I made a post here a few months ago about starting my own school which I plan to launch next February.
I’ve made a lot of progress since then:
– website up with a fully functioning online reservation system.
– teaching material ready.
– Contract signed for rental office
– staff ready
– majority of marketing/promotional material developed
– agreements with several other businesses and venues to advertise/put up posters for my school.
Now I’m in the process of writing up student contracts and was wondering what I should put in. So far I’ve included:
– Lesson time
– changing lesson time policy
– cancellation policy
– lateness policy
– unexpected circumstances (storms, quakes etc).
– expected behavior (of students)
– privacy policy
– yearly schedule (for kids)
– quitting
– taking a break
– refund policy
And of course a section for them to fill in:
Name
Address
Bank details
Signature/hanko
And me to fill in:
Total costs
School signature/hanko
Any ideas as to how the layout/format should be? Appreciate any help!
8 comments
Should be easily/clearly available on your site as well as in hard copy format so maybe use a pdf?
As for format perhaps check out what the larger schools are doing by getting someone to take a few trial lessons. You’ll probably pick up some invaluable sales tips too.
I recommend putting in a social media agreement so you can use photos and video to promote your business. A lot of Unis do this
The more detailed it gets the more loopholes they will search for. I just go with handshakes myself.
We haven’t instituted this yet, but my kids’ tennis school recently changed their “furikomi” system so that all extras are also just automatically taken from my bank account. It’s very convenient when they need a private lesson or a restringing.
I’m hoping to be able to do this in the near school year, so that extra lessons such as Eiken or field trips don’t entail hounding parents for cash.
If you can get that set up early, it may save you some headaches down the line.
Otherwise, you have all the important stuff. Make sure that your policies regarding
1) quitting
2) taking a month off
3) changing lessons time/day
4) number of makeups
5) refunds
are extremely clear or a few students will take advantage of you. Not many, but a few.
I’m not sure if this is just asking for trouble or not, but a grievance procedure might be worth considering.
Basically, you don’t want anyone bothering teachers or reception staff in the middle of a workday with whatever issue they may have, reasonable or otherwise.
I would recommend a grading system, if a student gets too many failing grades on exams, he or she will be withdrawn from class and no refund will be issued, or quits the class without notice, no refund will be issued either
If you’re drafting contracts, you should pay a lawyer to do it. Otherwise, you have absolutely no idea what’s really covered or whether it’s enforceable.
One thing that really shits me in life is people just drafting up what they think a contract looks like (with lots of weird language & unenforceable clauses) then trying to use it as if it’s a proper contract.
Having a policy on how to deal with improper or unacceptable behavior / harassment would be nice, clearly stating examples of what is acceptable and what isn’t, including establishing contact outside of the learning premises, looking up students or instructors on social media, and penalties, if any, for that.
It’s especially sensitive when it comes to kids and underage students, keeping in mind the legal age in Japan is 20.