. These Terms and any dispute or claim arising out of them (including non-contractual disputes of claims) shall be governed by the laws of England and Wales and the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim
16. Severance clause
16.1. In the event any provision of these Terms is deemed to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason then that provision shall be struck out and the remaining provisions shall remain valid and enforceable.
17. Transfer
17.1. The School may transfer its rights and responsibilities under this Agreement to a third party if the third party will be able to continue to provide the Services and the Website to the same standards as the School.
17.2. The School will notify you of any transfer in advance unless it is prevented from doing so legally and if there is any significant deterioration in the quality of the Services following the transfer to a third party you will be entitled to end this Agreement and receive a refund of any prepaid fees.
17.3. You may not transfer your rights and responsibilities under this Agreement to anyone else. This includes allowing anyone other than the named pupil to use the password and username to access the Learning.
18. Changes to the Agreement
18.1. We may update this Agreement (including the Policies) during the term of this Agreement. Where we do make any changes, we will notify you in writing and provide you with updated versions of these Terms or the Policies at least 30 days before they are due to come into force.
18.2. If you reasonably believe that the proposed changes will have a negative impact on you or the Pupil you are entitled to terminate this Agreement in accordance with the provisions above.
19. Complaints
19.1. It is important to us that you are entirely happy with the Services. Should you have any complaints or concerns please let us know by email to info@ducksed.com, with the subject heading “complaints” and allow us a reasonable amount of time to investigate and resolve your concerns. All complaints received will be dealt with in accordance with our complaints policy.
Additional Terms
1. Use of online meeting facility to access Services online
1.1. The Services are provided for access online only and no alternative will be provided.
1.2. Classes will be delivered using Google Meet or other similar online meeting facility. Pupils will require access to audio and camera facilities.
1.3. When delivering the Services using Google Meet or other similar online meeting facility, we shall use an account set up by Ducks Ed and we will be responsible for any necessary fees that are payable to maintain access. You or the Pupil will not be required to pay any fee to access the meeting resource.
1.4. Classes will last for 30 minutes. This could include teacher input and independent activities. Independent activities might require the student’s independent completion after the 30 minute lesson has ended.
2. Use of technology and resources
2.1. In order to access the Services, you must ensure that you and the Pupil have the appropriate resources in place. We will confirm to you in your welcome email and portal which resources are required.
2.2. It will be your responsibility to ensure that you and the Pupil have access to and are familiar with all relevant and necessary technology required to access the Services including, but not limited to:
1. A relevant functioning electronic device which is adequately charged.
2. An up-to-date version of the Google Classroom software, installed and working correctly.
3. Reliable, stable internet access with adequate speed, we recommend at least 5mb upload and 10mb download.
4. A quiet and safe location to access the Services free from distractions.
5. Exercise books, paper, pens and pencils and any textbooks, resources or materials as we may advise.
2.3. We are unable to assist you or the Pupil with any assistance relating to the operation of any technology used to deliver the Services and you will be responsible for seeking this support from relevant third parties.
2.4. We will not accept any liability for any failure or delays caused to you or a Pupil in accessing any technology or for any problems or delays you or the Pupil may experience accessing or using any technology and you will remain responsible for our fees where we have provided access to the Services but you have been unable to access them for whatever reason save where the reason was due to a fault or error caused by us.
3. Account setup needed
3.1. In order to access the Services, you will be required to set up and maintain an account with us. Accounts can only be created by individuals aged18 years of age or over.
3.2. It is your responsibility to keep your account details safe and secure and to notify us if you think your details have been compromised.
3.3. You agree not to share your account details or access with anyone except the Pupil. We will not be liable for any unauthorised use of your account.
3.4. You agree to ensure that the Pupil maintains the confidentiality of your account and all account information and for all activities that occur under your account. Account. You agree to notify us immediately if you become aware of or suspect any unauthorised access to your account or account details.
3.5. It will remain your responsibility to ensure that all information we hold about you and the Pupil is kept up to date, including any contact email addresses and you agree to notify us if any information we hold about you changes.
4. Privacy and security during delivery of the Services
4.1. Where any Services accessed by the Pupil are two-way livestream audio and/or video technology it will be made simultaneously available to the Pupil on that occasion only, unless we specify that it will also be simultaneously available for access by other Pupils.
4.2. When accessing any Classes via Google which are also accessible to others the Pupil agrees:
1. To only provide their first name when signing in.
2. To ensure that their space is free from distractions, including other people.
3. To not share private information verbally or via chat, including email addresses, gaming ID’s and social media handles
4. Not to share their video during live-stream to Safeguard themselves and others. The recordings will be uploaded onto the Drive for catchup for some weeks.
4.3. We will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from any failure by you or the Pupil in complying with the above requirements.
5. Health and Safety
5.1. You understand and agree that you will remain responsible for the Pupil’s health, safety and welfare at all times.
5.2. Pupils should be supervised during use of the Services.
5.3. Where any of the Services include interactive or practical exercises, activities or experiments then you will be responsible for ensuring that the Pupil is safe and able to engage in the activity or experiment.
6. Teacher suitability
6.1. All staff are subject to full DBS Checks
6.2. We will use our discretion when assigning teachers to Classes and we make no guarantees as to the use or engagement of any particular teacher.
6.3. We shall ensure that all teachers are suitably competent and qualified to deliver the Class and the relevant subject matter at the appropriate level.
7. Reporting
7.1. We make no warranty or representation that any particular result will be achieved (including passing any examination, where applicable) as a result of the Pupil accessing the Services and any Classes.
7.2. We do not provide specific progress reports but encourage regular communication by making use of the parent/teacher meetings, which can be requested twice a year. In the event you have any concerns then we encourage you to contact us by emailing info@ducksed.com
7.3. We reserve the right to charge for any services requested outside our normal offering.
8. Attending Lessons
8.1. We recommend that Pupils engage with their lessons in a quiet place, free from distractions with access to reliable and suitable internet.
8.2. Pupils must mute themselves during lessons when requested to do so by the Teacher.
8.3. We encourage punctuality and request that all Pupils attend their lessons in good time and be appropriately dressed. Where a Pupil attempts to access a class more than 5 minutes following the scheduled start time then access might be denied and they will forfeit their right to attend that class.
8.4. Where a Pupil is unable to attend a lesson then they will be expected to catch up by using the provided recording available within the online portal if they are attending a weekly interactive class.
8.5. Along with attending lessons Pupils will be expected to undertake some homework tasks and you will be expected to monitor this.
Reviewed December 2024