Terms and conditions of sale

1. Purpose and acceptance

These terms and conditions of sale govern the whole of the relationship between KRIBA LLC, société de droit américain (Limited Liability Company), État du Wyoming (États-Unis), which operates the school under the ZAD International name (“the School” or “we”), and any person enrolling a child in its online teaching (“the Family” or “you”).

The address of the registered office and all of the School’s contact details appear in the legal notice, which forms an integral part of these terms.

Enrolment constitutes full and unreserved acceptance of these terms. The Family acknowledges having read them before submitting its application for admission and confirms that it has capacity to contract on behalf of the child enrolled. Where parental responsibility is exercised jointly, the person enrolling the child warrants to the School that they are acting with the agreement of the other holder.

These terms prevail over any other document, exchange, message or oral statement, and in particular over indicative information appearing on the website, in presentation materials or in conversations with an advisor. No departure from these terms binds the School unless agreed by it in writing.

2. Definitions

• School year: the teaching period announced by the School for the year in question, the calendar, teaching periods and holiday periods of which the School alone determines.
• Services: the online teaching, the learning resources, the follow-up and the tools made available in the family area.
• Place: the enrolment of a student at a given level and on a given programme for one school year, confirmed by payment of the deposit.
• Student: the child enrolled, who remains at all times the responsibility of the Family.

3. Nature of our services

The School deploys the teaching, human and technical resources it considers necessary to the student’s progress. It undertakes an obligation to use its best endeavours, and not an obligation to achieve a particular result.

It follows that the School does not guarantee, without this list being exhaustive:

• that the student will pass an examination, a test or an assessment;
• the award of a diploma, an equivalence, a certificate of attainment, or admission to another institution;
• that any particular level, average mark, rate of progress or educational pathway will be reached;
• recognition of the schooling followed by any administrative authority, whatever the Family’s country of residence.

A student’s progress depends on their own work, their attendance and their family’s involvement. The School cannot be answerable for an inadequate result attributable, in whole or in part, to a lack of work, of attendance or of supervision at home.

Enrolling with the School does not relieve the Family of the obligations incumbent on it under the law applicable where it resides, in particular as regards education, declaration and inspection. These remain the Family’s own responsibility. The School gives no legal, tax or administrative advice.

4. Application for admission

An application submitted through the website constitutes neither an enrolment nor a reservation. The School considers each application and remains free to accept or refuse it without giving reasons, in particular where the level is unsuitable, the class is full, the information given is inaccurate, or there is a history of non-payment.

Enrolment becomes firm only once the School has expressly accepted it and the deposit has been received. The Place is then held for the school year concerned.

The Family warrants the accuracy of the information provided. Any inaccurate statement as to the identity, age, actual level or circumstances of the student entitles the School to terminate the enrolment immediately under article 11, without refund.

5. Annual commitment

Accordingly, the whole of the sums due for the year — at the price of the payment option taken — remains payable, and no amount paid is returned, in each of the following cases:

• the student leaves or stops attending during the year, for any reason whatsoever;
• the student enrols at another institution, online or on site, during the year;
• relocation, change of country, change of time zone, or change in family circumstances;
• absences of the student, however prolonged;
• loss of interest on the student’s part, disagreement over teaching, or a decision to organise the child’s education differently;
• exclusion pronounced under article 11;
• technical difficulty on the Family’s side: equipment, connection, power cut or loss of internet access.

Ceasing to attend, for however long, amounts neither to termination, nor to a request to terminate, nor to acceptance of a termination by the School. The School’s silence never amounts to a waiver of the sums due.

Enrolment does not renew automatically: a fresh enrolment is required for each school year.

6. Fees, registration fee and deposit

Fees are expressed in euros, inclusive of all taxes, and are per student and per school year. The fee that applies is the one in force on the day enrolment becomes firm. The School sets its fees freely for each new school year.

One price per payment option, fixed at enrolment

Each payment option — in one instalment, in three or in ten — has its own price, announced before enrolment and fixed definitively on the day enrolment becomes firm. Payment in one instalment is the lowest: it corresponds to payment in full and immediately.

Registration fee

A registration fee of €39 is payable on enrolment. It covers the processing of the application and the opening of access. It belongs to the School and is not refundable in any circumstances, including where the enrolment does not proceed or the Family withdraws from it.

Deposit

A deposit of €100 confirms the student’s Place. It is set off against the annual amount. It is the consideration for holding a place in a class of limited size and for that place being unavailable to another family: it belongs definitively to the School and is never returned, including where the student does not attend at the start of the year.

Costs not included

Textbooks, stationery, computer equipment, internet access, examination entry fees and any travel or accommodation costs connected with sitting an examination remain the sole responsibility of the Family.

Sibling discount

The sibling discount is applied at enrolment, on the basis of the household as declared. If one of the children leaves during the year, the discount granted to the other children is recalculated for the future, and the Family may not claim any adjustment or repayment in respect of periods already elapsed.

7. Payment and late payment

Payment is made according to the option chosen at enrolment and agreed with an advisor. Instalments are payable on their due dates, without discount.

No late-payment interest is charged. The School charges neither interest nor any penalty indexed to the length of the delay: the price remains the one set at enrolment, whatever the date on which it is paid.

No set-off, retention or suspension of payment may be raised against the School, in particular on the ground of a pending dispute, an absence of the student, or dissatisfaction with the teaching.

Suspension of access to lessons

Failing regularisation, the School may suspend the student’s access to lessons. Such suspension takes effect only after written and dated prior notice, sent to the Family and permanently available in the family area.

The following remain accessible throughout the suspension:

• messaging with the School — it is through this that the position is regularised;
• the student’s file;
• marks and reports already earned, which record work done and are therefore never withdrawn.

Access is restored immediately and automatically once payment is received. Suspension does not suspend any instalment: the sums due remain payable in full.

No information concerning payment — amount, delay, reminder or reason — is communicated to the student. Those exchanges take place with the Family alone.

8. Timetable

The School organises teaching as it sees fit and may, at any point in the year and without this constituting a variation of the contract, adjust:

• lesson times and days, including to accommodate time zones;
• the length and number of lessons, and the allocation between subjects;
• the composition of classes, the grouping of levels and the size of groups;
• the teacher in charge of a subject or a group;
• the tools, the platform and the materials used.

None of these changes gives rise to any reduction in fees, refund, credit note or right to terminate the enrolment. The Family is informed of changes through the family area or by its advisor.

The School reserves the right not to open a level, a group or an option for which numbers are insufficient. It then offers to place the student in another suitable group or level. If no solution can be offered before the start of the school year, and in that case only, the sums paid in respect of that level are returned, excluding the registration fee.

9. Absences and missed lessons

Absence of the student

Any lesson not attended by the student, for whatever reason, is payable and is not made up, deferred, deducted or refunded. The same applies to late connection, disconnection during a lesson, or any technical impossibility on the Family’s side.

Where a replay is offered for a subject, it is made available as a convenience. Its availability, how long it is kept and its quality are not guaranteed, and its absence does not constitute a breach by the School.

Lesson not delivered by the School

The organisation of teaching rests with the School alone. A lesson that is not delivered gives rise to no reduction in fees, no refund and no compensation.

10. Obligations of the family and the student

Online teaching presupposes genuine commitment from the student and the family. The following are contractual obligations, compliance with which conditions the continuation of the enrolment:

• to connect to lessons on time, in conditions allowing the lesson to be followed, and for their full duration;
• to complete the homework, exercises, assessments and work set, and to submit them by the deadlines given;
• to have adequate equipment and an adequate internet connection, and to maintain them;
• on the Family’s side, to see to the student’s working conditions at home;
• on the part of the student and of the Family alike, to behave respectfully towards teachers, staff and other students, in lessons and in messaging;
• to respond within a reasonable time to the School’s enquiries concerning the student;
• not to record, capture, broadcast or share any lesson, document or exchange, on the terms of articles 18 and 19.

11. Work, warnings and exclusion

The School supports students who are struggling. It cannot, however, keep a student who does no work at all: places are limited, the group suffers, and the support becomes pointless.

Procedure

Before any final measure, the School follows a graduated procedure, save in the case of serious misconduct:

• 1. Discussion — an advisor or the teacher contacts the Family to set out the position and agree the steps to be taken.
• 2. Written warning — if matters do not improve, a warning is sent to the Family, setting out the facts found and the School’s expectations.
• 3. Period of review — the student is given time to put matters right, together with a follow-up meeting.
• 4. Exclusion — at the end of that period, the School may permanently exclude the student. The decision is notified to the Family in writing.

Grounds

Exclusion may in particular be pronounced in the event of:

• repeated failure to submit work, or work plainly not done by the student;
• repeated absence, unjustified or unnotified;
• behaviour disrupting lessons, or disrespectful towards a teacher, a member of staff or another student;
• words or conduct contrary to the School’s values or liable to harm the calm of the group;
• cheating in an assessment, or impersonation during a lesson;
• unauthorised recording, capture or broadcasting of a lesson, a document or an exchange;
• sharing login details or giving access to a third party who is not enrolled;
• persistent non-payment;
• an inaccurate statement within the meaning of article 4.

In the event of serious misconduct, in particular violence, threats, hateful words or the dissemination of content, exclusion is immediate and without prior warning.

The School may also suspend the student’s access to lessons as a precaution while a matter is being looked into. Suspension does not suspend any payment instalment.

12. No refunds

Subject only to the right to withdraw provided for in article 13 and to the non-opening of a level provided for in article 8, no amount paid to the School is refundable, and the whole of the annual amount remains due.

This applies in particular where the student leaves during the year, enrols at another institution, relocates, is absent, is excluded, disagrees with the teaching, encounters a technical difficulty on the Family’s side, or where a force majeure event occurs within the meaning of article 14.

No deferral of the schooling to a later year, no transfer of the enrolment to another student and no conversion into a credit note may be demanded. These are goodwill gestures which the School remains free to grant or to refuse, without any such decision creating a precedent.

13. Right to withdraw

Where the Family contracts as a consumer and the applicable law affords it a right to withdraw, that right may be exercised within fourteen days from the day on which enrolment became firm.

Withdrawal is exercised by an unambiguous statement sent to contact@zad-education.com before that period expires. After that period, no right to withdraw subsists and the annual commitment provided for in article 5 takes full effect.

Where the Family asks for the services to begin before the end of the fourteen-day period, it remains liable for the amount corresponding to the services supplied up to the point at which its withdrawal is communicated. The registration fee, which pays for the processing of the application already fully carried out, belongs to the School.

14. Force majeure

A force majeure event means any event beyond the School’s control which makes the performance of its obligations impossible or substantially more difficult, including: armed conflict, civil unrest, natural disaster, epidemic or public-health measure, decision of a public authority, restriction of access to the internet, failure of a telecommunications operator, internet service provider, hosting provider or technical supplier, cyber-attack, prolonged power cut, industrial action, and the sudden unavailability of a teacher through illness or a serious personal circumstance.

The occurrence of such an event suspends the School’s obligations for its duration, without engaging its liability. The School adapts the organisation of teaching as it sees fit, and no such adaptation constitutes a failure to perform.

Should the impediment continue beyond sixty consecutive days, the parties shall confer on the conditions for continuing the year. The School may then offer to defer the schooling or to issue a credit note usable in the following school year. This measure excludes any refund in cash.

15. Liability

The School’s liability may be engaged only where a failure to use its best endeavours is proved, and only in respect of direct and foreseeable loss.

The following are expressly excluded from any compensation:

• indirect loss, in particular loss of opportunity, educational prejudice, delay in a course of study, loss of time or distress;
• the consequences of a failure of equipment, connection or power supply, or of a fault in the Family’s own equipment;
• the consequences of an interruption, slowdown or unavailability of the platform, of a third-party service or of a network;
• the consequences of a refusal of admission, equivalence or recognition by another institution or authority;
• the consequences of an academic result, an educational pathway or a failure in an examination.

In any event, and on whatever basis, the School’s total liability is capped at the sums actually received in respect of the student concerned for the current school year.

The website’s automated assistant does not bind the School. The website offers an automated conversational assistant. Its answers are provided for guidance only: they are neither contractual information nor a commitment by the School, and they never prevail over these terms, the pages of the website, or what an advisor communicates. If an assistant’s answer diverges from these documents, the documents prevail. Any information that matters to the Family’s decision must be confirmed with an advisor before enrolment.

Any complaint must be made within thirty days of the event giving rise to it. After that period it is time-barred.

16. Supervision of the student at home

As the teaching is delivered remotely, the student remains at all times in the exclusive care and under the exclusive responsibility of their family. The School exercises no physical supervision and assumes no duty of care of the person.

It is for the Family to ensure the student’s safety, to supervise their use of the internet and of equipment, and to take whatever protective measures are appropriate to their age. The School is not answerable for any harm occurring at the student’s home or in connection with their use of the internet.

17. Accounts and login details

Access to the family area is strictly personal, given by name, and non-transferable. The Family is responsible for keeping it confidential and for any use made of it.

Sharing login details, giving access to a third party who is not enrolled, or any attempt at unauthorised access entitles the School to suspend access immediately and to terminate the enrolment under article 11, without refund.

18. Intellectual property

All teaching content, materials, exercises, assessments, methods, recordings, trade marks and elements of the website remain the exclusive property of the School or of its partners.

Enrolment grants the student a licence to use them which is strictly personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable, limited to the school year and to the needs of their own schooling.

The following are prohibited without prior written authorisation: reproduction, distribution, publication online, resale, sharing on a storage space or a group messaging service, and any exploitation for teaching purposes by a third party. Any breach results in immediate termination of the enrolment, without refund, and without prejudice to any proceedings the School may bring.

19. Image, sound and recording

Students’ cameras are switched off by default during lessons. The School does not broadcast any image or voice of a student outside the teaching setting of their class.

The student, and anyone present alongside them, is prohibited from recording, filming, photographing, capturing the screen or retransmitting a lesson, a teacher, another student or an exchange, by any means whatsoever. This prohibition survives the end of the enrolment.

20. Personal data

The data collected is processed solely for the purposes of the schooling, of educational follow-up, of invoicing and of the relationship with the Family. It is neither sold nor transferred to third parties for commercial purposes.

How the data is processed, how long it is kept and how to exercise your rights are set out in our privacy policy.

21. Changes to these terms

The School may change these terms at any time. The version applying to an enrolment is the one accepted on the day that enrolment became firm, and it continues to apply until the end of the school year concerned.

Changes required by a change in the law apply immediately to all current enrolments.

22. Complaints and mediation

Any complaint must be sent in writing to contact@zad-education.com, within the period provided for in article 15. The School endeavours to reply within a reasonable time.

Before any legal proceedings, the parties undertake to seek an amicable solution. The Family is invited to set out its request in writing; the School then has a reasonable time in which to reply.

Where the law applicable where the Family resides affords it free recourse to a consumer mediation body, the details of the relevant procedure are provided on written request to contact@zad-education.com.

23. General provisions

Severability. If any provision of these terms is held void or unenforceable, the remaining provisions retain their full effect, and the provision concerned is replaced by a valid clause of as close an economic effect as possible.

No waiver. The School’s failure to rely on a breach amounts neither to a waiver of its right to rely on it later, nor to a variation of these terms.

Evidence. The School’s electronic records — connections, messages sent, work submitted, exchanges in the family area — are evidence as between the parties of the operations and dates they record.

Assignment. The enrolment may not be assigned by the Family. The School may assign the contract in the event of a restructuring or a transfer of its business.

24. Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms are governed by the law of the État du Wyoming (États-Unis), the place of the School’s registered office, excluding its conflict-of-laws rules.

That choice does not deprive a Family contracting as a consumer of the protection afforded to it by the mandatory provisions of the law of the country where it is habitually resident. To that extent, and to that extent only, those provisions prevail over the law designated in the preceding paragraph.

Failing an amicable resolution under article 22, any dispute falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the État du Wyoming (États-Unis). Where the Family contracts as a consumer and the rules of jurisdiction applicable where it resides reserve to it the right to bring proceedings before the courts of that place, that right remains available to it.