Terms and Conditions

By commencing or continuing tutoring with Mira tutoring, you are agreeing to the following terms and conditions:

Tutoring sessions

• These can range from a minimum of 1 hour in length, increasing in increments of half an hour.
• Sessions take place online or in-person, on a weekly basis – at the same time each week. Materials are provided by the tutor unless otherwise agreed.
• Sessions will continue through school holidays and on bank holidays.

Fees

• These are paid per month, in advance and are non-refundable.
• Fees are due on the last Friday of the previous month.
• Initial trial sessions are free of charge.
• Payment is accepted via BACS or cash.
• Where invoices are not paid on the due date, a 5% late payment fee will be added to the account for the administrative expenses associated with following up on the payment. This must also be paid off in full, and no later than 72 hours before a session can take place.

Non-payment of Fees

• I reserve the right to refuse student to attend tuition while fees remain unpaid or if there is a persistent failure by you to pay the fees on time.

Cancellation and rescheduling of sessions

• You may cancel 1 session per term giving a minimum of 24 hours’ notice (due to sickness or other emergency situations), any additional cancellations may be charged for. If you need to cancel, please give me as much notice as possible. The session will be rescheduled or at my discretion, the session fee may be credited to your account to be used against future bookings.
• Holidays should be notified at least 4 weeks prior to the session taking place. The sessions are non-refundable or transferable without sufficient notice.
• One arranged absence is permitted per a 3 month period (this includes holidays).
• Cancellations made on the day are strictly non-transferable/non-refundable.
• If you need to reschedule a session, this must be rescheduled to occur in addition to any normal scheduled sessions you may have that week. I will try my best to reschedule but please note that this may not always be possible.
• If a session cannot be rescheduled, there will be no transfers or refunds for the session.
• In the event that I may need to cancel or reschedule your session, I will endeavour to give as much notice as possible. If you or I cannot reschedule, then the session fee will be credited to your account, to be used against future bookings.
• Any credited sessions, not used by the notice period will not be refunded.

Group Sessions

• Group session fees are non-refundable. Any sessions that are cancelled/missed will not be rescheduled due to the nature of group tutoring.
• Any session cancellations by me will be rescheduled where possible, or deducted, in full, from your next invoice.

Late attendance and pick up

• As sessions are back to back or booked so that there is sufficient time for travel between them, they must finish at the allotted time regardless of the time they began, unless it is my fault that the start is delayed.
• If you are collecting your child from a session, they will remain in the building, safe, until you arrive.
• If you wish to discuss your child’s progress or want verbal feedback on how the session went, then please do this in the lesson time. For example, if the session is 60 minutes long, then I can finish 5 or 10 minutes early to have a conversation about your child’s progress. Please let me know if you would like this for every session.

Term dates

• Term dates generally follow Bracknell Forest Council, which can be found on their website. Please note that some schools will have their own term dates.

Ad-hoc and school holiday sessions

• If you would like extra sessions during the school holidays, I will try to accommodate these where possible, subject to availability or last minute cancellations. If you would like to be added to the reserve list for this please contact me to advise.

Stopping tuition

• If at any time you wish to stop tuition this can be done by giving notice that is 2 weeks before the end of the current month, to take effect from the following month. No refunds will be given for payments of sessions that have not taken place.

Behaviour/student expectations

• Parents are responsible for ensuring that their children know how to behave appropriately. Abusive or discriminatory behaviour towards the tutor and/or other students will not be acceptable. I reserve the right to cancel any bookings for students whose behaviour is unacceptable, or where abusive language is used be either parent or student.

When online, students are expected to:

• Login for online lessons on time for the start of their lesson.
• Attend online tuition from an open room such as a living or dining room rather than bedrooms, whenever possible for the purposes of safeguarding, if this is unavoidable please ensure the environment is appropriate, parents/guardians must be nearby and doors must be left open for safeguarding purposes.
• Students should have their webcam turned on unless there is a reason that this is not possible. This enables me to gauge the student’s understanding of the concept being taught.
• Dress appropriately as you would for an in person session.
• Ensure that all equipment (computer/laptop/iPad/graphics tablets/apple pencils, webcams, headphones and microphones) are ready and charged where appropriate for the session.
• Ensure that you test that your equipment, in particular that your webcam/headset/microphones is working and charged before the start of a session.
• Keep distractions to a minimum and keeping phones on silent and out of reach.

Additional expectations for online group sessions:

• All students must have their webcam turned on.
• Ensure background is suitable (nothing that could identify you should be visible, e.g. photos, certificates, personal items such as school logos, bookbags etc).
• Students should not share their full name or any details that would make them identifiable within the group.
• Students must ensure that only their first name and first initial from surname are shown on their Zoom screen.

Snacks

• Unless medically required, snacks should not be consumed during a session.

GDPR

• The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) came into force on 25th May 2018 and requires that all businesses issue a privacy statement to all clients and contacts, regarding the data held about the individual. Begum Ortucu t/a Mira tutoring is the ‘controller’ of your data. What information is held: The information I hold comes from you as the parent and your child as the student (or you as the adult learner):
• Name
• Age and school year group
• Details of regular sessions booked
• Phone numbers
• Email addresses
• School attended
• Exam board studied where applicable
• Anything else the parent feels is important for tutoring e.g. special educational needs, medical conditions etc.
• I hold information about student’s education including tracking progress, objectives and lesson plans.
• Only information needed for tutoring to take place is held. All reasonable steps are taken to ensure your data is processed and stored securely. This information is usually stored online, on a password protected computer, or a mobile phone which is also password protected.

Communication

• For safeguarding reasons, I will only contact under-16s via email. In the first instance, contact will be made with the parent/guardian only. By accepting these terms and conditions, you are agreeing to allow your child, if under 16 years of age, to be contacted via email. This is for any exchange of work/screenshots/homework that is not able to be exchanged via the portal.
• For students who are over 16 years of age, WhatsApp can be used, using Mira Tutoring’s phone number. By agreeing to these terms and conditions, you are agreeing to allow your child, if over 18 years of age, to communicate with me via WhatsApp and email.
• Parents will be contacted via text message, WhatsApp, or email.
• Lesson reminders will be sent via text message or email. You are able to opt-out of these following the instructions in the text messages or emails you receive.

Student progress and parental involvement

• If you wish to discuss your child’s progress or want verbal feedback on how the session went, then this will happen within the allocated session time. For example, if the session is 60 minutes long, then I can finish 5 or 10 minutes early to have a conversation about your child’s progress. Please let me know if you would like this for every session.
• I am in the process of trialling out written feedback given per session.
• If you are directly present next to your child and are actively listening, please refrain from joining in. Helping students answer questions or prompting them to answer or giving them answers to a question the tutor may have asked is not helpful to the student. While there should always be someone within earshot of a session, please make sure your child is not distracted.

Limitation of liability

• While I will endeavour to ensure the student makes at least satisfactory progress, this cannot be guaranteed, and I cannot be held accountable for the academic success or otherwise of the student. To the maximum extent permitted by law, I accept no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage, foreseeable or otherwise, including any indirect, consequential, special or exemplary damages arising from the use of my services or any errors or omissions in the content of my learning materials.

Health & safety for in person tuition

• A suitable table such as an office desk or dining table, uncluttered and clean should be available for the tutor and tutee to work on.
• A suitable chair for both the tutor and tutee must be provided.
• Sessions cannot take place on a sofa, or students’ bedroom.
• Any animals that may pose a risk or distraction must be kept out of the way of the tutor and your child.
• There must be no distraction while the session takes place. This includes, but is not limited to; others talking, music, TV, noise from cooking/using kitchen appliances, siblings playing, and guests visiting.
• I endeavour to always respect the homes of my tutee’s, therefore, please feel free to let your tutor know if you require them to remove their shoes when entering your house.

Social Media

• During our sessions I may take photographs to evidence the learning that is taking place and the progress of your child. These photos may be used for publicity purposes, including social media and material for my website.