Policies and Procedures at SGI

ARRIVAL POLICY FOR INDIVIDUAL STUDENTS

For students who have booked a transfer from the airport, the host families are notified in the week prior to arrival as to what time they can expect them. If a student is making their own way, they are asked to either advise the school or contact the host family directly to ensure that someone will be at home to greet them.

TRANSFER SERVICE FOR UNDER 18 STUDENTS

• SGI arranges arrival and departure transfers on request.
• We strongly recommend that all under 18s book the SGI transfer service.
• An SGI representative will meet the student at the arrival gate of the airport. All our representatives meeting under 18s are CRB checked and work for contracted taxi firms. They undergo thorough employment checks and will carry ID with them at all times.

COMPLAINTS POLICY

We always try our best to provide an excellent service, but if for any reason you are not satisfied, or you feel you would like to complain about something, please bring the problem to our attention as soon as possible. The procedure should be as follows:

1) Come to the Reception and ask to speak to one of our customer-care staff.

In the event of an academic complaint

• First discuss the issue with your class teacher
• Second if this is not successful speak to the Director of Studies

In the event of a registration or accommodation complaint

• First discuss the problem with the member of the customer care staff that had been dealing with your registration and accommodation.

2) In the event of a complaint not being dealt with successfully by our customer-care staff, then you should ask to make an appointment with the School Director.

In our experience, a meeting with the School Director will always bring about a satisfactory resolution to the complaint. However, if this is not the case, you can contact the independent ombudsman of English UK to register your complaint. Their judgement is binding on the college. English UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7608 7960

In general terms it is our policy to:

• listen to all complaints
• take all complaints seriously
• take fast, efficient and appropriate action to deal with any complaints
• deal with all complaints fairly taking into consideration the views of all concerned

STUDENT BEHAVIOUR POLICY

Thankfully, SGI students almost always have an excellent attitude to learning, and discipline is almost never a problem. However, abusive or unacceptable behaviour by any student will be taken extremely seriously and dealt with by the Director of Studies or School Principal. If it is felt necessary, we reserve the right to exclude from class any student who has behaved in a completely unacceptable way. This would include:

• Physical or verbal abuse of fellow students or members of the school staff.
• Statement of a defamatory or racist nature concerning fellow students or members of the school staff.
• Attempts to influence the political or religious views of fellow students.
• Being inebriated on the school site.
• Sexual harassment of fellow students.

If after reasonable efforts to resolve the problem had failed, the exclusion procedure would be as follows:

(1) The student would receive an initial verbal warning.

(2) A second cause for complaint would result in expulsion. 

ATTENDANCE AND LATENESS POLICY

In order to get the most out of your course, you should try to attend all of your lessons! We monitor student attendance on a daily basis and we expect you to attend a minimum of 80% of your course - if you fall below this level you will not receive your end-of-course certificate.

ABSENCE – if you are unable to attend classes due to illness or other circumstances, it is important to let us know by telephone or email, particularly if you are going to miss one-to-one lessons. For 1-1 lessons, there is a 24 hour cancellation policy – if you let us know in advance of 24 hours we can re-arrange 1-1 lessons, but otherwise the missed lesson is ‘lost’. The school office can be contacted on 0207 299 1700 or by email info@stgeorges.co.uk

It is important for you to be aware that at the end of each week, the school will check registers and that information regarding attendance will be put into our computer system.  Where it is apparent that attendance is becoming an issue for a particular student, the student will be contacted by the Director of Studies. If this fails to bring about an improvement, the School may issue a formal warning letter and this may lead to exclusion.  

In the case of a Tier 4 student, he/she will be reported to the UK Border Agency and could be expelled from the school and the country. If the Tier 4 student has 10 or more consecutive unauthorized absences, you will be directly reported to the UK Border Agency where applicable.

There may be occasions when you need to be absent from school for a reason other than sickness (i.e. going to an embassy to make visa arrangements). In such circumstances you should inform the school administration of your intention to be absent, and then you can be given an authorised absence.

LATENESS – please try to be on time for your classes! The teacher will not allow you to join the class if you arrive after 9.45am in the first lesson, or after 11.35 in the second lesson. Similarly, if you return from lunch after 13.45 you will not be allowed into your afternoon class.

If you are persistently late, the teacher will speak to you in private to explain the disruption this causes the class. Further persistent lateness will be reported to the Director of Studies.

HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICY

• General Health and Safety policy statement.

Our policy is to provide and maintain safe and healthy working conditions, equipment and systems of work for all our employees, and to provide such information, training and supervision as they need for that purpose. We also accept responsibility for the health and safety of other people who may be affected by our activities.

The allocation of duties for safety matters and the particular arrangements which we will make to implement our policy are set out in detail within the SGI staff induction handbook. The particular arrangements cover in detail issues such as fire safety, allocation of responsibilities, general arrangements, such as named first aiders, and a response to incidents.

The policy will be kept up to date, particularly as the organisation changes in size and nature. To ensure this, the policy and the way in which it has operated will be reviewed at least once a year.

As part of our commitment to the safety of our staff and our students we regularly assess the risks associated with our business as required under the ‘Management of Health and Safety at work regulations 1999.

CHILD PROTECTION POLICY - STUDENTS UNDER 18

The Children’s Act 1989 defines a ‘child’ as a person under the age of 18.  The Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999 regard a ‘child’ as a person who is not over the minimum school leaving age and a ‘young person’ as a person who has not attained the age of 18.

SGI has students who are 16 and 17 years old. We are committed to providing, as far as is reasonably practicable, an environment that is safe from harm for those students under the age of 18.  With this in mind we……

1. Incorporate best practice guidelines from accreditation bodies and government into existing procedures.
2. Ensure parents are provided with necessary information to enable them to make an informed choice and understand the provisions made for their children on SGI courses.
3. Have effective systems in place to ensure that our facilities, processes and activities take account of the students’ health, safety and welfare requirements.
4. Follow safe recruitment procedures to check the suitability of staff working with students under the age of 18.
5. Check that all accommodation arranged by SGI is suitable and safe for young international students to be placed.
6. Provide appropriate staff training, guidance and procedures to meet the academic and pastoral needs of young international students.
7. Monitor regularly and review all operations to confirm adherence to SGI and legislative requirements.

Breaches of this Policy and/or allegations of misconduct concerning children/young persons will result in SGI invoking its Disciplinary Procedure in respect of staff or students.

SGI undertakes to review this policy on a regular basis, and in the light of new knowledge, changing legislation and changing operational procedures.

SUPPORT AND INCLUSION POLICY STATEMENT

Welcome to St George International

At SGI, we are committed to welcoming students irrespective of race, sex, disability or sexual orientation. If you have a disability, specific learning difficulty or other needs that may require special arrangements, please contact us in advance so that we can discuss how to support you better.

Accessible Facilities

• The ground floor at SGI is accessible to students with mobility issues. Toilet facilities are suitable for wheelchair access. Please inform us in advance if you require your classes to be held on this level of the building.
• On-site parking is not available. However, there is a drop-off point next to the ground floor entrance of the school.
• Most teaching materials can be provided in large print or on coloured paper upon request.
• If you want to make an audio recording of your lesson, please discuss this with your class teacher.
• We encourage all students to participate in our after-school Social Programme. However, some activities (e.g. guided walks) may be less accessible to students with mobility issues. If you have any questions, please ask the office to arrange a meeting with our Social Programme coordinator.

Study Support

We offer a variety of course schedules, including group and one-to-one classes. If you would like one-to-one study support in addition to our standard group classes, please inform us when making your booking.

All long-term students at SGI receive regular monthly tutorials and short term students can request a tutorial. If you need advice, or have any concerns, this can be discussed during your tutorial, or at any time with your class teacher.

Examinations

If you have a disability or specific learning difficulty, and are taking a course leading to an examination (e.g. IELTS), we can assist you with making special arrangements including:

• Enlarged print and brailled test papers.
• Special amplification equipment.
• Extra time for reading and writing modules.

You will need a medical certificate and arrangements must be made three months in advance of your exam.

Bullying and Harassment

Bullying and harassment of students and staff on any grounds, including race, sex, disability or sexual orientation, will not be tolerated within the school.
Teachers have a duty to model acceptable behaviour and respect the dignity of each individual student.
Please inform your class teacher, or Josh Round, our Director of Studies, if you feel that you are being bullied.