Parent Contract Update September 2022

Dear Parents

Updates to our Parent Contract

Woodhouse Grove’s parent charity, The Methodist Independent Schools Trust (MIST), has undertaken a full review of all its Member schools Parent Contracts. In the case of Woodhouse Grove, our Parent Contract was last updated in 2017 and the School updates its terms and conditions from time to time to ensure that they remain up to date. In light of this review, you will find below a download of the School’s updated Parent Contract. The updated terms and conditions will take effect from 1 September 2022.

The updated Parent Contract is based on the Independent Schools Bursars’ Association template which is the industry standard and represents best practice for independent schools in the UK. It is updated regularly to ensure that it is and remains compliant with consumer law requirements, including on fairness and transparency.

The changes that have been made to the Parent Contract are evolutionary and not revolutionary, and the improvements are generally to clarify points where there has previously been confusion or to otherwise reflect legal and regulatory developments. As you will see, most of the changes seek to ensure that the Parent Contract remains as balanced, accessible and user-friendly as possible; most importantly, we are not intending to fundamentally change the terms upon which we provide educational services to your child.

Please read the updated Parent Contract carefully. By way of summary, some of the key changes include:

• simplification and/or clarification of wording, particularly in relation to: your obligation to provide sufficient notice (or pay fees in lieu of notice) if you intend to withdraw your child from the School; parental and payment responsibilities; how bursaries and scholarships are treated; what happens if your child is suspended, excluded or removed from the School; your obligations to notify the School of your child’s medical/health conditions and/or special educational needs; and the ways in which the School may collect, process and use your and your child’s personal data;
• the School’s ability to request additional and/or further information from you, for example in relation to your identity, residence and source of funds. This reflects changes to the regulatory environment in which we operate;
• updates to references to immigration processes and student sponsorship, to reflect changes to the immigration system;
• updates to certain clauses to reflect ‘lessons learned’ from the Covid-19 pandemic, including to provide more clarity as to the possibility of pupils being required to study from home; the definition of events “outside of our or your control”; and the ability of the School to transition to remote education in certain circumstances.

If anything in the updated version of our Parent Contract is unclear or you would like to have anything further explained to you, then please email contract@woodhousegrove.co.uk .

Please note that you are not required to sign the new Parent Contract (no action is required)  – it comes into effect and replaces the current version of the Parent Contract automatically on 1 September 2022.

Yours sincerely

Mr James Lockwood MA
Headmaster