Terms & Conditions - Communicate School

Terms & Conditions

These terms and conditions apply to all students at Communicate School of English.  All students who enrol for any course at Communicate School of English must accept and fully agree with the school terms and conditions. It is students’ responsibility to ask for a translation at the reception, if they feel their English is not good enough to understand the terms and conditions below.

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General Terms and Conditions

Please read through all of the general terms and conditions carefully.

AGE

  • Minimum age for group classes is 16 years old. See the policy for students under 18 here.
  • Under 18s. Parents and guardians must send a parental consent form before the student arrives at the school. Please ask student services for this form – manchester@malvernplc.com

REGISTRATION AND FEES

  • Students’ registration and enrolment for courses, as well as extending courses, will serve as a binding agreement to follow the course to completion and to pay the full fees.
  • When making a booking you must pay a non-refundable registration fee of £80.
    Students who book their course before coming to school should make the payment by bank transfer, Flywire or by card over the phone.
  • If you want accommodation, you must pay: a non-refundable booking fee of £60 and a full accommodation fee including possible supplements.
  • Course fees do not include course books, materials, travel expenses, social events where fees are charged, or personal and health insurance.
  • A course book is £35 and you must buy it or rent it before your course. Students can borrow the book for a deposit of £35, which is refundable on the strict condition that the book is returned in exactly the same condition as when it was borrowed. Students who are attending a 20 or 25 hours course will require two books and will therefore need to pay a deposit of £70.
  • Course fees are subject to change with no prior notice.
  • Students who want to make payments monthly and pay for the first and the last month in advance, are entitled to discounted rates – as in the price list. Students then should pay each instalment before the first lesson of every month, unless agreed otherwise at registration. These students don’t pay for the last month. If a student decides to extend the course, the fee from the last month is moved to the month that the extended course finishes.
  • In order to receive a Communicate School visa support letter a student must pay a non-refundable deposit of £300 to cover all fees. If the visa is refused this will not be refunded to the student.

VISAS

  • A student applying for a Short-Term Study Visa cannot be issued a Communicate School of English visa letter until we have received a £300 non-refundable deposit. A completed application form and a copy of your passport will also be required.
  • Communicate School of English reserves the right to refuse issuing more than one visa support letter if the visa has been already refused once.
  • It is the student’s responsibility to book their course early enough to allow the visa to be processed in time. You must let us know at least 2 weeks before you are due to start your course if you need to postpone your start date.
  • All students studying on student visas must supply Communicate School of English with their most up to date contact details whilst in Manchester and inform us of any changes. Details of next of kin in your home country will also be supplied and kept up to date.
  • Students must show their passport and UK visa before starting their course.
  • Any student breaking UK Visas and Immigration rules will have their course terminated. No refunds will be provided.
  • No refunds will be given if a student withdraws their application after we have sent a visa letter.
  • No refunds will be given if a student decides to study with another school after we have sent a visa letter and have been issued a visa.
  • VISA REJECTION REFUND
  • In the case where a Short-Term Study Visa application has been rejected, and the student paid more than the £300 non-refundable deposit, you will need to provide evidence of this refusal before a refund for the remaining amount can be considered. Without the UKVI Short-Term Study Visa refusal letter no refund will be considered.
    (i) In order to apply for a refund of course fees, send us clear scanned copies of the rejection letter in full and all documents from British immigration to manchester@malvernplc.com or by post to our school address (Communicate School, Murray House, 85 Piccadilly, Manchester, M1 2DA).
    (ii) All associated administration fees will not be refunded (£300)
  • In addition to the non-refundable £60 accommodation booking fee, one week’s accommodation fee will be charged if the school is given less than 10 days’ notice of a change in arrival date or the visa refusal notice.
  • Some accommodation may not be refundable, even if the school receives cancellation notice more than 10 days in advance. You will be informed at the time of booking if any additional cancellation costs apply to your booking.
  • If we discover any fraudulent methods have taken place to obtain documents from Communicate School of English to apply for a visa, UK Visas and Immigration will be informed. Students will be expelled from the course and no refunds will be given.
  • Any refund that is granted will only be for the course fees. Registration fees are non-refundable.
  • If a student is asked to leave the UK or is expelled from a course, no refund will not be given.
  • It can take between 2 to 6 weeks to process a refund.
  • All refunds must be processed in the original payment method. Student must apply for a refund by requesting a refund form no later than 90 days after they cancel the course. Any refund request forms received 90 days or more after the course cancellation date will be invalid and the refund will not be actioned.

COURSE CANCELLATION AND REFUND POLICY

  • We strongly recommend that students take out insurance to cover fees and all costs in case of cancellation or leaving early.
    If students pay for a course or extend their course at Communicate School of English, the school normally will not refund any of the fees under any circumstances. The exceptions may be:
    – when students’ personal circumstances mean that a refund of course fees is appropriate (serious illness, death in the family). Refunds of this type are at the complete discretion of the management of Communicate School of English and may be refused for any reason. We may ask to see documents to prove the truth of any claims (for example a sick note or death certificate).
    – if students give early cancellation notice: provided written notice of cancellation is received more than 4 weeks before the original start date of the course, all course fees will be refunded less the registration fee and bank transfer fees. If written notice of cancellation is received less than 4 weeks and more than 2 weeks before the original start date of the course, Communicate School of English will refund 50% of paid course fees less the registration fee and bank transfer fees. Accommodation fees may not be refundable. If written notice of cancellation is received less than 2 weeks before the original start date of the course or when the course has already started, Communicate School of English will not refund any of the fees. Students who have received a visa letter and resign from a course at before its original start date, will not receive a refund, unless they show a visa refusal letter. Upon showing a visa refusal letter the terms stated in the ‘Visa Rejection Refund’ section will be applied.
  • Direct bank transfer refunds may take up to 30 days to process once a refund request form including the bank details has been received by the school or up to 90 days if the refund is processed through Flywire.
  • It is the student’s responsibility to provide the school with correct and legible account details for refunds. The school will make no more than two attempts of transferring a refund to an international bank account. There is a charge of £50 administration fee for every repeated attempt to make the refund if the payment does not reach the recipient the first time for reasons not dependent on Communicate School. Any bank transfer fees and fees deducted due to the exchange rate must be covered by the student and will be deducted from the refund amount. If the account details are not correct, the school reserves the right to refuse to make more transfers to an international bank account. The school will make the final transfer but only to a UK bank account provided by the student.
  • In special circumstances, Communicate School of English may allow a student to freeze their course and rejoin again within 6 months. This is at the discretion of the school. In this case, all unpaid fees must be paid before leaving for the frozen period of time.
  • Communicate School of English does not permit the transfer of credit from one student to another.
  • Group classes cannot be transferred to one-to-one lessons.
  • Group courses or one-to-one classes cannot be reduced in the number of lessons. If the student misses some of the lessons, no refund will be given.
  • Courses can occur between 9am and 5.45pm with the majority of lessons taking place in the earlier part of the day. Communicate School of English reserves the right to cancel, move or merge any class where there is insufficient demand or any other justifiable reason to do so. For cancelled classes the school will offer an alternative class of the same value, or lesson vouchers.
  • Communicate School reserves the right to charge up to £300 administration costs for bookings that required extensive customer support. This includes bookings made in more than 3 instalments. Any such addition costs will be stated at the end of the booking process and added to the invoice.
  • Cancellation of one-to-one classes: if a student wants to move or cancel a lesson, they need to notify the school minimum 24 hours in advance. If a student fails to do so, the school will not be able to reschedule the class to another day or refund the fee.
  • Any student whose behaviour causes inconvenience, offence or distress to other students or school staff, will be excluded from lessons. Persistent offenders will be expelled from Communicate School of English and their course cancelled. No refund of course fees will be made for any exclusion or expulsion.
  • Courses for teachers are subject to a minimum number of 5 participants. The school reserves the right to change the number of classes or combine the course with General English 3 weeks before the scheduled course start date if the required number of participants is not reached.
  • If a student who received a financial guarantee from their sponsor wishes to delay the start of their course date, they need to inform the school in writing. They must start the course within 3 months of the original start date stated on the financial guarantee letter. After that period the course will expire and cannot be recovered.
  • The school will not be liable to bear the bank charges while remitting the funds back to the student.

LEVEL OF ENGLISH

  • Students cannot choose the level at which they want to study as this will be determined by the Director of Studies.
  • We recommend you take our online test on www.communicateschool.co.uk/test. This assessment, combined with a verbal placement test at school will determine your level of English.

HOLIDAYS, SICKNESS AND ATTENDANCE

  • Students must ask for any time off from class in advance by emailing the school at manchester@malvernplc.com. If you give advance warning of 1 week, we will accept your request and this will be marked as holiday. You can take 1 week holiday if you join a 12 week course or 2 weeks holiday if you join a 24 week course or longer course. Those weeks will be added at the end of on to your course. Holidays must be from Monday to Friday and must be for the full week.
  • Absences due to illness will only be added to the course if over 3 days and a doctor’s certificate of illness is provided.
  • Failure to arrive for classes on the start date and not contacting the school for more than two weeks from the start date will result in course cancellation. No fees will be refunded.
  • All one-to-one or private classes which are up to 20 hours of study must be taken within 12 weeks from the registration or start date. One-to-one or private classes of more than 20 hours must be used within 24 weeks of the registration or start date.
  • Students must understand that if they are not at the recommended level of English for a particular course or particular stage of the course they may be asked to stay on the same level until they are ready to move up. Students may also be asked to repeat a level if they have low attendance.
  • Students are eligible to receive a Communicate School of English certificate on the condition that they attend a minimum of 80% of classes. We keep a record of student attendance.
  • We expect students to be on time, attend every lesson and complete homework. If you regularly arrive late for lessons we have the right to not allow you into the class.
  • The school is closed on public holidays. Please see our site see www.communicateschool.co.uk for a list of school and UK public holidays.

EXPULSION

  • Communicate School has a right to expel a student without a refund if they are abusive, harmful, aggressive, damage or steal property, use illegal drugs, are arrested by the police or break the UK law.
  • While we try to accommodate all student needs, Communicate School has a right to refuse a course and accommodation to a student who had not informed us before the course about a disability or illness that may directly affect the classes or homestay host and other people in the same accommodation.

PHOTOGRAPHS AND FILMING

  • Communicate School of English reserves the right to use photographs or films of students (in classes and during social activities) for promotional purposes.
  • Students must inform the school in writing before the course starts if they do not allow us to use the photographs or video recordings in our promotional material.
  • Communicate School of English reserves the right to use reviews left by students for promotional purposes.

DATA PROTECTION

  • Under the Data Protection Act, Communicate School of English must protect any information collected from you. All personal information received is treated confidentially and will only be accessible by selected employees so they can carry out their work duties. The data is held on a secure password protected server.
  • Your personal data will only be revealed to Police or school inspecting bodies if requested.
  • Our website Cookie policy can be viewed here: https://www.communicateschool.co.uk/communicate-school-cookie-policy/
  • Under UK law, we must give information to UK Visa and Immigration (UKVI) if requested to do so.
  • We process personal information to enable us to: provide education, training and educational support services such as accommodation and travel to our clients. It is also necessary for us to ensure the Safeguarding of our students and maintain student welfare. In addition, this information is required for us to administer our school’s property, maintain our own accounts and records and to support and manage our employees. Data is held, used and ultimately destroyed in strict accordance with The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679. The full data protection policy can be found: https://www.communicateschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Data-Protection-Policy-2018-GDPR-compliant.pdf

LIABILITY

  • SStudents are advised that the school, its employees and its representatives accept no liability for personal injury and / or loss of / damage to personal property on the school’s premises, whether by fire, burglary, theft or otherwise. This condition also applies to public and private places when students are on school trips or excursions.

FORCE MAJEURE

  • Communicate School of English is not liable for failure to perform its obligations if such failure is a result of Acts of God (including fire, flood, earthquake, storm, hurricane or other natural disaster), war, invasion, act of foreign enemies, hostilities (regardless of whether war is declared), civil war, rebellion, revolution, insurrection, military or usurped power or confiscation, terrorist activities, nationalisation, government sanction, blockage, embargo, labour dispute, strike, lockout or interruption or failure of electricity or telephone service. Refunds are not to be made in such cases.

OTHER

  • Communicate School of English takes all feedback and complaints seriously, either made informally or formally. If you have a problem or complaint, email the student services officer at: manchester@malvernplc.com. Complaints about the school’s courses or services should be made immediately as complaints made after the course finished will not be accepted.
  • By registering and making the first payment or extending the course, students confirm that they have read, understood and agreed with the above terms and conditions.
  • A Communicate School of English student certificate confirms the level of study at the end of the course. The certificate will only be presented if attendance is above 80%.
  • Communicate School of English has the right to change teachers at any time during the course.

 

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Accommodation – Terms and Conditions

Please read through all of the accommodation terms and conditions carefully.

BOOKING AND CONFIRMATION

  • Accommodation can only be booked for students of Communicate School of English and where course fees have been received.
  • Accommodation will only be reserved on receipt of a fully completed application form and the full payment.
  • The minimum period of stay is four weeks. However, if your course is less than four weeks, we can offer accommodation from 1 week to 4 weeks.
  • When extending accommodation students must pay the school, not the host. If the student pays the host directly, they break Communicate School Terms and Conditions and their course may result in suspension.
  • When extending a stay, payments must be made at least one week in advance before the end of the previous booking. Otherwise the student may not be able to stay in the same accommodation and will need to pay another £60 accommodation booking fee so new accommodation can be organised, if available.
  • Communicate School of English reserves the right to cancel or change arrangements without prior notice.
  • Communicate School of English reserves the right to change prices at any time by giving one month’s notice.

CANCELLATIONS, CHANGES & REFUNDS

  • If the student gives notice of cancellation more than 14 days before scheduled arrival, the accommodation booking fee is payable
  • If the student gives notice of cancellation 8-14 days before scheduled arrival, 1 week’s accommodation fees and the accommodation booking fee are payable.
  • If the student gives notice of cancellation 0-7 days before scheduled arrival or fails to arrive, 2 weeks’ accommodation fees and the accommodation booking fee are payable.
  • Some accommodation might not be refundable in case fo cancellation. You will be informed of any other cancellation charges at the time of booking.
  • if you wish to change your accommodation type or if you wish to change to another homestay host, you will need to give the school 2 weeks notice and a £75 change fee will apply.

LATE ARRIVAL/EARLY DEPARTURE/POSTPONING THE BOOKING DATE

  • NO refund if the student arrives late
  • NO refund if the student leaves accommodation early
  • The arrival date can be postponed (changed to a later date) if the school is informed at least 10 days (10 x 24 hours) before the start date.
  • One week’s accommodation fee will be charged if the school is given less than 10 days’ notice of a change in arrival date.

INSURANCE

  • Students must organise their own insurance for the period they are in the UK. This insurance should cover
    1. Medical treatment while in the UK
    2. Personal risk
    3. Loss/theft and damage to personal property.
    4. Course cancellation/curtailment

STUDENTS MUST AGREE TO:

  • Inform Communicate School of English on the Accommodation Booking Form of any disability and special needs
  • Inform Communicate School of English on the Accommodation Booking Form of all flight details and arrival time.
  • Not to smoke indoors in any accommodation.
  • Look after house keys during your stay and return them at the end of the stay. There may be a charge of £20 for the key replacement.
  • You are liable for any damage caused by you or your guests to the homestay’s property/residence.
  • Please keep your bedroom, the bathroom and other shared areas of the house clean and tidy. Offer help with shared household duties
  • Always be friendly and treat your host and house mates with respect and they will do the same.
  • If a student is found to be smoking or using illegal substances in their accommodation, they will first be issued with a verbal warning. If they continue to break this rule, Communicate School has the right to remove the student from the accommodation without a refund and charge a fine to cover any damages.

INFORMATION ABOUT HOMESTAY ACCOMMODATION

  • Manchester is a multicultural city which is what makes it such a special place to live, work and study. All of our families are English speakers with varying cultural backgrounds. We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind.
  • Allow 20 to 60 minutes travelling time by public transport from homestay to the school.
  • Do not use the host’s telephone. The cost of it is not included in your accommodation fee.
  • Let your host know if you are going to be late for a meal.
  • Inform host family in advance if planning to stay out late or out overnight.
  • Do not disturb host family when returning home late; ask what time you should be at home every evening.
  • Ask permission each time to use facilities in the living room or kitchen at homestay.
  • You are expected to respect, abide and behave with good manner by the host family’s reasonable schedule and house rules. Failure to do so may result in removing you from the accommodation.
  • If you are removed from homestay accommodation as a result of bad behaviour no refund will be given.
  • You may not bring visitors back to your home without the consent of the host.
  • The host has the right to reject or accept guests or family members for the night during your stay.
  • Remember that the host is allowed to accept students from other schools at the time of your stay, however they cannot be students who speak the same language as you.

INFORMATION ABOUT STUDENT HALLS

  • Leave shoes you wear outside at the entrance; only ware a pair of clean slippers inside the house, so that it helps keep the floor & carpets clean.
  • Do check to make sure all the doors and windows are closed and locked before you leave the house.
  • Do check to make sure all cooking equipment (e.g. gas cooker) is turned off after use.
  • Clean the cooking equipment (gas cooker, microwave) after use.
  • Clean the toilet, washing basin and bath after use.
  • Turn off all the lights before leaving the room.
  • Recycle and dispose of rubbish properly: separate general waste, paper waste, bottles/tins/cans and food waste from each other.
  • Follow the rules: no overnight guests, no pets, no shouting or disturbing neighbours.
  • Where applicable pay the deposit of £150. The student halls will return the deposit at the end of the student’s stay if there is no damage or need for excessive cleaning. Cost of repairing damage or excessive cleaning will be paid from the deposit.
How to find our Manchester English School
Our Address

Communicate School
Murray House
85 Piccadilly
Manchester
M1 2DA

Phone

+44 (0)161 2358 480

Email

manchester@malvernplc.com