The short answer
You pay monthly, in advance, and only once regular classes begin: the trial classes take no card at all. There is no registration fee, no contract and no minimum term. A class we fail to provide is made up free, a pause carries your unused balance into the next month, and if you withdraw we deduct the classes attended and return the rest.
The order things happen in
- You pick a time and are told your teacher's name. Nothing is paid.
- Up to three free trial classes run at that time. No card is taken and there is no registration fee.
- If you carry on, the first month is paid in advance, in your own currency.
- After that it is one payment a month, before the month it covers.
The point of that order is that a family decides after meeting the teacher rather than before. An academy that asks for a card before the first lesson has arranged things the other way round, and it is worth asking why.
How the money moves
Card
Through Stripe, in pounds, dollars, Canadian dollars, Australian dollars, euros or dirhams, whichever your fee page shows.
Bank transfer
Through Wise, if you would rather not use a card.
Somewhere neither works
Email us and another way is arranged. This comes up more often than you would think and it is not a problem.
What happens when life interrupts
- A class we could not provide
- Made up at no extra cost. You do not have to ask twice.
- You pause the classes
- Any unused balance carries over to the next month.
- You withdraw before regular classes begin
- A full refund.
- You withdraw later
- We deduct the classes attended and return the rest.
- You want to stop
- No minimum term. Tell us and we stop.
- Eid and public holidays
- Included in the monthly fee, and not refunded.
A lesson lost at the family's own end -- your connection, a forgotten appointment -- is not made up. That is the honest answer, and an academy that promises otherwise has priced it in somewhere you cannot see.
The three discounts
- A second child: their monthly fee is 10% lower.
- More than three children: every child after the first pays 12% less each month, and the first child stays on the standard fee.
- Low-income families: a 10% discount on the monthly fee. Ask, and nobody is made to explain themselves at length.
What to ask any academy about money
- Is the whole price list published before anyone asks for my phone number?
- Is there a registration fee, and is it refundable?
- What happens to the money if we pause for a month?
- What happens if you cannot provide a class?
- How do I stop, and how much notice do you need?
A price you have to request is a price that can be set after they have met you. That is the single most useful thing to check, and it takes one look at a website to check it.