Fees and Refund Policy 003.15
Falcon British Nursery is an education service industry that abides by all the government regulation requirements. This policy covers all times a child is on our premises. We are UK accredited and are rated as an ADEK high value school. Our aim is to offer high quality education and day-care and a safe and stimulating environment at a reasonable price for children in the UAE and to support working parents. We publish our fees online as an accreditation requirement and for transparency.
1. Overview:
Our nursery runs on termly registrations and not daily or weekly. Parents register their children for a term in an academic year. Registration forms are available in paper form and online. Fees are payable by term and not by month or day. Anyone who wishes to register for a subsequent sequential term will not need to pay the registration fee again. All documents need to have been submitted and forms completed in order for placement for that term to be confirmed. Parents need to update all outdated or expired documents or information as soon as they have changed it because parents are responsible for keeping their documents and contact details up to date. If you are registering for an additional term, you will be asked to check your details before full payment is received. Physical Emirates IDs need to be provided to the nursery in order for children to be registered on the ADEK ESis system. Transferring at the end of the term out of the nursery for whatever reason or to another education institution – either school or nursery – will require us to transfer your child on the ESis system. All fees are required to be paid in full prior to child being permitted access onto the Falcon British Nursery premises when starting the term or the prorated term. An approved place confirmation, along with the orientation pack will be sent by the registrar via email for the term you have registered for. Without an email confirmation from the registrar, the place for your child is not confirmed. Parents are asked to bring their child for a play date / settling in session at a date and time agreed with the registrar prior to starting at Falcon at no extra cost. For children of determination, our support team will meet with you and your child during a free play session to assess if our school is equipped to support your child’s additional needs. For children of determination, monthly meetings will be held with parents to assess the student’s progress. The non-refundable once-off fees are due at time of the registration application. Voluntary fees are fees parents are not required to pay for. Fees for school merchandise, external merchandise, extended co-curricular activities, external services and transport fees are all voluntary and require a separate application form. Events and our Falcon extended learning activities in the afternoons or during school are free with school fees and parents can bring their own merchandise like food containers from home if they wish. Please check your school Falcon Gazette or the parent app to see when special events occur. If your child attends less than 5 days a week, they can attend any activity/event at the time of the event without paying extra, even if it is on a day your child does not usually attend. If the doctor’s visit is on a day your child does not usually attend, you will not be charged additional for leaving your child to see the doctor during the visit.
2. Payment of Term Fees:
For returning students, the full term fees for the following term are due one month before the end of term. This is usually 15th November, 28th February and 31st May. To support working parents, a month prior to the end of current term, parents requesting the place to be held for the following term can avail our holding fee clause instead of paying the full term whereby only 10% of the following term’s term fees will be paid one month before the end of the term, which is deductible from the following term’s full fee. Without the full term fee or 10% of the fee being paid as a holding fee one month before the end of the current term for the following term, the place for the next term is not secure and new children on the waiting list will be given the option of the placement for the following term. The remainder of the 90% of the fees outstanding for the child are due to be paid before the first day for the following term as per the date on the invoice. If the 10% of the term fee has been paid prior to the child starting and the remaining percentage of the school fees is not paid by the start date on the invoice, the place will be cancelled due to non-attendance and non payment of the full term fee. For children who arrive mid term, who have not paid their full term fees for the term, the place will not be held from the start of term due to lack of payment. Any child not taking the place by the end of the first week of the term / start date, after the place holding fee has been paid, will lose their place to a waiting list child due to non payment of full term fees. Withdrawing a child midterm will incur a 10% admin fee and the remaining fees for the weeks not used will be refunded to the person / company who/that paid for the placement as per the refund point 3.
If starting mid term, new registrations do not need to pay the full term fees for the whole term as we offer a prorated system from week 3 onwards. Prorated fees take into account the week the student started. If a student starts at Falcon British Nursery in week 7 of the 12-week term, only the 5 weeks remaining will be paid – for example. For new registrations securing a place for their first time at Falcon British Nursery, the registration fee of 1000- AED needs to be paid at time of booking the child’s place. This is a once off registration fee and is non-refundable. Parents securing the place for the first time will pay 10% of the fees as a holding fee along with the registration fee to secure the place. This is a once off fee and is nondeductible and non-refundable. For returning students, arriving mid-term will not be grounds for prorated fees. Prorated fees are only provided with the non-refundable registration fees.
3. Refunds:
Students who have paid the term fees and who withdraw from Falcon British Nursery after the student start date on the invoice will be provided with a refund for the full weeks remaining of the term. Any request is based on the date as per the email received and addressed to registrar@falconbritishnursery.com or principal@falconbritishnursery.com. The nonrefundable fees are not refundable to the parent or company. Withdrawing mid-term and receiving a refund means parents will need to re-register their child if they bring them back later in the term, later in the year or in another academic year. Transferring term fees before the start of a term to another term will not incur an admin fee. Refunds will only be made to the company / person that/who paid the fees. Fees paid by a company cannot be refunded back to an individual. The full term fees credited to the school by the credit card company will be refunded less an admin fee of 10% of the term fees. If a parent requests a cheque refund, a cheque fee of 50 AED may be applied. The fee paid / refunded may include a corporate discount or sibling discount if one was given at time of payment. The refund will be calculated based on the fees received by our company. The weeks already attended by the child and the non-refundable fees will be deducted from the refund payment. The school’s academic calendar will be sent to the parent by the registrar when joining. Please refer to the academic calendar before booking a holiday or mid term or for extended holiday care weeks at the end of the academic term. Once booked extended holiday care is non-transferable and non refundable. Taking a holiday / leave mid-term will not be grounds for a mid-term pro-rated refund for only the week’s not attended as we are a termly entity. If withdrawing a child mid-term for a holiday/ leave and claiming a refund for the a few weeks / remaining weeks of the term and then arriving back from holiday / leave to come back to nursery, please note that the place will not be held for students while away as parents will not have paid for the place. Unless fees are paid for the full term, students leaving the school mid-term and requesting a refund for a partial term will need to re-register when returning to the school.
4. Inclusions and Closures:
Please note, we do not close for any half terms break in order to comply with 180 days requirement by ADEK. All fees are inclusive of closures for UAE public holidays, ADEK or ministry directives for closures and UAE government directives for closures, 25th December closure and the first day of the academic year closure. Fees are inclusive of two inset afternoons a year which may require an earlier closure than 6pm. Please check the Falcon Gazette for details. Fees are inclusive of any reason for closure out of our control. Being sick and staying at home is not grounds for a pro-rated refund. Taking the child out of school for Ramadan is not grounds for a pro-rated refund. Please note, the school does not accept verbal requests and the date of the email request is taken as the date of the request.
5. Discounts and Company paid nursery fees:
Be aware that most companies require the registrar at Falcon British Nursery at the end of the academic year to provide an official letter stating that the child attended the nursery and for the dates and timings the child attended to match what the employee has claimed for. Requesting a proforma invoice for a company paying education benefit and then requesting a refund from Falcon British Nursery for reduced timings or fewer days per week after an employee receiving payment from the company may result in the company paying benefits emailing Falcon about for the parent claiming benefits. Once paid, the invoice will match the fees paid and the school cannot change the invoice to another fee which has not been received as payment. Prior to payment, a proforma invoice / quotation can be requested as long as the registration fee and the full-term fee or the 10% holding fee has been paid. Discounts apply to term time fees only. They do not apply to any other fees including extended holiday care, bus or voluntary fees like field trips.
6. Late fees, additional fees and timings:
What you see is what you get. Falcon has no hidden fees or add-ons. We offer multiple pick up and drop off times and days per week to support working parents. Paying for the timing chosen allows parents the right to drop off their child any time after the timing chosen in the morning and collect their child any time up to the timing chosen in the afternoon. If parents need to pick up after the timing chosen in the afternoon or before the timing chosen in the morning, please choose a later or earlier timing if this is a regular occurrence or pay for an additional hour or more on collection. Fees are linked to the time requested on the invoice. Late fees are charged at 20/- AED per hour up until 6pm. Late fees are due on the day they occur. Our school closes at 6pm. From 6pm staff are not on duty. During Ramadan the closing time will be changed to comply with government regulations. During the two inset afternoons in the year, the closing time will be changed. Parents will be informed at the start of the term in the Falcon Gazette and it will be listed on the academic calendar. Fees for curriculum linked school trips, services, goods, clubs and other voluntary fees will be sent to the parent by parent app. These fees are voluntary. Falcon will always have an alternative for parents who do not wish to participate. Please ensure the consent form is completed and accompanies the fees if wishing to avail the service.
7. Bus fees:
We offer a legal DOT bus service. A completed bus agreement, location trial run of the bus route is taken and bus fees are required prior to the start of the bus service being implemented. Without this, we cannot send the bus to collect the child. If a returning student wishes to have bus service for the following term, the fee has to be paid prior to the start of the bus service. Please note that bad weather may mean the bus service is delayed and we will keep parents informed as to when we will be able to collect the child. Some areas have bus service at certain times only. Please check with the registrar.