Terms and Conditions

If you cancel your booking, the registration fee and accommodation finding fee are non-refundable in any event. If you send us written cancellation at least 4 weeks before the start of your course, we will refund the course fees minus registration fee of £40 and accommodation finding fee of £15 if applicable. If you cancel less than 4 weeks before the start of your course, we will refund 50% of your course fees, minus the deposit. Please note: arrangements may be different for agents. If your visa application is refused, we will refund your payment minus the registration fee of £40.00, the accommodation finding fee of £15 (if applicable) and the CAS fee of £10 (if applicable) if you send us written cancellation at least 2 weeks before your course begins. You must also provide written evidence from the visa office that your visa has been rejected, and return all original letters of acceptance to us. If your visa is refused with less than 2 weeks’ notice, the normal cancellation charges apply [see no. 2, above]. We cannot give refunds for late arrival, early departure, absence during a course or change of programme. We cannot give refunds for days when the school is closed during bank holidays. If you decide to shorten your course, the fees you have paid for unused weeks can be neither transferred nor refunded. Fees are for consecutive weeks of study. If you want to take a holiday during your course, you must tell us at the time of application. The holiday period will be added to your course. If you are a visa-national and have a General Student Visa, for each 10 consecutive weeks of study you are allowed one week of holiday. If you are already attending a course and wish to have a holiday, you must tell us 2 weeks in advance. In this case, the number of weeks you take as a holiday can be added to the end of your course, depending on availability. Note: additional charges may apply. International House Bristol is also a teacher training school. By agreeing to our terms and conditions, you agree to take part in our teaching practice classes when requested. These classes are extra to the normal timetable and are free. You may occasionally be included in promotional material – photos for brochures, DVDs or other such advertising material. Students agree to follow all internal regulations of the school. If a student behaves in a disruptive manner, does not follow the school rules, is persistently absent from class, or engages in illegal activity, he/she will immediately be sent home at their own/ their parents’ expense. For students requiring host family accommodation, there is an additional set of terms & conditions (below). Please read all the clauses and remember that we expect our students to arrive at their host family accommodation on a Sunday and depart on a Saturday. Force Majeure: In the event of the school having to close and/or students having to return home early for reasons of natural disaster such as fire/flooding/infectious diseases or war/terrorism etc., which are beyond the reasonable control of the school, no refunds will be made.  In this event, students may be able to claim compensation under their insurance policy.  We will make all efforts to keep the school open and running but this may necessitate making some classes larger or changing the timetable to allow staff to cover all scheduled lessons.

Terms and Conditions for Accommodation

1. An accommodation placement fee is normally charged, along with the accommodation cost. When a deposit of £205 has been paid, we will start the process of arranging accommodation.
2. Students are expected to arrive at their accommodation on Sunday and depart on a Saturday. Depending on a Sunday may be possible at the discretion of the host family.
3. The period for which we will arrange accommodation with host families is restricted to the period of study with us. Students are not allowed to make arrangements directly with their host family. Requests to stay with our host families before or after the period of the student's study with us will be considered on an individual basis and may be subject to additional fees.
4. Normally students will be able to reach the school on foot or by bus in 10 - 30 minutes. During our busy summer period, travel times may be 45 - 50 minutes. We will try to place our students in a family which is as close to the school as possible.
5. Extending your stay: students wishing to extend their stay with a host family must give us at least a week's notice. Extending your stay may be subject to an administration fee of £30.00. You do not need to pay this fee if you can stay with the same host familiy and extend your stay by at least several weeks and extend your course at the same time.
6. Paying for your accommodation: if students pay for their accommodation in many small payments, there will be a £5.00 transaction fee for each extra payment after the first payment. This is to help us pay for administration costs.
7. Students must give the school and the host family one week's notice if they intend to leave the family earlier then planned..
8. If you, the student, are unhappy in your host family, we would like you to make this known to our Accommodation Officer. We will do our best to resolve any misunderstandings or conflicts. You may have had a misunderstanding with the family due to language difficulties. If we cannot resolve your unhappiness you can request to change host families.
9. How to request to change host family: a student must initiate this by filling in a "change of host family request" form. We may charge an additional accommodation arrangement fee, depending on the reasons for the change, the situationwith the host family and the urgency of the request (please note that we must normally give the host family one week's notice).
10. To help us find a suitable homestay family, students must truthfully complete the details required on the registration form. It is particularly important that the information about health, whether a student smokes or not, dietary requirements and any allergies is accurate. The family may ask the student to leave if the information provided is not accurate.
11. Special Requests: We will do our best to accommodate special requests but we are not able to guarantee this. It takes time to deal with special requests so please send your booking as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
12. Many British hosts have pets such as cats and dogs. It may be difficult for our Accommodation Officer to find a host withour pets. If a student has a "no pet" requirement, the student needs to be clear on the type of pet and the reason why (allergy, cultural prohibitions) the student cannot be in a family with that pet.
13. Many families now object to smoking in their homes, especially if they have children. It is therefore becoming increasingly difficult to place smoker students in home-stay families. For students that smoke it may only be possible to find accommodation who will only allow smoking outside the house.
14. Students that have their own travel arrangements must contact the host family we've arranged for them to inform the family of their arrival details.
15. A student's first few days is characterised by getting to know the school, their family and the city. Effective communication is a key to making this a smooth process. We will normally make the student's mobile phone and emergency telephone details available to the host family to facilitate communication.
16. The student must inform their host family if he/she causes any breakages or damage and must make every effort to settle the damage with the host family before leaving. International House Bristol accepts no responsibility or liability for any loss or damage directly or indirectly caused by any student or host family.
17. We expect reasonable behaviour from students and host families. Students that don't show reasonable behaviour (for instance swearing, inappropriate behaviour, vulgarity, violence, taking of illegal substances, lack of respect shown to the host) may be removed from the family at short notice.
18. Curfew times: unless they are attending a school event or are on a supervised excursion, students younger than 16 are expected to be back at the family home by 9.30pm at the latest, and under-18s by 10.30pm. Students under 18 may stay out longer if International House Bristol and/or the host family have had written permission from the student's parents/guardians.
19. Many families allow students the use of their internet connection. Students must not install any software on their host's computers without their approval and must make every attempt to avoid downloading adult/sexual content and illegal and/or damaging software or web content while using their host's internet connection.
20. International House Bristol only has a limited number of host families willing to host students during the Christmas period. Students will need to let International House Bristol know well in advance if homestay accommodation during the Christmas period is required and will be charged a supplement on top of the regular accommodation rates for the Christmas period.
21. You should understand that any information you have provided to us at the school, or will provide in the future, will be processed by the school, in compliance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998. Under data protection legislation you can ask for a copy of certain personal records held about you.

Additional Terms and Conditions for Teacher Training

If you cancel your registration after accepting a place on the course, the registration fee of £75 is non-refundable in any event.

1. If you cancel your place in writing 4 working weeks before the first Monday of the course (e.g. cancel a place starting 1st August by Friday 30th June) we will refund the course fees and the deposit minus the registration fee.
2. For cancellation less than 4 weeks and more than 2 weeks before the start date, we will refund 50% of the fees.
3. There are no refunds for cancellations for whatever reason less than 2 weeks before the start date.

Additional Terms and Conditions for Cambridge Exams

If you cancel your registration before the deadline, the registration fee of £30 will not be refundable in any event.

For cancellations after the application deadline has passed, refunds will only be given in extreme circumstances (such as due to severe illness) with evidence provided and at the discretion of University of Cambridge.

Your application will not be confirmed unless the full payment is received.

If you don't receive your certificate, you must inform IH Bristol within 6 month after the date of the exam.