Pool stars terms and conditions
Pool Stars Terms and conditions – 1st June 2024
Please read through our terms and conditions carefully. By signing up to lessons with Pool Stars you are agreeing to the terms and conditions set out below.
Definitions
Pool Stars Limited, We, Us
You – the customer
Guardian – a person other than the parent who brings the child to the lesson
Make up lesson – A lesson offered to customers when a lesson is cancelled by Pool Stars.
Catch up lesson – A lesson that is offered to customers when they notify Pool Stars of a planned absence on Swimphony a minum of 14 days prior to the lesson.
Planned Absence – An absence from lessons communicated to Pool Stars a minumum of 14 days prior to the lesson.
Unplanned absence – An absence from a lesson not communicated to Pool Stars a minimum of 14 days in advance.
Taster sessions
Group lessons: All new swimmers are entitled to a free taster session in our group lessons. This includes Starlets, Comets, Shooting Stars and Explorer classes.
Private lessons: Free taster sessions are not available for our private lessons. New swimmers are welcome to attend a free taster within a group lesson. Alternatively, a taster session can be arranged as a private lesson at a cost of 20 pounds.
Lesson conditions
All lessons are 30 minutes long and run for 42 weeks of the year. Adult lessons are the exception, a 45-minute option is givem to adult swimmers.
All Pool Stars teachers are fully qualified Level 2 Swimming instructors, all teachers have been trained in the Pool Stars Way of teaching. All teachers are DBS checked. There is always at least one member of staff trained to an appropriate level of First Aid and lifeguarding.
During the lessons the swimmer’s parents/guardian must be within the vicinity for the duration of the lesson.
All customers must respect and follow the rules of the facility. This includes the health and safety rules in place for swimmers whilst in and around the pool.
Whilst we always try to ensure you have the same teacher, Pool Stars reserves the right to change your swimmer’s teacher at anytime to suit operational needs. This includes reasons such as but not limited to: illness, leave, personal reasons or groupings. This will not affect your lesson day or time without prior agreement with you.
Payments
All lessons are paid for monthly in advance. An invoice for the following month will be emailed automatically on the 1st of each month. Payment will be made for the following months lessons on the 7th of the month. Payment cards must be stored on Swimphony. It is the parents’ responsibility to ensure that the card details stored on Swimphony are up to date. In the event of a change of card details, customers must use the parent portal to update their card details. If for any reason payment is not made within 7 days of the payment date, your place will be offered to a swimmer on the waiting list. If you are having difficulties updating card details, we ask that
you notify us on George@pool-stars.co.uk
We only accept manual payments for holiday crash courses and adult lessons. No manual payments are accepted for regular term time lessons.
Discontinuing your Pool Stars lessons
If you wish to cancel your swimming lessons with Pool Stars, customers must notify Pool Stars in writing 30 days prior to your intended last lesson. Once you have notified us, we will reply in writing within 7 days confirming your last lesson date. In certain situations, we will endeavour to find a replacement swimmer for your space. If possible, we will waive the 30-day rule, this is not guaranteed.
Cancelled lessons
For any classes that are cancelled by Pool Stars, through no fault of their own, customers will be offered a make-up lesson within 2 months of the cancelled class. After this period has passed and if Pool Stars have failed to offer a suitable make-up lesson, a full refund for the cost of the cancelled lesson will be provided.
Pool Stars catch up system
We understand that there will be occasions when swimmers are unable to attend lessons due to pre-planned arrangements. This includes holidays, appointments and school trips. These are referred to as planned absences. At Pool Stars we will provide two catch-up tokens per term. Our terms are: September to Christmas, January – Easter and April to July. To qualify for the catch-up token, you must notify us of the absence a minimum of 14 days prior to the absence. Customers should use the Swimphony Parent portal to notify us of planned absences. A catch-up token will be automatically creditted to your Swimphony account. Catch- up tokens expire at the end of each term, Pool Stars will re-credit the catch-up token if it is as a result of a planned absence that falls within 2 weeks of the end of term. Catch up classes are offered as a gesture of goodwill and cannot be transferred to their cash equivalent. For the system to work effectively we ask that all parents notify us as far in advance as possible via the Swimphony portal. Customers must ensure that they book an appropriate catch-up class, using the class descriptors as a guide. Catch up lessons will not always be with your regular teacher; they will however have access to the swimmer’s progress data. It is the parent’s responsibility to book a catch-up session via Swimphony. An unplanned absence is any absence that has not been logged on Swimphony a minimum of 14 days prior to the lesson date. Unplanned absences are lost lessons, no catch-up session can be provided, and a refund cannot be issued. The only exception to this is for those swimmers in parent and baby (Starlet) classes. We will try to offer a suitable catch up class, however this is always subject to availability. You can still notify us of such absences via email to George@pool-stars.co.uk
Swimwear Swimmers must wear appropriate swimwear at all times. Swimmers ‘potty training’ and those under 3 must wear a swim nappy at all times. No Jewellery, make up, hair products to been worn in the pool. Swim hatsand goggles are not mandatory but recommended where appropriate.
Behaviour
At Pool Stars we will always adopt a range of strategies to uphold the highest level of behaviour in lessons. This includes positive behaviour approaches such as consistently engaging lessons and praise and encouragement. On occasions we will ask swimmers to have a time out for a very short period of time. The health and safety of all swimmers and our staff are our priority. We reserve the right to remove a swimmer from the lesson if their behaviour is affecting the smooth running of the class. This will always be a last resort and after parents have been asked to speak to their child. Swimmers of all ages must be accompanied to lessons by their adult carers and handed over to their teacher. At no point should swimmers be left unsupervised. We ask all parents to wait in the designated waiting room during lessons to ensure we know where to find you in the event of any incident. There is a small seating area pool side for parents to watch. We ask that parents/guardians think carefully before deciding to sit poolside, in our experience it can be a distraction and can impact children’s willingness to engage in certain activities. Please discuss this with your child’s teacher who will happily offer their advice.
Photography
If you wish to take video or photography of lessons you must adhere to our strict terms. You are only permitted to photograph or video your own child. Without prior agreement, you may not have any other swimmer, teacher, members of the public or customers in the photo or video. Pool Stars and parents reserve the right to ask to see any photo or video taken to confirm that our terms have been adhered to. If there is any concern and you have not met our terms then we reserve the right to ask you to delete the media. Please remain sensitive to other customers’ wishes and stop filming if asked to. Pool Stars forbid any photo or video content to be used to reproduce content of our lessons.
Health and Safety You must not bring your child swimming if they have any illness that could be spread to other swimmers or teachers. Please do not bring your children to lessons for 48 hours if they have been suffering from sickness or diarrhoea.
Please ensure that your child does not transfer anything from their body to the pool water. This includes but is not limited to mud, dirt, sweat, sun cream and urine. A shower is available poolside for swimmers to have a rinse prior to swimming.
Safeguarding
Pool Stars want to provide a safe, relational, inclusive and engaging environment for all their swimmers. We therefore as a company adopt the Swim England policy for safeguarding children– Wavepower.For full details on the policy, please see the link below. We encourage all parents, guardians and anyone involved in your children’s swimming journey to take the time to read this document to help us safeguard our swimmers. http://www.swimming.org/swimengland/wavepower-child-safeguarding-for-clubs/
Lost Property
All property left within any pool building or grounds including but not limited to: car park, entrance, spectators’ area, changing rooms and poolside area, is left at your own risk. Please ensure you have all your belongings with you before you leave. Any lost property found will be placed in a lost property bag in our waiting room. We will keep all lost property until the end of term, at which point all items will be given to charity. The only exception is goggles, these will always be placed in the poolside goggle bag.
Data Protection and Privacy In order to book lessons with Pool Stars, we will require you to register your details and your child(ren) with us. This information is for sole us by Pool Stars and will not be shared with any third parties unless required to do so for the booking process or where we are legally required.
Data We currently hold the following data about you and the swimmer that attends our classes.
• Parent/Guardian – name, phone number, email address, post code, payment card details.
• Swimmer – name, date of birth and any medical conditions.
All data above is stored on the secure Swimpohony platform, staff have access to this data.
Use of Data We store your data for a service reasons, rather than promotional. The following data is used for:
• Phone number – Emergency contact or to contact you with any questions we may have
about your swimmer and their lessons with Pool Stars.
• Email address – We will send out any site information and lesson confirmations to this address.
• Date of Birth – This allows us to match your child with swim partners of a similar age.
• Medical Conditions – It is important we have an understanding of any medical conditions your child suffers from to ensure we can take care of them at their lessons and make any adaptions to the lessons that may be necessary.
We have always welcomed customers contacting us to check what information we hold and change it as they see fit – this will continue and is best done by contacting George@pool-stars.co.uk
Data Sharing
We do not share any of your personal information with any other business or company.
Complaints procedure
If, for any reason, you are not happy with any aspect of Pool Stars lessons or service. Please
email George@pool-stars.co.uk
If you do not receive a satisfactory response, please contact Laura@pool-stars.co.uk
We reserve the right to change our terms and conditions at anytime. This will take effect from the time it is posted on our website. It will be communicated to all swimmers if applicable.
Pool Stars Privacy policy – 1st June 2024
To follow.