Terms & Conditions | raizesbrasileiras

TERMS, CONDITIONS AND AGREEMENTS

Project Raizes Brasileiras addresses the need for a heritage language program for the Brazilian community in Brisbane. The project delivers community-based activities for promoting bilingualism and Brazilian culture among children, families, educators, and the wide community. For more information watch our video & browse our website.

Enrolment

Enrolments must be done online, through Humanitix platform. (TERM 3)
You must select a package, answer the questions and pay at checkouts.
Early-bird tickets have optional booking fee (charged by Humanitix).
Late-bird tickets have compulsory booking fees.
You have to conclude enrolment by the first day of class.
Enrolments for the next term starts on the previous term.
If you are a new student, you can choose to have a trial before paying full annual and term fee. This trial is only charged if the student decides to continue. You must request a trial by email: littlebrazil.brisbane@gmail.com ;
If the student wants to switch group classes for private classes, s/he must request it through Raizes Brasileiras’ email, and accept the change of fees if applied.

Placement

We have the information on the enrolment form filled out by the children's legal carer as a placement assessment;
If children are enrolled in the wrong group, they will be relocated and fees will be corrected in the next invoice.

Payment and fees

At enrolment, a single annual fee is charged for each student (in 2021, this fee is AU$95). This fee guarantees the course continuity throughout the whole year, supports classroom material acquisition, and registers the children's family as a Raizes’ annual member, granting them access to the mobile library, special fees on cultural events, and access to members' meeting and seminars.
2022 Term-fees: AU$140 (in-presence) and AU$120 (online), per term, per child
You must pay the term fee before terms start.
Enrolment is only confirmed once fees are paid;
You will receive a receipt of payments after payment is confirmed.
If you have acquired an annual membership and what to have lessons, you need to request "ticket" change by email (littlebrazil.brisbane@gmail.com) and pay the difference.

Reimbursement

The annual fee is not refundable after the classes start. In case you want to request the annual fee reimbursement before school starts, you will need to request it in writing at least one week before the year starts.
As a community school, we commit to deliver a community language school program for at least one whole year to the enrolled children/families. To book rooms, hire teachers, and prepare material etc, the project needs a minimum amount of paying students. Therefore, we strongly discourage term-fees reimbursement. We can only refund the remaining classes in case of an accident or an unforeseen severe medical condition. In this case, parents need to provide the school with a 2-weeks’ notice and a medical certificate.

Makeup classes

We do not have makeup classes, but we are happy to send you the content studied in class and the homework for the day.
If the teacher needs to be absent, Raizes Brasileiras will arrange a substitute teacher. In case it is not possible, the class will be refunded as a proportional discount of the next fee.

Facilities

Raizes Brasileiras Brisbane operates at Halls rented from Communify, usually located at Paddington or Bardon. However, different group configuration and teaching goals can make classes to move to other locations within Brisbane area.
Students, teachers and the school directors are responsible for returning the original furniture to its place, cleaning up the classroom, and turning out the lights and air conditioning before exiting and locking the hall.

Use of images

We might take photographs or videos for parent information & educational, promotional, research, or organization purposes. If you do not allow us to take images of your child(ren), you must inform us by email before lessons start. If this is the case, please write to littlebrazil.brisbane@gmail.com
Images or videos used in Raizes Brasileiras website can be removed at any time. Check the website and if some picture of you or your child needs to be removed, send a request to littlebrazil.brisbane@gmail.com.
In case of classes & meetings recordings, they aim to be used for research, educational or organizational purposes. In these cases, the content will be kept safely and anonymously at Raizes Brasileiras’ files. Parts of these images may be used for marketing or informational purposes.

Meetings

As a community language school, decisions are made in group during Raizes’ community meetings. These decisions must be approved by the majority of members present at the meeting and by the management team, composed by the project director of Raizes Brasileiras and members of the Educational committee.
Parents and students must keep informed about school decisions through emails, WhatsApp, community meetings, and social media (Youtube, Instagram and Facebook group & page). It is the carer's responsibility to stay informed.

Communication

The teacher is responsible to respond to any issue concerning lesson planning, course material handed by her/him, content explanation, assessments, homework, and any other thing related to classes. If you need to talk about any of this matter, please report directly to the teacher or the pedagogical coordinator;
The school board director is in charge of issues concerning the classes’ schedule, teaching facilities, makeup classes, fees and payment, students (and teacher) conflicts, enrolments, reimbursement, school material and facilities, pedagogical material and any other administrative or coordination matter. If you have issues of this matter, you must report directly to your school board director through Raizes’ email;
Emails are to be used to take administrative decisions, teacher or school complaints, photo or video sharing, or school material sent;
Whatsapp is to be used to give last minute announcements, send reminders and make questions that concern the whole group. Messages that don’t concern the group are subjected to be removed with no prior notice. Administrator holds the right to silence the group at any time, unnoticedly.
Any suggestion or request for changes in this Terms and Conditions form must be done in the teachers and parents’ meetings of Raizes Brasileiras, booked and displaid in Littlebrazil.brisbane Google Calendar.

Pick up and drop off

Every parent must sign in and sign out at drop off and pick up time. Use QR Code if applied.
Teachers are only responsible for the children during the classes' time. Parents must drop off and pick-up children at the classroom door.
If someone else will pick up the children, indicate this person's full name and phone number in the sign-in sheet and sign authorizing pick up.
Raizes Brasileiras, teachers and coordinators ARE NOT LIABLE for unsupervised children during events and classes. Please, ensure your children are attended by an adult over 18 years old during transition of one class to another. Put a note in the sign in and sign out sheet and leave a written note to the teacher indicating who will be responsible for your children at the school, provide the adult full name, and phone number.

Conditions for course to exist

Groups must have a minimum of 10 paying students enrolled, or have this number compensated by another larger group;
If the group has less than 10 paying students enrolled:

This group can be joint to another group;
Timetables can be changed;
This course can be shut down;
Fees can increase;
Parents will have to volunteer to work as teachers & teaching assistants

These changes might happen at any time. It will be communicated by the administration of Raizes Brasileiras, at least one week before the next class.

Teacher’s duties & responsibilities

Teachers are responsible for planning classes following the program defined and guided by the pedagogical coordinator. The teacher is an independent professional (a contractor with his/her own public liability), whose services are hired by Raizes Brasileiras and remunerated according to the number of class hours given. The teacher must be responsible for the classes:

participating in pedagogical meetings;
planning classes
evaluating students
reporting to the teacher coordinator
taking care of the well-being of children during school hours;
guiding the teaching assistant of the day;
organizing the course material before and after class;
collecting the sign in & sign out sheet;
speaking in Portuguese to the children (exceptions may apply)

Teaching assistant’s duties & responsibilities

Teaching assistants, guided by the teacher, are responsible for providing assistance to the teacher and students during classes. Teaching assistance can be a paid or a voluntary job. If paid, the teaching assistant has the same duties with the documentation as the teacher, including Bluecard Paid and ABN, and participate in training and meetings. If paid, s/he also needs to hold her/his own public liability. It is important that you do not, under any circumstances, speak English to any child, that you are not exclusively at the mercy of your own child, and that you are present and participating in class at all times.

The tasks provided for in teaching assistance include, but are not limited to:

Tidy up the room before and after class;
Follow the teacher's instructions;
Take care of class materials and children, returning to the place after the end of the activity;
Assist children in need of more attention;
Ensure that the attendance list is signed by all parents, all classes, on entry and exit;
Take pictures and videos during classes.

Parents’ duties & responsibilities

The greatest motivation for heritage language learners to continue learning comes from the family. Therefore, it is important that parents follow the guidelines below:

Participate in parents' meetings at Raízes Brasileiras;
Volunteer twice a year to be a teaching assistant (talk to your teacher about this rule, it might not apply in your group);
Participate and / or volunteer in cultural events promoted by Raízes Brasileiras and ABRASSO;
Pay the fees and on time (add due dates to your calendar). Remember that committed and qualified jobs represent a cost and time for coordination and management. Delays and forgetfulness harm those who are caring and thinking fondly about your child's bilingual education;
Organize family meetings with other Raizes Brasileiras whenever possible.
To start seeing results parents must, for at least one whole year, commit to bring the student to every class, and embrace Raizes as a ‘village’ raising children.
Speaking Portuguese is mandatory on school grounds, and teachers are advised to remind them whenever they hear English being spoken,
Bring children 2 minutes before class starts;
If needed, talk to the teacher after class, talking before class starts disrupts the class;
Help set up and tidy up the room. Example: spreading / stacking chairs, moving tables, loading boxes to the car, sweeping the floor if necessary, collecting material from children, etc.
Parents from Playgroup Educativo must be in the classroom with their children at all times. Parents from Universo do Brincar and Universo do Escrever must leave the classroom at the scheduled time for the class to begin. If absence from the classroom is impossible, we advise parents to go through a time of transition and to be absent little by little (do not take more than 2 terms for this transition). If staying in class, the father or mother should perform a task advised by the teacher (i.e. binding books, making lesson material, or laminating flashcards, etc.). Parents in the classroom should address the children (including her own) exclusively in Portuguese.
If the child asks, help with the homework; If this is not working, we strongly suggest that you enrol your child in Hora da Leitura or Hora da Escrita online.
Parents or carers have liability of their children before, after and during the class attended by them (or one of them).

Children’s duties & responsibilities

Check students’ belongings before and after the class;
Come to class with no mouth obstructions (i.e. pacifier, gum).
Always bring his/her backpack with class material, healthy snacks, water bottle, hat and have sunscreen on;
Have their homework done before every class;
Do not miss more than 20% of classes (four lessons per year);
Be respectful to colleagues and teachers.

PRINT & SIGN

Child 1 ________________________________________________ D.O.B._____/_____/_____

Child 2 ________________________________________________ D.O.B._____/_____/_____

Child 3 ________________________________________________ D.O.B._____/_____/_____

I confirm that I have read and understood the Terms & Conditions above.

Guardian's full name ___________________________________________________________

Signature ____________________________________________ Date _____/_______/ 20___

Raízes Brasileiras

littlebrazil.brisbane@gmail.com

www.raizesbrasileiras.org

BY ENROLING YOUR CHILD(REN) AT RAIZES BRASILEIRAS, YOU AUTOMATICALLY ACCEPT THESE TERMS & CONDITIONS.

Print & Sign