Sing and Sign Edinburgh Booking Terms and Conditions
Please carefully read this summary before making your booking:

When making a Sing and Sign booking we promise you a course of learning via our established curriculum.

Venue-based classes:
If venue classes are disrupted due to staff illness, extreme weather or other reasons beyond our control, families are asked to access that week’s lesson via the Class@Home lesson. The course content is still delivered in full.

In making your booking you are accepting our terms for possible online delivery of a portion of the course in the event of disruption to our term. A partial refund (£5 per class) MAY also be applicable in certain circumstances. Please read the full Ts and Cs for further details.

You need internet access and broadband to access any online lessons. Please let us know before making your booking if you will not be able to watch online or have an objection to doing so.

Online only classes:

If you have booked Sing and Sign Class@Home online only course, the course content is delivered one week at a time and you have 7 days to view each class. Classes can be viewed at any time and as often as you like within each week but it is not possible to go back to watch previous weeks. You will receive a weekly email to help you keep track of where you are within the course.

Course communication:

When you register with Sing & Sign, you are included in essential e-mail and text communication specific to your class.

Please make sure you have provided accurate details and that you have added catherinerennie@singandsign.co.uk as an email contact/safe sender so that all your course information reaches you. We do not take responsibility for any course content missed due to undelivered email communication. If you unsubscribe from our course emails during the term, you may miss course content and info on priority rebooking.

At the end of your time at Sing & Sign, IF you have opted-in to our communications, you’ll be kept up to date and be invited to any special events or future terms. I keep e-mails relevant, specific and limited to a handful per year. You can unsubscribe from the mailing list at any time by contacting me or via a link at the bottom of the e-mails I send. I am registered with the Information Commissioners Office and take data protection seriously. I will NEVER share your data with anyone else. You can view my privacy policy here.

Full Terms and conditions to cover:

Refunds and cancellations

Missing a class during term

Disruption/cancellation to venue classes

Illness and infection control

FAQs - Class@Home online courses

FAQs and guidance for venue classes

Priority Booking system

Comments/Complaints/Feedback

Refunds and Cancellations within your statutory 14-day cooling-off period:

You may cancel your booking within the statutory 14-day cooling off period by contacting catherinrennie@singandsign.co.uk no later than 14 days after making your booking.
Cancellations within your 14-day cooling-off period but less than 5 days before the course start date will be subject to an admin fee of £5.
If a portion of the course or a period of online access to resources has already been delivered then that portion will be deducted from your refund along with the £5 admin fee.

Refunds and Cancellations outwith 14-day cooling-off period:

If your circumstances have changed and you need to cancel your place please get in touch with catherinerennie@singandsign.co.uk as soon as you can and NO LATER THAN 5 days before the course start date. Any cancellations with less than 5 days notice will be subject to a £5 admin fee.
If you wish to pull out of the course after the first lesson has been delivered please let us know within 24 hours. You may cancel the remainder of your booking less an admin fee of £5 and the proportional cost of the content already delivered. After this it may not be possible to cancel the remainder of term unless in exceptional circumstances. If you are unable to attend the rest of your venue classes, please email catherinerennie@singandsign.co.uk as soon as possible to discuss. If it’s early enough in the term, we’ll do our best to fill your space and may be able to issue a partial refund.

Missing a class during the term:

If you are unable to attend a class during the term (including illness, holidays, appointments or any other reason,) you can access your Class@Home. You will not be refunded for classes you do not attend.

If you cannot attend one week and wish to offer your place that week to a friend with an appropriately-aged baby please contact catherinerennie@singandsign.co.uk with as much notice as you can. This MAY be possible within the first half of the term. We politely request that you use this option only once over the term to minimise the disruption to your class group. We reserve the right to refuse this request in certain circumstances.

Can I swap to another class/venue/time for the rest of the term?
If you are unable to attend your booked class on a regular basis, please talk to me about it. It MAY be possible for you to transfer to a different class. However, please consult me before doing so. Sing and Sign has strict limits on the numbers allowed in classes.

Can I carry over money from missed classes to the next term?
Sorry, you can't do this. If you are unable to watch your @Home lesson that week, don’t worry - there is a lot of repetition from week to week as well as weekly e-mails and online supporting resources, so if you miss a week for any reason, you'll soon be able to catch up.

Disruption to your booked class

Will my class ever be cancelled during the term?
Sing and Sign Edinburgh is a small business with just three staff members, all with young families! That means if any of us is unwell or unable to teach it may affect your class. There also may be occasions such as venue problems or extreme weather which cause disruption. In these situations:

Ideally we’ll arrange for another teacher to cover your class. This may mean there is a slight change to the class time.
If it is not possible to cover your class we will try to add a class on at the end of the term or in the half-term break.
If we cannot add a class (or if you can’t make the rescheduled date) we ask that you watch the Class@Home that week and we will issue you a refund of £5 per cancelled class.

In the unlikely event that we need to cancel a whole course BEFORE the start of the term we will do this with as much notice as we can. If you have booked and paid for your place on a venue-based course which is subsequently cancelled, this will be communicated to you by email. You will be able to do one of the following:

swap to another venue class if there is a space available
swap to the @Home course and receive a partial refund of your fee.
cancel your place and receive a full refund on your booking.

These options will be communicated to you with plenty of notice and we ask that you notify us of your decision as soon as you can to allow time to arrange refund/swap bookings etc.

Disruption to venue-based classes:

If you are unable to attend due to illness you can enjoy S&S@Home and will not be refunded for missed classes in your venue.

Official guidance from UK government, Scottish Government, local Health Authority or environmental health may cause disruption to our classes. (this may include local lockdown, or group size restrictions). If it becomes necessary to cancel more than two classes of the course, in addition to your Class@Home streamed lessons, we plan to launch face to face classes over Zoom. We will make all efforts to run this Zoom class on your usual class day, although in some circumstances this may not be possible and flexibility might be needed. In this situation, you will be offered a partial refund of £3 per cancelled venue class.

If no Zoom class provision can be made, we will ask you to complete your course via the Class@Home lessons and a refund will be offered for the live class portion of your course fee. (£5 per cancelled class)

Resuming Classes in Venues after Course Disruption

In the event of disruption to the course, timings for resuming live classes in venues will be determined by us, based on factors including (but not limited to): health guidance at the time, availability of staff and any/all venues, sufficient numbers for any/all classes/venues, the prevailing conditions and our responsibility for everyone’s safety. Where necessary, a decision may be taken to complete the term online.

Once in-venue teaching has resumed, apart from where courses were booked as live streamed only, any live catch-ups/full class sessions that had been offered over Zoom may reduce in number, or cease to be available, even where it is a customer’s choice not to return to their booked live venue course and no refunds will be due. Access to Stages 1 and 2 pre-recorded @Home content will continue.

Illnesses and Infection Control

My child has/I have a cold/bug/virus/infectious illness. It's not serious. Can we come to class?

We politely ask that you stay away from class if you or your child are in any way unwell and instead join in at home via your @Home classes.

If you are unable to attend a class during the term (including suspected Covid-19, self-isolation, or any other reason,) you can access your Class@Home. You will not be refunded for classes you do not attend.

If you cannot attend one week and wish to offer your place that week to a friend with an appropriately-aged baby please contact catherinerennie@singandsign.co.uk with as much notice as you can. This MAY be possible within the first half of the term. We politely request that you use this option only once over the term to minimise the disruption to your class group. We reserve the right to refuse this request in certain circumstances.

What measures do your classes have in place to avoid transmission of infectious illnesses?

Attending any group or class is not without risk of illness, especially when it comes to young children. Many viral illnesses such as chicken pox or Hand Foot and Mouth disease are infectious before symptoms appear and easily transmitted in a group setting.

We have some basic hygiene measures in place to help reduce the risk of infectious illness transmission within the group.

Parents are to STRICTLY observe Government guidelines on infectious diseases such as coronavirus, flu, Ebola, etc..

If you have been in contact with or have any reason to believe you may have contracted a serious infectious disease you are required to observe any quarantine procedures and stay away from class without exception.

Further information can be found here https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/infections-and-poisoning/coronavirus-covid-19

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-in-schools-and-other-childcare-facilities/exclusion-table

Teachers have completed an infection control course
Cleaning measures are in places.
Instruments and props are duplicated/cleaned between classes.
We will follow all government guidance applicable to our sector and may also be bound by our venues risk assessments and infection control measures.

In booking onto a venue-based course, you understand that it *may* be necessary to share your contact details with the NHS or Health Protection Scotland. Your data will be treated with the utmost care and held securely as per our privacy policy.

Stage 1 and Stage 2@Home online courses FAQs

When are my online lessons?
Each lesson is available to view as often as you like for 7 days. Between first thing on the Monday morning and last thing on the following Sunday.

I forgot to watch a week! What can I do?
You will not be able to go back and view previous lessons. Your lesson access code will only access one week’s class at a time. However your class fee includes access to the online learning resources so you will be able to recap songs, signs and advice from previous lessons at any time you like. Check your lesson e-mail for a note of where to find the relevant songs and signs for the class you have missed.

How much time will I need to spend on this?
You will need at least 30 minutes per week to do your class WITH your baby. This might be in one chunk or broken down into shorter sessions throughout your week. Your baby may well want to watch each lesson multiple times which is great for their learning! The best way for your child to learn the signs is to see them used in context throughout the day. To get the most from your course, commit to using the signs you are learning throughout the week when chatting with your baby.

How do I watch the lessons?
You will need an internet enabled device that is capable of streaming video content plus a broadband connection of sufficient speed to stream video content. It is often possible to cast the classes to your TV depending on your device and TV capabilities. Please make sure your tech will allow you to view the classes in the way that you want to watch them. We are great at baby signing but not so hot on technical issues and so are unable to give advice on device problems/internet connections/casting etc. It is your responsibility to ensure you are happy with all of these aspects before you book and pay for your place.

I can’t make it to the Zoom sessions…
Some courses may include access to live Zoom classes. You are welcome to join in with as many or as few of these Zoom sessions as you wish. The Zooms are not essential - you will learn all you need from the pre-recorded classes - we just wanted to provide the chance to meet your classmates, ask questions of your teacher and for Jessie Cat to say hi to your baby! The Zoom sessions are LIVE and will not be recorded and made available to watch in the future.

Venue-Based Class FAQs

The class environment

To make it easy for everyone to learn each week we ask for the adults’ attention for the full 45 mins or so of singing. Please help the babies stay engaged and focussed by saving chatting for arrival/departure.
Each week there is a LOT to cover in class. The best way to take it all in is to engage and participate as much as possible. Have fun, join in and your hard work in class will pay off when you see your child doing the same.

Children's behaviour in class

I hope your baby will enjoy class and be thoroughly engaged with the teacher and the other children. Babies are fine to crawl or toddle; they are not required to sit still – hopefully they will be enjoying the music wherever they are!

At such an early age, babies are still learning how to interact with each other and so we don’t expect perfect behaviour! We encourage taking turns with the props and toys in class as far as possible. We encourage babies to be gentle with one another and parents should help their little ones use the props and instruments in a safe way (e.g. avoiding throwing or hitting with plastic instruments.)

Problems with behaviour are very rare but, of course, can happen occasionally. If a baby hits, pushes, bites or throws toys in a way that is unsafe the parent should remove their child from the class circle to avoid further disruption, returning once the child is ready. We will do our best to support parents and carers in managing difficult behaviours during class but responsibility remains with the adult attending. In exceptional circumstances, a refund may be offered for the remainder of term at the teacher's discretion

Can I bring my partner, older child, granny, brother, aunty?

Some venues have space to accommodate other family members at class but please check ahead of time. Please contact me with plenty of notice if you wish to enquire about bringing an extra adult to class.

It doesn’t need to be the same adult attending with your baby each week – both parents/grandparents etc can take it in turns to bring your baby along. If you have twins both babies may attend with the one adult under the same booking. Or you may choose to pay for a second place on the class and two adults can attend – one adult with each baby!

Siblings - We can usually accommodate an older sibling on an occasional basis if it’s necessary. Please don’t bring your older child to class if they are in any way unwell.

Priority Rebooking system

The classes get booked really quickly - how do I secure my place on the class for next term?

The current term's participants are offered a period of exclusive right to renew for the next term of classes. Current participants will be notified in class and via e-mail when booking opens to them. After this, remaining places are allocated to the families on our waiting list.

Places are offered on a first come, first served basis. To secure a place in a class, please complete your booking online as per the instructions you will be sent and pay the class fee. Once payment has been received, you will receive an e-mail to confirm your booking.

In exceptional circumstances I can occasionally arrange your booking for you. If you know you will be on holiday or otherwise unable to re-book online when re-booking opens, please let me know.

Complaints procedure

I really hope that you will be delighted with your experience of Sing and Sign classes. I am absolutely committed to you finding that your class meets or exceeds your expectations and that you enjoy your classes enough to recommend Sing and Sign to all of your friends!

However, sometimes things do go wrong and, if we are able, we’ll do our best to improve things for you. If you are concerned or unhappy with anything at all please get in touch as soon as you can. I’m happy to chat on the phone or to hear from you via email.

I will always do my best to resolve any problems as quickly as possible and to everyone's satisfaction.

Equally if there is any aspect of the course/classes that you are unsure about, please don't be too shy to ask!

Stage 2@Home - Online course for toddlers 13-24m

Stage 1@Home - online course, suitable for babies 6m+