GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS
1. APPLICATION SCOPE
1.1. These General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter referred to as the "General Terms and Conditions") apply to the provision of English language teaching services by the company operating the Kids&Us English language school (hereinafter referred to as the "Provider") for the Client, as identified at all times in the Special Conditions. The Provider and the Customer are hereinafter collectively referred to as the "Parties".
1.2. For the purposes set out herein:
a. The "Special Conditions" are part of the Enrolment Contract (as such term is defined in paragraph 5).
b. "Customer" means the person who, in their own name or on behalf of a minor under his or her guardianship or parental authority, subscribes to services from the Provider, which services may not be transferred by the Customer to third parties or used by persons other than the Customer or the minor under his or her guardianship or parental authority and who is enrolled as a pupil at the school.
c. "Services" means the English language teaching services, as part of the Kids&Us system, subscribed to by a Customer in accordance with the provisions of the Special Conditions. They will be supplied by the Provider in accordance with said Special Conditions and these General Conditions.
d. "Contract" consists of the Special Conditions, the General Terms and Conditions, the Specific Conditions, the Terms and Conditions of My Way, the Health Declaration (if appropriate) and the Alpha Card.
e. "Mousy" refers to pupils in the first year of the Kids&Us methodology, aged between 1 and 2.
f. "Linda" refers to students in the second year of the Kids&Us methodology from the age of 2.
1.3. Special Conditions In case of contradiction, the Special Conditions shall prevail over the General Terms and Conditions and the Specific Conditions, and the General Terms and Conditions shall prevail over the Specific Conditions.
1.4. The Contract is accepted by signing this document and implies that the Customer:
a. has read, understood and approved the content set out herein Special Conditions and has had the opportunity to ask the Service Provider any questions necessary to resolve any doubts he may have.
b. has the capacity to enter into the contract.
c. undertakes to meet all its obligations under the contract.
1.5. The General Terms and Conditions may be amended for legal, regulatory, security or commercial reasons, only if, after the proposed amendments have been sent to the Client, the Client accepts them voluntarily and without reservation. Said consent shall be understood to have been given if thirty (30) calendar days after they have been effectively delivered to the Client (with acknowledgement of receipt) or after the Client has been informed of their existence on the Provider's website https://www.kidsandus.be/en-be the Client does not express written opposition to the incorporation of the aforementioned modifications.
2. SERVICES
2.1. Prior to acceptance of this contract, the Customer shall have received, by e-mail or by hand, the following: (i) the complete catalogue of the courses offered, with their essential characteristics and objectives, as well as the main characteristics of the teaching system based on the Kids&Us method; (ii) the Provider’s identification data (expressly indicating that it is acting on its own behalf), as well as those of the school in which the Services will be provided; (iii) the fees for the course in which the Customer has expressed interest, including taxes and duties, and the cost of the Material (as this term is defined in section 2.11) (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "Price") to be paid by the Customer and which is necessary for the course to run as it is inherent to the Kids&Us teaching method, as well as the terms and conditions of payment; (iv) the need for the Provider, for organisational reasons, to know the number of re-enrolments before the start of each school year and therefore the annual re-enrolment procedure which is carried out electronically each year; (v) the Customer's right of withdrawal under the conditions set out in Section 3; (vi) the school's internal regulations; and (vii) the content of these General Terms and Conditions, the Customer having been given the opportunity to ask questions on this subject.
2.2. The services are provided at the English language school indicated on the Enrolment Contract.
2.3. Timetable and duration of lessons:
Depending on the level or method concerned, the duration of the course is as follows:
a. Babies (from Mousy to Linda): Baby classes usually last 45 minutes, once a week. If there is only one pupil, the class lasts 30 minutes because it is adapted to the pupils' ability to concentrate at this early age and because all attention is then focused on that pupil. For Baby classes in crèches, the duration is 30 minutes.
b. Kids (from Sam to Pam&Paul): the usual duration of classes from Sam to Pam&Paul is 60 minutes, once a week.
c. Ben&Brenda: Ben&Brenda classes usually last 90 minutes, once a week.
d. Tweens 1 and 2: the usual duration of classes in the Animal Planet block is 60 minutes, twice a week.
e. Tweens 3 and 4: classes in the Fairy Tales blocks usually last 90 minutes, twice a week.
f. Teens 1 to Teens 4: the usual duration of classes in the Mysteries and The Future blocks is 90 minutes, twice a week.
g. Teens 5 and Teens 6: the duration of the Subscription block classes varies according to the method chosen: 90 minutes twice a week or 90 minutes once a week.
h. Traditional method: the duration of traditional method classes varies according to the level chosen and is between 60 minutes and 180 minutes per week.
In the case of classes that do not follow the Kids&Us methodology, timetable, class duration, number of students, start date, end date, and/or material used may varied across schools.
2.4. The specific course timetables are those indicated in the Special Conditions. They are therefore subject to change each year depending on the courses chosen and the number of students in each course available at any given time.
2.5. The courses will start, generally, during September of each calendar year and will end during June of the following year. The school will communicate the exact dates and the calendar of school days.
2.6. Unless otherwise provided for herein, courses listed in the timetable which the student is unable to attend, for whatever reason, cannot be made up and will be billed.
2.7. The maximum number of students per class is five (5) for Babies classes, eight (8) for Sam to Teens 6 classes and ten (10) for traditional method classes. In the case of courses for Babies given in external centres, the maximum number of students per group will be eight (8). If, on 1 October of each calendar year, the number of students per class is less than or equal to three (3) and no other group can accommodate these students, the Provider reserves the right to dissolve the group and, in this case, it will refund any sum paid by the Customer in October by way of tuition fees, including the cost of the Materials referred to in section 2.11.
Alternatively, the Provider may offer another timetable in a group of the same or lower level. The Customer will be free to refuse this alternative and request reimbursement of all sums paid.
2.8. Mousy students will be accompanied by an adult for the duration of the course. Each of Linda's pupils will be accompanied by an adult for the first few months of the year. In the following months, the adults who accompany Linda students will not return to the classroom with them but must remain in the centre for the duration of the course. Students will not be accompanied by an adult on courses held at external centres.
2.9. Teachers must hold the appropriate academic or professional qualifications to teach the courses.
2.10. Subscribing to the Services by signing the Enrolment Contract implies that the Customer is aware of and accepts that said Services are based on the unregulated Kids&Us teaching method which, in addition to the presence of the pupil at the School, requires the use of exclusive educational material (hereinafter referred to as the "Material"), the cost of which is borne by the Customer. Without prejudice to the adaptation of said Material to the needs of each class.
The materials will consist of physical and digital content, depending on the stage. These have been created with the objective to offer the students a global experience that starts in the Kids&Us classroom and is complemented outside the classroom. The materials of each course will be communicated at the beginning of each school year by means of the “Material Catalogue”.
2.11. The Services are considered to be unregulated education and, consequently, any diplomas or certificates that the Provider may issue are not official. The Provider prepares students to take, if they so wish, examinations leading to internationally recognised diplomas, the enrolment or tuition fees for which are not included in the price of the courses offered by the Provider.
3. RIGHT OF WITHDRAWAL
3.1. The Customer may withdraw within fourteen (14) calendar days of signing the Special Conditions, without having to give any reason and free of charge.
3.2. To withdraw within the agreed time limit, you only must inform us of your intention to exercise your right to withdrawal before the withdrawal time limit ends.
3.3. The right of withdrawal regulated in this section may be exercised either (i) by using the withdrawal form template contained in Appendix I to these General Terms and Conditions and appended to Book VI of the Code of Economic Law, available at the following URL: https://economie.fgov.be/sites/default/files/Files/Forms/Formulaire-de-retractation.pdf, or (ii) by making an unambiguous statement setting out your decision to withdraw from the contract.
3.4. If the Customer exercises their right of withdrawal, the Provider is obliged to refund all amounts paid by the Customer, using the same means of payment as the one used by the Customer for the initial transaction. The Provider will refund all payments received from the Customer without undue delay and in any event within 14 days of being informed of the Customer's decision to withdraw from the contract. The amounts corresponding to Materials will only be refunded once it has been returned, without having been used.
3.5. If the Customer requests, under the terms of the Special Conditions, to be able to benefit from the Services before the expiry of the 14-day withdrawal period, then the Customer expressly waives their right of withdrawal. If the Customer exercises their right of withdrawal during the 14-day period, in accordance with the aforementioned conditions, they will be entitled to a refund proportionate to the Services provided up to the time when the Customer informed the Provider of the exercise of the right of withdrawal in relation to all the services provided.
4. CANCELLATION
4.1. The Customer may also cancel this contract prior to the commencement of the Services by sending a written cancellation request to the Provider by e-mail or by post.
4.2. Cancellation of the contract before the start of the provision of Services will not give rise to reimbursement of the amount of the enrolment fee referred to in section 5.
4.3. The Provider will not refund any enrolment for any cancellation made after the start of the Services. In addition, if the Provider has agreed to pay the Customer in instalments, the Customer will remain liable for payment of the current monthly instalment.
4.4. The right to cancel the contract before the start of the provision of Services is without prejudice to the right of withdrawal referred to in section 3 and the Customer's right to obtain reimbursement of all amounts paid to the Provider.
4.5. The Customer may cancel a course/workshop for medical reasons. In this case, the Customer must inform the Provider by telephone as soon as possible so that another customer can take part. In addition, reimbursement for the course/workshop will only be possible if a written request for reimbursement, accompanied by a medical certificate and stating the bank account number to which the reimbursement is to be made, is submitted to the Provider within 48 hours of the first day of the absence mentioned on the medical certificate.
Reimbursement, less administrative costs for an amount corresponding to one day's activity, is made after the end of the period of absence concerned and only if all the conditions listed above are met.
4.6. In the event of late withdrawal from a course/workshop without a medical certificate (less than 7 days before the start of the course/workshop), the full amount will be due, whatever the reason given. Under no circumstances will a late withdrawal create an entitlement to a cancellation of the invoice.
4.7. For private lessons, any cancellation or postponement must be requested in writing at least one working day before the scheduled appointment. If this is not done within this time frame, the appointment will be deemed to have been made and will be invoiced. However, this option is only valid for a maximum of five postponements per course session ordered. After these five cancellations, all cancelled lessons will be billed.
4.8. Refunds due in the event of cancellation of the contract will only be made by bank transfer.
5. PRICE
5.1. The elements included in the price paid by the Customer are as follows, the amount and terms of payment being those agreed in the Special Conditions:
a. Enrolment, as applicable.
b. Course prices, as applicable
c. Materials.
d. Taxes applicable in accordance with current legislation.
5.2. Unless otherwise agreed in the Special Conditions:
a. The enrolment fee must be paid when signing the Enrolment Contract.
b. Payment for the Materials is made when the Enrolment Contract is signed.
c. The Price, as set out in the Special Conditions, is a lump sum. It corresponds to the provision of a global service. The instalment payments agreed between the Parties do not correspond to remuneration for school hours during the payment period. Consequently, subject to section 4, if, for any reason whatsoever (e.g. holidays or any other reason), a Customer does not receive the number of hours of lessons corresponding to the payment period, they will not be entitled to a refund of these hours or to make up these lessons. In the event of force majeure preventing the lessons from being taught, if the Price has been paid in full, the Customer may obtain a refund of the Price, pro rata for the duration of the course still to be completed.
d. Applicable taxes will be paid in accordance with regulations in force.
5.3. The full price of a course/workshop must be paid at the time of enrolment either on the online enrolment platform in the name of the Provider (http://bookeo.com/kidsandusbelgium) , or by Bancontact in the Kids&Us centre, or by bank transfer to the Provider's account with the following message "Date of course + first name and surname of student-age" and at the latest on the first day of the student's course.
In the case of payment on the Bookeo enrolment platform, the Provider is in no way responsible for the technical processing of the payment itself or for the actual execution of the payment. Payment for Services is handled by and via the interface of Bookeo Pty Ltd, which has a secure platform. Bookeo Pty Ltd is solely responsible for and guarantees the certification of the platform and the security of the data relating to the means of payment offered by the Provider, which Bookeo Pty Ltd uses, processes or stores in the name and on behalf of the Provider.
5.4. The Provider reserves the right to refuse access to courses to anyone who has not paid their enrolment fees and/or their Teaching Materials.
5.5. The Provider's invoices are payable in cash, with the exception of the provisions of point 5.6. Any sum unpaid on the due date will be increased, ipso jure and without formal notice, by late interest at the rate of 8% of the total sum
5.6. Payments by quarter, half-year or monthly instalments are authorised on the express condition that they are made in no more than 10 monthly instalments by direct debit. Any other payment method or instalment that does not meet these conditions will be refused.
5.7. The Provider is only obliged to reimburse enrolment fees and Materials in the cases set out in sections 2.7 and 3. Without prejudice to the applicable legal or regulatory provisions, the Provider is not obliged to reimburse the enrolment fees or the Materials in any other case. Inter alia, the Customer understands and accepts that dropping out of the course, for whatever reason, or terminating the relationship with the Provider will result in the Customer losing these amounts.
5.8. If the Customer pays for the Services by direct debit, if one of the payments is refused, all costs associated with this refusal will be borne by the Customer, who will fully indemnify the Provider.
5.9. Any discount, price reduction and/or other rebate must be the subject of a prior written contract between the Parties.
5.10. Both enrolment and courses are personal and non-transferable. Therefore, only the student identified on the Enrolment Contract may attend the courses subscribed to by the Customer.
6. ENROLMENT CONTRACT
6.1. The Services will initially be subscribed to by the Customer by submitting or sending to the Provider, by post, e-mail or via an online platform made available by the Service Provider, the Enrolment Contract (hereinafter referred to as the "Enrolment Contract").
6.2. Each Enrolment Contract must contain at least the following information:
a. Identification of the Customer and the pupil for whom they are subscribing the Services, as well as the relationship between the Customer and the pupil, with proof, as applicable, of parental authority or guardianship over the pupil.
b. The Services requested, indicating the course in which the Customer is interested, as well as its details and characteristics.
c. The price of Services.
d. The express mention of the Customer's examination of the General Terms and Conditions, as well as the possibility offered by the Provider to the Customer to ask any questions on this subject, as well as the express acceptance by the Customer of the General Terms and Conditions and, as applicable, the declaration relating to access to the pre-contractual information referred to in section 1.4.
e. The Customer's contract to the chosen method (e-mail, space created for this purpose on the Provider's website, or any other means agreed between the Parties) for receiving information and Enrolment Contracts for subsequent courses, which may be subscribed to remotely and to which these General Terms and Conditions apply in all cases.
6.3. The Enrolment Contract is only binding on the Parties on the date on which the Provider has sent its acceptance to the Customer, by e-mail or by the same means by which the Enrolment Contract was sent (hereinafter referred to as the "Acceptance").
6.4. Without prejudice to the return of the Acceptance by the Provider to the Customer in accordance with the provisions of this section 6.33, the Provider is required, in any event, to keep a scanned copy of the Enrolment Contract and its Acceptance in the School, as proof of the subscription.
6.5. The Service Provider is not obliged to accept all Enrolment Contract and therefore reserves the right to refuse them without incurring any liability.
6.6. A student's enrolment - and therefore their place on a course - will only be guaranteed once the Provider has received the enrolment fee.
6.7. On receipt of payment of the enrolment fee and confirmation of enrolment by the Provider under the terms of the Acceptance, and subject to the right of withdrawal referred to in section 3, the Customer will be deemed to be definitively and irrevocably committed to the Provider.
7. RE-ENROLMENT
7.1. Once a year, before the end of the school year (around the months of March to May), the Provider will send the Customer a written communication, which may be delivered by hand, by post or by e-mail, with the aim of providing the Customer, for the following school year, with all the information set out in section 2.1 (hereinafter referred to as the "Re-Enrolment Notification") and, in addition:
a. The possibility of formalising the re-enrolment for the new school year (hereinafter referred to as the "Re-enrolment"), both at the School or remotely by electronic means, by completing the Enrolment Contract.
b. The express mention that:
(i) Upon acceptance by the School, the return of the duly completed Enrolment Contract implies the Customer's acceptance of the General Terms and Conditions and the obligation to pay by the price of the new course in accordance with the conditions set out in the Special Conditions;
(ii) Upon acceptance of the Enrolment Contract by the Provider, the terms and conditions of the -Enrolment Contract (which shall be deemed to be Special Conditions), together with the General Terms and Conditions, shall govern the relationship between the Parties until the end of the new subscribed course;
(iii) The Provider will send its Acceptance to the Customer, for the Customer's records, on a durable medium.
Without prejudice to the Provider's return of acceptance of the Enrolment Contract to the Customer in accordance with the provisions of this section 7.1, the Provider is obliged, in any event, to keep a scanned copy of the Customer's Enrolment Contract and its Acceptance by the Provider in the School, as proof of enrolment.
7.2. The regulations relating to distance contracts by electronic means in force at any time are applicable to the re-enrolment, where applicable.
8. COMPLAINTS - CONSUMER OMBUDSMAN
8.1. The Customer may submit any complaint relating to the Services using the complaint forms available for this purpose in the school.
8.2. In accordance with the applicable laws, the Customer has the right to have free recourse to a consumer ombudsman.
9. RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PROVIDER AND THE CUSTOMER
9.1. The Provider is liable to the Customer for the Services provided. All students enrolled in the courses are insured and under the responsibility of the Provider or its partners during the provision of the Services, with the exception of Babies (Mousy and Linda) who are accompanied by their parents or an authorised adult. Babies will therefore be insured and under the responsibility of their parents or an authorised adult. Pupils are the responsibility of their parents and/or the person authorised to collect them as soon as they leave the facilities of the Provider or its partners at the end of the Services.
9.2. Under no circumstances will the Provider be liable for any damage resulting from or caused, in whole or in part, by any misrepresentation, concealment or other wilful or negligent conduct of the Customer, or which is not in accordance with the principles of good faith.
9.3. To the extent permitted by law, the Provider declines all responsibility for theft, damage to its premises, whether intentional or not, and loss of personal belongings that may be committed, caused or carried out during the opening hours of the Kids&Us Centre(s) managed by the Provider. The Service Provider cannot be considered the custodian of items lost or abandoned by customers on its premises. Any Materials brought in by the Customer during opening hours remain the sole responsibility of the Customer. The same applies to Materials lost or abandoned by the Customer on the service provider's premises.
9.4. Any claim that the Provider is liable to the Customer must be made in writing, stating in sufficient detail the nature of the claim and the amount claimed.
9.5. The Provider shall only be liable to the Customer. It is not liable for any damage caused by third parties or to third parties.
9.6. Under no circumstances may the Provider's liability be excluded for actions or omissions for which the Law or regulations provide otherwise.
9.7. The Customer must use the premises and Materials made available by the Provider "with due care", i.e. as a normally prudent and diligent person, in accordance with the bylaws.
9.8. The Provider reserves the right to ban access to one or more courses, either temporarily or permanently, in accordance with section 11.
9.9. Any damage will be billed to the perpetrator of the act or, in the case of a minor child, to the child's legal representative, without prejudice to any additional damages that the Provider may deem to be due.
10. TERMINATION OF SERVICES BY THE CUSTOMER. STUDENTS UNENROLEMENT
10.1. The Customer may terminate their relationship with the Provider at any time and the student may therefore stop attending the course for which they are enrolled at any time by notifying the school management in writing.
10.2. The amounts paid for Enrolment and for Materials, or any other amount paid as a course fee, are non-refundable, except where the Customer withdraws from the Contract in accordance with the conditions set out in section 3, or if the Customer terminates the Contract as a result of a breach by the Provider.
Consequently, if the effective date of the cancellation, or of the student's enrolment, does not coincide with the last day of classes in the current monthly period, the Customer will not be able to request reimbursement of any amount for this period, even if they have not received all the classes in the aforementioned period. However, once the Contract has been terminated, the Customer is not obliged to pay any subsequent monthly instalments.
11. TERMINATION OF SERVICES BY THE PROVIDER
11.1 The Provider may temporarily suspend or terminate this Contract and definitively end the provision of the Services if (i) the Customer fails to meet their payment obligations under the Contract despite a first reminder; (ii) the student repeatedly shows a lack of discipline or acts to the detriment of the smooth running of the course, despite the Provider's warning. In this case, the Customer is not entitled to reimbursement of any amounts paid as compensation for the damage caused.
12. FORCE MAJEURE
12.1. If the School closes or is unable to provide the Services due to force majeure, the Provider will offer the Customer an entirely digital service, with 100% online content or synchronous classes, depending on the course.
12.2. The digital method will be duly communicated to the Customer and will not lead to any change in the economic consideration agreed in the Special Conditions of the course. In this case, the digital training material will include private access to the Kids&Us e-learning platform.
12.3. For the purposes hereof, "force majeure" means any unforeseeable and unavoidable fact, circumstance or event (however it is caused) which prevents the provision of the Services, provided that the Provider is not responsible for it and that there is a causal link between the inability to provide the Services and the aforementioned fact, circumstance or event.
13. DATA PROTECTION
13.1 Information about:
(i) the identification and contact details of the data controllers;
(ii) the processing of the Client and the student’s personal data, including but not limited to, the categories of personal data, the purposes of the processing, the recipients and retention periods of the personal data;
(iii) the Client and the student’s rights with respect to their and the student’s personal data and how to exercise them; and
(iv) the recording and use of the voice and image of the student
is provided in the attached document "Alpha Card".
2.1 APPLICABLE LAW AND JURISDICTION
2.1 The Contract is governed by Belgian law.
2.2 Should a dispute arise between the parties, they undertake to make every effort to resolve it by means of an Alternative Dispute Resolution Method, and principally by civil or commercial mediation.
2.3 In the event that mediation fails or is refused by one of the parties, the parties agree and accept that the courts with jurisdiction to rule on the negotiation, interpretation, conclusion, performance and termination of this contract shall be the courts of the place where the Service Provider's registered office is located.