Terms of Service

Last updated: 17 August 2026.

These Terms of Service explain the agreement between Pemberton Academy ("the Academy", "we", "us") and each person who visits the website, creates an account, arranges tuition, attends a lesson, teaches through the Academy or otherwise uses our services. Please read them together with our Privacy Policy and Refund and Cancellation Policy.

Contents

1. About these terms
2. Who may use the service
3. What the Academy provides
4. Lesson requests and tutor matching
5. Prices, invoices and payment
6. Rescheduling, cancellations and refunds
7. Online lessons and technology
8. Accounts and security
9. Acceptable use and conduct
10. WhatsApp, email and AI-assisted replies
11. Lesson materials and intellectual property
12. Privacy, transcripts and data deletion
13. Safeguarding
14. Service availability and changes
15. Educational outcomes
16. Responsibility and consumer rights
17. Suspension and ending the service
18. Changes to these terms
19. Applicable law and disputes
20. Contact

1. About these terms

By creating an account, asking us to begin paid work, paying an invoice or using the service, you agree to these terms. If you arrange tuition for somebody else, including a child, you confirm that you are authorised to do so and to provide the information needed to deliver that tuition.

Nothing in these terms removes a right or remedy that applicable consumer law says cannot be excluded.

2. Who may use the service

The account holder must be an adult capable of entering into the agreement. A child does not hold their own Academy account. Their parent or guardian creates and manages the account, provides the student's details, arranges the timetable and is responsible for payment and communications with the Academy.

Tutors and tutor applicants must provide accurate information about their identity, experience, qualifications, availability and right to provide the services for which they apply.

3. What the Academy provides

The Academy provides one-to-one online tutoring, tutor matching, lesson scheduling, academic preparation and related digital services. Standard is one-to-one tutoring through the Academy's selective tutor network. Premium uses the same tutor network and adds personalised handwritten lesson notes. Where the live catalogue shows the Premium waiting list, new places are capacity-limited. The typical wait is around three months, but this is an estimate, not a guarantee, and timing varies by subject, level and tutor fit. The subjects, levels, plans, prices and benefits currently available are those shown in the live catalogue when an order or invoice is prepared.

A Premium offer belongs only to the verified parent account shown in the offer. It may cover the requested subjects, a subset of them or, where the parent has expressly agreed to hear about suitable alternatives, a suitable alternative selected by an Academy administrator. An alternative offer will explain what is different; it is never accepted automatically.

The current Standard description does not reduce any lesson-note benefit that was expressly included when an earlier Standard agreement was confirmed. Those existing agreement benefits continue on their original terms unless the family and Academy agree otherwise.

Some features are optional or may be introduced gradually. A feature shown in a test, preview or beta environment is not part of the paid service unless we expressly confirm that it is available to you.

4. Lesson requests and tutor matching

A preferred time, enquiry, draft plan or booking request is not by itself a confirmed lesson. Confirmation depends on the applicable payment being confirmed, a suitable tutor being matched and the Academy confirming the lesson details. A tutor assignment or Google Meet link may follow after payment.

We will take reasonable care when matching a tutor to the student's subject, level and availability, but we do not promise a particular tutor until that assignment is confirmed. Tutor continuity can change because of availability, safeguarding, illness or operational requirements.

5. Prices, invoices and payment

Prices are shown in the market and currency selected for the account. Recurring monthly tuition is calculated from the confirmed lessons that occur in the relevant calendar month, so the total can vary with the number of scheduled lesson dates in that month.

Payments are processed by Stripe. Card details are entered on Stripe's pages and are not stored in the Academy's database. You remain responsible for paying valid invoices by their due date and for keeping billing and contact details accurate.

A Premium offer grants temporary access to arrange the exact classes listed; it does not freeze their price. We show and recheck the current live price for the account's market before payment, and the recurring agreement records the rate actually confirmed.

6. Rescheduling, cancellations and refunds

Requests to move or cancel a lesson are governed by our Refund and Cancellation Policy. A proposed replacement time is not confirmed until the other required party and the Academy have approved it. Late cancellations and no-shows may remain chargeable, subject to the published policy and applicable law.

If the Academy cannot provide a confirmed lesson, the remedies described in the Refund and Cancellation Policy apply. Statutory cancellation and refund rights continue to apply where the law provides them.

7. Online lessons and technology

Lessons are normally delivered through Google Meet and scheduled through Google Calendar. You are responsible for a suitable device, internet connection and a quiet, safe environment. Meeting links must not be published or shared with somebody who is not authorised to attend.

Technology can fail. If a material technical problem prevents a lesson, contact the Academy promptly so that we can assess an appropriate rescheduling or other remedy under the published policy.

8. Accounts and security

You must provide accurate information, keep sign-in credentials and verification codes confidential, and tell us promptly if you believe an account has been accessed without permission. You are responsible for activity carried out through your account unless it results from a failure for which the Academy is legally responsible.

Do not create an account in another person's name or attempt to obtain access to another family's, student's, tutor's or administrator's information.

9. Acceptable use and conduct

Everyone using the service must behave respectfully and lawfully. You must not harass or threaten a student, tutor or member of staff; share harmful, unlawful or infringing material; interfere with the website or its security; probe private systems; evade access controls or usage limits; automate abusive traffic; or use messages or prompts to obtain confidential instructions, credentials or information belonging to somebody else.

Lessons must not be recorded, redistributed or observed by an undisclosed third party unless the Academy and all legally required participants have agreed.

10. WhatsApp, email and AI-assisted replies

We may contact you by email, through the website or through our registered WhatsApp Business account about enquiries, bookings, lessons, payments, safeguarding and support. If a parent joins the Premium waiting list, we may send the waiting-list and availability updates they requested for the selected market, level, exam board and subjects. Those updates are not permission for general marketing unless the parent separately opts in, and the request can be withdrawn through the contact page or Delete Your Data.

Where enabled, an automated assistant may help answer general questions about the Academy. Automated replies can be incomplete or mistaken and are not a substitute for a confirmed booking, invoice, tutor decision or advice from a member of staff. The assistant cannot take payment, create or change an account, or confirm a lesson unless the Academy later introduces and expressly identifies a feature that is authorised to do so.

11. Lesson materials and intellectual property

The Academy and its tutors retain their rights in lesson notes, teaching materials, website content, designs and other original work. When materials are released to an account, the account holder and named student receive a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use them for that student's private study.

Personalised handwritten lesson notes are a Premium benefit only where the family's Premium place has been expressly confirmed. Standard tutoring does not include a promise of personalised lesson notes.

You must not sell, publish, redistribute, upload to a shared repository, remove ownership notices from or commercially exploit Academy materials without written permission. You retain rights in material you provide to us and give the Academy permission to use it only as needed to deliver, administer and safeguard the service.

12. Privacy, transcripts and data deletion

Our Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we use it, which service providers handle it and how long it is retained. Our Delete Your Data page explains how to request deletion.

Lesson transcription is optional. It is not enabled for every lesson and depends on the Academy's privacy controls, the required acknowledgement and Google's availability. Where a transcript is captured, access and retention follow the Privacy Policy.

The website measures its own traffic and performance. That measurement is for analytics purposes only: to see how many people reach the site, which pages they read and how well those pages perform. It is not used for advertising, ad targeting, profiling, automated decision-making or price setting, it is not sold or shared with an advertising network or data broker, and the Academy runs no advertising or conversion pixel and no session-recording tool. The Privacy Policy describes the measurement in full.

13. Safeguarding

The safety of children and vulnerable people takes priority. The Academy may interrupt a lesson, restrict access, preserve relevant records or contact an appropriate person or authority where reasonably necessary to respond to a safeguarding concern or legal duty.

14. Service availability and changes

Joining the Premium waiting list does not reserve a place, create a paid service or guarantee when a place will be offered. The typical wait is around three months, but this is an estimate, not a guarantee, and timing varies by subject, level and tutor fit. The Academy will confirm separately when it can offer Premium for the requested subjects and syllabus.

After successful delivery, a Premium offer is normally open for seven days to accept or decline. An accepted Premium offer normally gives a further seven days to start each booking listed in it. The exact deadline shown in the parent account controls. Declining an offer or letting it expire does not buy anything, and the waiting-list place remains active unless the parent separately withdraws it. Accepting an offer is not payment and does not itself confirm a lesson or tutor.

We aim to keep the service available and information accurate, but websites, payment services, messaging providers and video platforms sometimes experience interruption. We may maintain, replace or change a feature where reasonably necessary for security, reliability, legal compliance or service improvement.

We will not materially reduce a paid service already owed to you without providing an appropriate alternative, credit or refund where required by the agreement or applicable law.

15. Educational outcomes

Tuition provides educational support and preparation. Academic progress also depends on attendance, effort, prior knowledge, school provision and other circumstances outside the Academy's control. We do not guarantee a particular grade, examination result, admission decision, scholarship or rate of improvement.

16. Responsibility and consumer rights

Neither party is responsible for a failure caused by circumstances genuinely outside its reasonable control. The Academy does not exclude or limit responsibility where doing so would be unlawful, including responsibility for fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, or death or personal injury caused by negligence.

Where the law permits a limitation, the Academy is responsible only for loss that was a reasonably foreseeable result of breaching these terms or failing to use reasonable care. Mandatory consumer protections and remedies are unaffected.

17. Suspension and ending the service

We may suspend or end access where reasonably necessary because of non-payment, serious or repeated misconduct, a safeguarding concern, unlawful activity, security risk or a material breach of these terms. Where appropriate, we will explain the reason and allow a reasonable opportunity to correct the problem.

Ending the service does not remove payment obligations already incurred, rights in materials already supplied, required record retention, or any other term intended to continue after the service ends.

18. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms to reflect changes in the service, law, security or providers. The current version and its last-updated date will remain published here. If a change materially affects an existing paid service, we will provide reasonable notice where required.

19. Applicable law and disputes

These terms are governed by the law that applies to the agreement between you and the Academy. Nothing in this section prevents a consumer from relying on mandatory protections or bringing a claim in a court or forum that applicable law makes available to them.

Please contact us first if a dispute arises so that we have an opportunity to understand and resolve it.

20. Contact

Questions about these terms can be sent through the contact page, our registered WhatsApp account, or email at support@pembertonacademy.com. Please include the account, booking or invoice reference where relevant.