At UES we value our relationships with our School Partners greatly. We have been running SAT/ACT courses for ten years and thanks to your support and trust, we have become the leader provider in offering SAT/ACT preparation courses in the UK. As a result of the level of demand and the scale of the operation, we have had to standardise some of our policies and processes so that we can deliver the best possible service to our partners.
This Service Level Agreement is designed to clarify these policies and procedures and ensure, through advanced planning and agreement, a smooth and effective service that will meet your needs and those of your students. It is also designed to clarify what we are able to deliver and the timeframes and parameters in which we are able to do so, particularly with regards to dates, logistics, and safeguarding arrangements. We want our school partners to know that they can count on us to deliver what we have agreed, and we want to ensure that courses – and students – are best set up for success.
This Agreement also sets out what the School can expect of UES.
Please ensure that this Agreement has been seen by appropriate staff such as HR/DSL/SMT.
The Spirit of the Agreement
Both the School and UES are committed to helping students progress in their ambitions and will support each other in that endeavour.
UES understands that schools and teachers are under significant time pressure, particular at certain times of the year, and that multiple departments have oversight of elements of external training courses such as ours. We also understand that the School is committed to providing its students with high quality services and that our provision can be seen as an extension of the school’s services.
Schools understand that UES is the leading provider in the UK for ACT and SAT courses, and that to maintain our high quality service we need to arrange courses efficiently and in a timely manner. Schools need to have read and understood the UES terms and conditions it has with its families and support these: https://ueseducation.com/terms
UES’s Obligations
• We will conduct the course to the best of our ability and prioritise the wellbeing and safety of students at all times.
• We will provide tutors who are suitably qualified and trained for teaching the course content to students
• We will conduct rigorous safeguarding checks and training that are in line with sector expectations for professionals working in schools (for full details see safeguarding section below)
• We will supply suitable tutors in order to maintain the student-to-tutor ratio to a reasonable level, based on the total number of full-paying students in the course.
• This ratio is calculated on the basis of full fee-paying students, and where we reduce the cost of a student’s course fees by a certain percentage, it will count as an equivalent percentage of one student for the purpose of the ratio.
• If a student registers less than three weeks before the start of the course, UES may not be able to guarantee the 10:1 student to tutor ratio.
• We will provide access to course materials for all students who are registered on the course.
• We will abide by the School's Safeguarding and Data Protection Policies.
• We will abide by our own Safeguarding and Data Protection Policies (ueseducation.com/safety and ueseducation.com/privacy).
• We will register and take payment for students directly for our services and provide the registered details to the School within 2 working days of the School's request.
• If fewer than the minimum number of agreed students (in writing with the course organiser) are registered by 14 days before the start date, we will refund all families in full and cancel the course at no cost to the School or families. The minimum numbers are percentage-equivalent for students who don't pay the full fees, i.e. a 50% paying student will count only towards 1/2 of one place towards these minimum numbers.
• We agree to reduce the cost of bursary students by an equivalent amount to their bursary, up to 50% of the full course fees, as long as the School can confirm this amount is correct. The maximum fee reduction we can offer is 50%.
• Our default assumption is that the student/family will pay the remaining amount after the bursary reduction, unless the School wishes to cover the remaining cost itself.
• We will provide personal feedback to each student/family/School at the end of the course, within six working days of the end of the course.
• Before each course starts, we will provide students with advice on test registration and accommodations via a briefing email.
• If any students/families have any questions or concerns about the course content or about the test, UES will address these queries within three working days.
• If any of the course tutors are unavailable for a session such as illness, UES will endeavour to find a suitable replacement as soon as possible.
• If the course cannot go ahead due to a lack of registrations by the hard deadline (normally 2 weeks before the course starts), UES will refund anyone who has paid in full, and the School will not be charged any amount.
The School's Obligations
• Unless the classes are taking place online, the School will provide suitable classrooms for the lessons to take place and notify UES of the details within one week of the course starting.
• The School understands that it is generally not possible to change course dates/times less than four weeks before the start of the course once dates/times are agreed in writing with UES.
• To ensure safe delivery of the course, UES’s Safeguarding Form must be completed at least four weeks before the start of the course in consultation with the School’s HR department and a Designated Safeguarding Lead.
• If the Safeguarding Form is not completed by that date, UES will follow our own standard safeguarding policies, or those that the School outlined in the most recent course at the School (if applicable). The standard policies are attached.
• The School agrees that it is its sole responsibility to make sure the above safeguarding information is correct and provided by the deadline.
• The School agrees that UES is generally not able to accommodate additional safeguarding requests (such as briefings, training, additional questionnaires and tutor checks) sent through after the Safeguarding Form has been submitted and within four weeks of a course starting.
• If the School is no longer able to work with the agreed schedule and/or requests safeguarding arrangements after the four-week deadline and different to those agreed in the Safeguarding Form, UES reserves the right to cancel the course.
• In the event of cancellation due to Safeguarding, date, or format changes imposed or requested by the School within 4 weeks of the start date that UES cannot accommodate, the School agrees to reimburse UES for the cost of any sessions that fall within 28 days of the date of cancellation, so that we can honour our obligations to our staff.
Refunds to Families
• Families may cancel their registration and request a full refund up to 14 days before the course begins.
• Within 14 days of the course start date, UES will not provide refunds to registered students, except in the following scenario:
???????• If a family registers within 14 days of the course start date, but at least 24 hours before the course begins, they are entitled to a 24-hour 'cooling off' period during which they can request a full refund without any penalty. No refunds will be possible if the family requests a cancellation less than 24 hours before the course begins.
???????• The School will work in partnership with UES to address issues where students/families do not comply with UES's terms and conditions (ueseducation.com/terms).
• The School agrees that UES will collect registrations and payments directly from the families/students via our own online form. If the School is paying for the course, families/students will still need to register through our online form; we can arrange this to go through without payment. This is to ensure that we get the necessary information in time to deliver the course, and to relieve the administrative burden on the School.
Choice of Test (applicable only to Schools that are running courses for both tests)
• UES will ask students/families which test they would like to prepare for (ACT or SAT) if they already know and will honour that request.
• If students do not know for certain at the time of registration, UES will ask them to take the ACT/SAT Diagnostic test at least three weeks before the start of the course, or within 24 hours of registering for the course, whichever is the later.
• If students fail to take the Diagnostic and have not specified a preference by then, we will allocate them to the SAT group.
• If students take the Diagnostic Test, we will ask them (and their parents) to confirm that they would like to prepare for the test we suggest. If they fail to tell us by three weeks before the course or within 24 hours of us emailing them, whichever is the later, we will allocate them to our suggested test.
• If a course tutor thinks a student is not doing the correct test, after following our Diagnostic Test’s advice, the tutor will speak to the student and will raise it with the Academic Director. If the family agrees, we will swap the student to the more suitable test for no additional charge.
• UES will not otherwise generally allow students to swap tests once the course has started, because we have given them warning and provided them with the evidence to make an informed decision. If they insist, and the School agrees, we may agree to swap them only if there is space in the other test group, and the switch will incur an administration cost of £50 + VAT, payable in advance by the family.
Safeguarding
Checks that UES Carries Out on their Tutors
UES conducts the following safeguarding checks and training as standard for all of our tutors:
• Enhanced DBS (registered on the Update Service)
• Suitability to work with children, Teaching Sanction, Section 142, Update Service Check, and Barred List Checks
• Photo ID, Date of Birth, Address, Other ID, Previous Employment, Gaps in CV, Two References, Right to work, Qualifications, overseas criminal reference check, Medical Fitness, Confirmation of Willingness to Work
• CPD-certified safeguarding training (KCSIE, Child Protection, Online Safety, and Prevent)
• Briefing by UES’s Designated Safeguarding Lead
Default Safeguarding Procedure
In the absence of a completed Safeguarding form, UES will assume that these are the School’s procedures/requirements:
Tutor documents required by the School, emailed in advance:
• Photo ID
• Enhanced DBS certificate and confirmation tutor is on the Update Service, with permission to check
• Confirmation of checks and training (above) carried out by UES
UES recognises that many Schools have bespoke policies and procedures for safeguarding. If the School wishes UES to follow different policies and procedures from our standard policies, it must complete the Safeguarding Form at least four weeks before the course is due to begin.
In the absence of a completed safeguarding form, we will assume:
• The School does not require a safeguarding briefing
• The School does not need to see documents in person or online in advance (only sent via email)
• The School requires no further documents/checks/training/questionnaires
• The School does not need to see certificates of Child Protection or Safeguarding Training to be seen by the School (just confirmation by UES as per above)
• The School’s HR will not ask to see the tutors on the day of the first course session
• The School does not have a Neutral Notification policy
• Tutors may email students directly via their UES email addresses, using any email addresses given to UES by the students/School, including those provided by students when taking the Diagnostic Test
• There are no students on the course who have any allergies, medical conditions, or mental health issues about which tutors should be informed.
For in-person courses:
• The on-site emergency contact and person to whom to report Safeguarding incidents is the coordinating teacher
• The fire muster point is outside of the main School gate, with the students, unless there is a sign in the classroom(s) directing otherwise
• Tutors do not require supervision by a staff member
• Doors to classrooms may be closed for group lessons
• Tutors can speak to a student one-to-one as long as the door is open and someone else is aware.
For online courses:
• The emergency contact and person to whom to report Safeguarding incidents is the coordinating teacher
• Lessons will not be recorded
• Tutors may teach one-on-one with a student if they have notified UES, but they will make no effort to notify the school
• The sessions will not be attended by a member of the School’s staff at any point, and may go ahead without any staff members present
• Sessions will be conducted over Zoom with password protection and waiting room enabled.