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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.

 

ABRASSO's membership & insurance

  • All families must be an ABRASSO's member in order to be covered by ABRASSO's public liability. Become a member of ABRASSO here.

  • Raizes Brasileiras is a project member of ABRASSO, which grants the project access to be covered by ABRASSO's public liability coverage for volunteers, parents member, and coordinator of Raizes Brasileiras;

  • Raizes Brasileiras commits to actively participate on ABRASSO’s representative board, supporting the delivery of Raizes services in at least two of three community events developed by ABRASSO.

Enrollment

  • Enrollments must be done online, www.raizesbrasileiras.org, by filling up a form, and paying the fees with direct deposit.

  • If you are a new student, you can choose do have a trial before paying full annual and term fee.

  • This trial is only charged if the student decides to continue;

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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.

  • If you need private classes, or make up classes, they will be delivered by Raízes Brasileiras teachers and venues. Prices for occasional private classes are subject to change, consult Raizes Brasileiras before taking any decision.

  • 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.

 

Payment and fees

  • You must pay the term fee in a direct debit to the bank account described in you invoice and on our webpage;

  •  An invoice will be issued every end of term, and must be paid before the following term starts;

  • Payments made after the due date imply in a fee increase of 10%.

 

Reimbursement

  • The annual fee is not refundable after the classes started.

  • Annual fee will only be reimbursed in total if requested in writing at least one week before the course starts.

  • If you need to withdraw your children when the course has already started, you need to give us 2 weeks’ notice to get the reimburse of the classes not attended after these 2 weeks.

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Placement

  • We have the information on the form filled up 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.

 

Facilities

  • Raizes Brasileiras operates at Paddington Hall from Communify, a non-profit association, at 10 Moreton st., Paddington. Any use of this space has to be issued to Lilian Fleuri OR the executive commission of ABRASSO.

  • 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 promotional purposes, parents updating, or research. You must inform us in writing at the first two weeks the course starts if you do not allow us to use such images.

  • We might record classes and/or meetings for use in research, educational or organizational purposes. In these cases, the content will be kept safely and anonymously. Parts of these images can be used for marketing purpose under parental consultation and authorization.

 

Meetings

  • Parents and students must keep up informed about school decisions through newsletter, teachers’ emails, whatsapp announcements, Raizes community meetings, informative videos on our social media (Youtube channel, Instagram and Facebook group). It is the carer responsibility to “tune in” to stay informed.

  • As a community language school, decisions are made in group during Raizes’ community meetings. These decisions must to be approved by the director boarding of Raizes Brasileiras, and in some cases, also by the executive committee of ABRASSO;

  • The decisions made on the Raizes’ community meetings might be posted on our newsletter every end of term (whenever we have a volunteer in charge of this newsletter).

 

Communication

  • If you want to contribute giving your opinion, suggestion, critics, write to the email of Raizes Brasileiras.

  • The teacher is responsible to respond to any issue concerned to course material, content explanation, assessments, homework, and any other thing related to classes. If you need to talk about any one of this matter, please report directly to the teacher or the pedagogical coordinator;

  • The school board director is responsible for any issue concerned 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;

  • Whatapp is to be used to give last minute announcements, send reminders and to make questions that concern the whole group. Any person acting inappropriately is subjected to be removed with no prior notice.

  • Any suggestion or request for changes in this Terms and Conditions must be done in the teachers and parents’ meetings of Raizes Brasileiras. See calendar for the date of these meetings.

 

Students/Parents and teachers’ interaction

  • Teachers, students, parents, and board directors must treat each other respectfully: any kind of abuse will NOT be tolerated.

  • Only communications done through Raizes Brasileiras’ email and through Whatsapp groups will be considered. Please do not approach teachers through their personal email, privately through Whatsapp or phone calls – responding to message might be time consuming and invasive, teachers are asked to forward to Raizes Brasileiras any private message concerning classes and issues related to the Brazilian community language school. Teachers are not obligated to reply any private message.

  • Raizes Brasileiras reserve the right to terminate students and teachers’ contract without prior notice and refund, if teachers and students make arrangements privately without the acknowledgment or agreement of Raizes Brasileiras’ board of directors.

  • Teachers are only responsible by 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.

  • Raizes Brasileiras, ABRASSO, teachers and coodinators ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE for children left alone at the park. Please, ensure your children are attended by an adult over 18 years old during transition of one class to another (i.e. Universo do Brincar to Bilingual Drama). Let the teacher know in writing who will be responsible for your children at the park.

 

Conditions for course to exist

  • Groups must have a minimum of paying 8 students enrolled;

  • Each group must ideally hold a maximum of paying 15 students. If more people enrol, a waiting list will be opened;

  • If the group has less than 8 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 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.

 

 

 

Duties and Responsibilities: teachers, teaching assistants, parents and children

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Teacher 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 Raízes Brasileiras and remunerated according to the number of class hours given. The teacher must be responsible for the classes:

  • training and participating in pedagogical meetings;

  • planning classes and passing them on to the teaching coordinator

  • evaluating students and passing on their evaluation to the teaching coordinator

  • Taking care of the well-being of children in the classroom;

  • Checking the children's tasks and readings in each class;

  • Ensuring that all children then receive education;

  • Guiding the teaching assistant of the day;

  • Organizing the material before and after class;

  • Providing class materials, (requesting all the term material from the coordinator at the beginning of each term and providing all unsolicited material).

  • Collecting a presence list filled in by parents each day;

  • Speaking 100% of the time 100% in Portuguese. Avoid code-switching and terms in English;

  • Stimulating children's speech and writing, or seeking answers to statements in Portuguese;

  • Speaking slowly, simple sentences and showing the meaning to students under the age of 6 who have difficulty understanding;

  • Notifying one month in advance of the possibility of discontinuing service to the Raízes Brasileiras project.

Responsibilities of the teaching assistant

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 need to hold her/his own public liability.

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It is very important that the teaching assistant, volunteer or contracted, assist the teacher according to these guidelines. Basically, the teaching assistant does activities with groups, helps them in reading, and assists the teacher in organizing the room and materials. 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;

 

Parental 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:

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  • Only speak in Portuguese with the children. On school grounds, speaking Portuguese is mandatory and teachers are advised to remind them whenever they hear them speaking in English,

  • Bring children 2 minutes before class starts;

  • If needed, talk to the teacher after class, talking before class starts disrupts the class;

  • Help assemble and dismantle 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 UB and UE 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 (ie binding books, making lesson material, or laminating flashcards, etc.), and should address the child exclusively in Portuguese and start talking about what is happening. happening in class, if the child stays around you.

  • 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;

  • If the child asks, help with the homework. Enrol on Hora da Leitura or Hora da Escrita if you child is not doing homework with you or by him/herself.

  • Read the books and listen to the music worked in class, always you can.

  • Pay the fees and on time. 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 meetings with other Raizes Brasileiras families whenever possible.

  • To start to see results, parents must, for at least one whole year, to commit to bring the student every class, and embrace Raizes as a ‘village’ raising children. 

 

Children's responsibilities:

  • Come to class without anything that obstructs your mouth or prevents you from talking (i.e. pacifier, gum). Teachers are instructed to ask the child to withdraw;

  • Always bring your class material, healthy snack, water bottle, hat and have sunscreen on;

  • Come to class with the task completed or partially done;

  • 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.

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