Arvon Course booking Terms and Conditions 2013

 

Bookings

All bookings must be accompanied by a deposit of £150 and any application for a place will be deemed acceptance of these terms. You should not consider your booking as definite until we have confirmed it in writing or by email. The balance of your course fee is payable by six weeks before the course starts and please note we do not send reminders. Unpaid or late balances may be treated as a cancellation. If we do not receive your balance when due, we reserve the right to offer the place to someone else.

Travel insurance

We cannot reimburse travel costs or other losses incurred by you in the event of cancellation by us or you. You are strongly advised to take out travel insurance to cover potential loss arising from cancellation or other eventuality affecting your booking, including course fees and travel costs. You should check that any policy you take out meets your needs.

Cancellations

Cancellations will be accepted up to six weeks before the course takes place, but your deposit will be returned less a £50 cancellation charge. If a place is cancelled after this time, we will retain the full deposit of £150. If not paid already, the balance of the full fee remains payable. However, we will do our best to find someone else to take your place and if we succeed, the balance of your full course fee (less the deposit of £150) will be returned. If we cannot re-fill your place, we will retain the full fee. Note that we do not refund deposits for cancellations later than six weeks before the course start date.

Changes to the Programme

Arvon reserves the right to make changes to the advertised programme and tutors. Due to planning the Arvon programme in advance, some changes will inevitably occur to some courses, and occasionally the original tutors are unavailable. We always endeavour to replace tutors with someone equally experienced and to give you as much notice as possible. On very rare occasions we may need to cancel a course; in this case we may offer you an alternative course or return all fees paid. Please note that where we have to change tutors you do not have additional rights of cancellation and our standard terms will still apply. We cannot pay travel or other costs, which you may however be able to reclaim from your travel insurance policy, and our liability to you in all cases is limited to the course fee you have paid.

Transfers

At our discretion, you may be able to transfer your booking to another course at the same or another Arvon centre, subject to availability. We will normally accept transfers up to six weeks before the course takes place, and the deposit paid will be allocated to the new course. If we receive a request to transfer a booking after this time, we will do so only if we have already received the full course fee from you and we are able to re-fill the place on the original course. If either of these conditions is not met we regret we are unable to transfer the booking and will treat it as cancelled, retaining the full fee. Please note that we can only transfer a booking to a course within the same year, and that once a booking is transferred we are unable to offer any refunds for cancellation, or further transfers.

Conduct

The nature of an Arvon course relies on a level of tolerance and understanding of others and their creative work and we ask that you are thoughtful and respectful of the other students. Arvon reserves the right to refuse a place and to exclude from a course any student who, in the opinion of the Centre Directors, behaves in an abusive or disruptive manner or engages in any discriminatory conduct. No refund will be given if exclusion is made for these reasons.

Grants

All grant applications must follow the guidelines on our website or in our grant application pack. Please note that only UK residents are eligible for our general grants scheme and that teachers’ grants are only available to those currently employed and practising as a teacher of English in a UK state primary or secondary school, or further education college. Individuals are eligible for up to three grants in total but no more than one in any given year; each successive grant will be smaller than the last. It is a requirement of the grant that a written report is completed within two weeks of the course. Other restrictions and conditions may apply to other grant schemes run by Arvon.

Under 18s

Anyone under 18 wishing to book on one of the public open courses shown in this brochure must provide signed, written consent from their parent or guardian at the time of booking. Bookings will not be accepted on our public open courses from anyone without consent or from anyone under 16. Please note that under 18s may only book into single rooms. Parents should also note that Arvon does not act in loco parentis.

Loss

Arvon cannot accept responsibility for any loss, damage or expense sustained by students as a result of an event or circumstance whether arising from natural cause, human agency, or beyond its control otherwise. Where Arvon is unable to provide a course place to you for any reason, our liability is limited to return of the fees paid.

Participation and Access

Arvon is committed to providing a supportive and welcoming environment to all. Over the course of a week’s stay, participants on Arvon courses should normally expect to take part in daily group workshops, one-to-one sessions with tutors, and group readings and discussions. They will also be expected to share in domestic duties with their group, such as preparing a meal, for which guidance is provided. Please note that Arvon staff provide some general support to all participants but not continuous care, and participants should be able to live independently. Depending on circumstances we may be able to accommodate a personal care assistant. While we offer some accessible facilities, our centres do vary considerably and we regret we may not be able to accommodate some requirements. If you have specific needs, it is important that you discuss these with the centre prior to booking, to establish whether your needs can be met.

The Arvon Foundation is a registered charity No. 306694 and a company limited by guarantee (No. 1086582)