Rules and Information for Club Members
About
The main objective of AWE club is to find ways to run a wide range of group lessons and workshops for those children who benefit from learning together, where the cost is shared, making it more affordable for all. The children thereby meet and make friends and can then benefit from outings and events to promote positive relationships. They have lots of fun in the process! The club is run by Debbie Towns and has been running for 16 years.
Important
AWE is a Home Education Club not a school. Parents must stay on the premises at all times. AWE Club is not required to be registered with OFSTED. Parents must supervise online lessons.
Emergency Contact
If you have not done so already, please complete the form on this link providing your emergency contact, SEN and allergy details. www.aweclub.co.uk/online-tutor-groups
I make urgent announcements on Facebook if for example a teacher is sick and can’t teach that day or maybe stuck in traffic. Please therefore join the Facebook group to ensure you see any urgent messages.
www.facebook.com/groups/AWEHomeEducation
AWE Discounts and Subscriptions for Members
I run lots of discount schemes and offers for members. You are welcome to share this with other Home Educators. All information is on my website. www.awediscounts.com There is also the Facebook page www.facebook.com/AWEdiscounts/
Home Education at AWE Club
Parents please note that although we get together for group tutor led lessons this is still Home Education which means you retain your parental responsibility for your children at all times. If you need to go to the shops or similar, please speak to another parent and make arrangements for them to take over your responsibility while you are absent and make sure they have your mobile number. Please ensure you provide mobile phone numbers to Debbie for emergency use.
Insurance
Please note as we are all individual Home Educators we do not have any insurance policy as a group. This means you are responsible for your child and their actions at all times. The venue owners insurance does not cover AWE club for damage to equipment.
Behaviour
We rarely have any behaviour problems with children attending AWE, however if you do have any concerns please speak to the relevant teacher promptly so it can be dealt with quickly. We expect children and adults to treat each other with mutual respect and to remember there are always two sides to a story.
AWE Club lessons online during Coronovirus during 2020
All AWE teachers provide the same classes at the same times as the Face to Face timetable but online instead. You will receive emails from each teacher with invitations to join the online classes that you have paid for. Please ensure you are at your computer ready to start at the correct time. Some programmes do not allow you to join the class late. Please supervise or monitor your child to ensure they participate to get the best out of the online lessons.
AWE Online tutoring full time
AWE has a separate timetable for those who want to do the lessons completely online not just while we have the coronavirus situation. These are taught by our experienced AWE tutors on various online platforms.Please follow the instructions that each teacher will send to you in order to set up online learning for your child. Please supervise or monitor your child to ensure they participate to get the best out of the online lessons.
Danger
The hall is situated on an industrial estate. Please keep your children safe from the traffic outside. Please do not let them run in and out of the cars or play outside.
Car Parking
We try to maintain a positive relationship with the businesses around the hall. Please do not park in any named spaces. If you are asked to move please be polite. The surrounding businesses pay for their spaces, so if you are parked in a named bay they have every right to ask you to move. We have 4 spaces in front of the building and can double park there. You can park anywhere in Brooker Road or Cartersfirled Road. At the end of Brooker Road is Townmead park which has a free car park. You can also park in Tesco and walk across the road, past Lidl. Lidl is to be avoided as they have strict time limits for parking. There are lots of side streets with free parking. There is a map of the permitted parking spaces on the AWE Club noticeboard.
Homework
Please bear in mind that one lesson a week maybe enough of a subject for some students but for others it may not be enough. As a HE parent you need to make decisions about how much extra study work and home work your child does. When doing exam courses students will definitely need to be doing the homework and assignments set by the teachers in order to cover all the material for the exams. Please remember every child is different and maybe attending AWE for various different reasons with very different expectations and plans. We do our best to support everyone even if they want to attend just to make friends with no intention of sitting exams. If your child needs help please email the relevant teacher. If homework causes the child too much anxiety just let the teacher know so he or she doesn’t ask the child for it. We understand many home educated children have anxiety issues and we try to help them overcome them without any pressure. Exams are optional.
Fees
All fees for classes must be paid per half term in advance. This means you pay at the last lesson each half term, for the following half term. This ensures we can guarantee the classes will go ahead. Please note you still pay for lessons you are absent for, as the costs remain the same and everyone pays the same. No refunds are given during each half term. Trial lessons are charged at £11 per class. You may do one trial class for each subject.
An admin fee of £25 may be charged if changes requested by parents after the start of each term, cause extra admin work.
Commitment
I do want people to commit long term to the lessons as when people only stay only one term it’s a bit disruptive and affects the costs for everyone. All the current parents want their children to carry on for at least one or two years.
Swapping between subjects
I understand children change their minds but please try to get your child to commit to a half term in a particular subject. Fees you have paid to one teacher can not be transferred to another teacher.
Two year exam courses
In the case of the two year exam courses we understand some people for unforeseen reasons will have to drop out but the teachers, hall hire managers and myself commit to ensuring we run the course for the full two years so your children do not miss out on the opportunities to complete the courses. Please consider carefully when you start an exam course that dropping out can cause problems for others. For example your child may have been part of a team project e.g. film making that could form part of their exam work, if one member of the team drops out it will impact the other children’s work which could impact their exam results. Most exam courses have a waiting list. If you take an offered space then drop out it means that place is now lost as a new child from the waiting list would not be able to catch up on the missed course work.
Exam Entries
Exams are not compulsory. You can attend just for interest which some children prefer as they do not have to deal with the stress of exams. We do our best to arrange the exam center that will take the group if possible but this remains the parents responsibility to book and pay. We will do our utmost to ensure it is possible for AWE Students to sit the exams they wish to do however as we have seen with the Coronavirus situation, some unforeseen situations are beyond our control and we can not be responsible for such situations. Teachers will advise when children are ready for the exams.I usually send an email to all AWE families in December each year giving details and forms for exam entries for the following Summer. Please see separate document for prices and rules as well as how to apply.
I have a long standing arrangement with a local school who allow AWE Students to sit their exams for the courses run at AWE Club as external candidates. If your child is doing an exam course with Neil that requires coursework marking you will not be able to choose to sit exams at an alternative exam center as they will not accommodate you. The arrangement we have is unique to AWE and our teachers. It has worked very well so far and has the added bonus that children will have familiar faces on exam day. Parents often arrange to meet up for breakfast/lunch or a chat in the local park, before exams which helps with last minute nerves.
‘BACK-UP’ Exam centers
For peace of mind we have a ‘back up’ exam center that will accept Neils marking, just in case of a disaster meaning the local school stops allowing AWE to use it as our exam center. The ‘back-up’ is in Coventry though so quite a long journey, so please bear that in mind.
SPECIAL ACCESS or SEN for EXAMS
Please note if your child requires any special access arrangements or has SEN needs, there is no guarantee that these can be catered for by the exam center. The exams officer will help or advise if she can but often complex cases require so much paperwork and expensive outside assessments to be done that she cannot help. It is the parents responsibility to deal with exam access requirements. My advice is start very early as it is a very long complicated process
Refunds
I understand children change their minds and their needs change often. This is one of the reasons I only accept payments for each half term in advance. Please understand we make decisions about whether we have enough children and money to run the lessons before the start of each term. If students drop out and parents ask for a refund it means the teachers may end up working for no pay and costs may not be covered. Once AWE has paid for hall hire, insurance etc I can’t go back and ask for a refund, so we have to carry on, potentially at a loss. So, when you join AWE I will ask you to commit to each half term and pay in advance. The teachers and myself make the same commitment to you. We have had to make the decision to not be able to issue refunds under any circumstances for each half term.
Temporary students awaiting school places
We are seeing an increasing number of children who are being Home Educated while waiting for a school place. Whilst we will do all we can to help with temporary classes we can not allocate an exam course place to a child who may leave in a few weeks. So we will allow a small amount of flexibility in class numbers to cater for those children and will call those temporary places where the commitment is not required from either party. This means your child will not be put in a class team doing exam work where their leaving could affect other children in the class.
Address and Directions
154 Brooker Road, Waltham Abbey, EN9 1JH. Turn down the side of Lidls and the Nissan garage and the hall is about 200 yards down on the right. The building has two signs, WAY2000 and NEW Images outside. It is opposite the PIXEL building. Nearest train or bus station is Waltham Cross. Nearest tube is Loughton.
www.aweclub.co.uk/awe-contact/
The Hall
We hire the whole building which includes two kitchens, please only use the upstairs kitchen. There are mugs and tea / coffee making facilities which you are welcome to use as long as you wash up and clear the kitchen back to its original state. Please ensure your child’s washing up is done too. Please clear up any mess your children make too.
Rubbish
Please take your rubbish home with you. There is no council bin collection from the hall.
Accessibility
There is a stair lift if required. All children are welcome. The only requirements are that they are mature enough and able to sit through the lessons without causing disruption to the other students.
Fire Exits
At the start of each term teachers will show the children where fire exits are located. Children are not allowed to play in the back stairway where the stair lift and fire exit doors are. In case of an evacuation assemble at the post box on your left as you leave the building. A register will be taken by the Teachers, do not leave as we may be looking for you when trying to ensure everyone is out of the building.
Computer Room
No food or drink in the computer room please. There is free wifi available and parents are welcome to use the computer room when there are no lessons in there. Please do not disrupt the lessons in adjacent rooms.
Course Material
Teachers will explain exactly which textbooks are needed at the start of each course. Parents need to buy relevant books.
Additional Information
There are plenty of spaces at the venue and most parents stay for the day. We have a good laugh and have all become friends. There is a small library with lots of books in the hall plus pool table/ table football/ and a ping pong table. At lunchtime the children all socialise with each other and all get on very well. There is plenty of space and quiet areas if you prefer. We have a very nice room where the parents all sit, with a TV and comfy chairs. The ice cream van comes at 2.30 and the younger siblings sometimes get ice cream. Tesco and Lidls are within walking distance and at the end of the road is a lovely new play park with all kinds of climbing equipment, a pond with ducks and a huge area to walk. It’s in the Lea Valley with a children’s farm and education centres. High Beech in Epping Forest is also very close. You can also walk into the town centre in a few minutes where there are lots of places to eat plus the post office, library, hairdressers, beauty and nail bars if you fancy being pampered. You can drive about 3 minutes or walk across the field to McDonalds, TKmax, Poundland and Home Bargains.