SCHOOL FEES FOR CURRENT ACADEMIC YEAR
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To know Fees for Immersion Program. Please click here

To know Fees for the existing students Please click here

To know more about Miscellaneous Fees. Please click here

1. PAYMENT MODE

By Cash, NETS, VISA, MasterCard or cheque.
Fees can also be telegraphically transferred to our bank account:

2. OVERSEAS - Standard Chartered Bank Singapore
No. 6 BATTERY ROAD SINGAPORE 049909
Swift Code: SCBLSGSG
Tel: 1-800-743-3000
Account Name: ST. FRANCIS METHODIST SCHOOL LTD
Account No.: 0102308144 SGD

3. SCHOOL REFUND POLICY

1.0 Objectives:          
This policy set the guidelines for Finance Department in the event that a refund is requested by students due to overpayment of fees or termination or withdrawal of courses.

2.0 Scope:        
This policy covers the Income Cycle of Financial Operations that is carried out in St. Francis Methodist School.

3.0 Definition:           
Refund request made by students are inevitable and are usually done after a student decides to withdraw from a registered Course.  There will also be circumstances where students may have been inadvertently overpaid for the fees arising from miscommunication between the school and the parents. This policy is drawn up in line with the Standard PEI-Student Contract. This policy has the endorsement of the Chairperson of the Finance Committee, a representative of the Board of Directors.

4.0 Policy:      
This policy covers the following

• Overview
• Communication
• Reviews
• Documentation
• Accounting

4.1 Overview

All students enrolling in St Francis Methodist School is required to sign a Standard PEI-Student Contract with the School. The School adopts the Refund Policy outlined in Clause 2 of the Standard PEI –Student Contract.  The refund policy applies to the following circumstances:

1. Refunds for Withdrawal for Cause as spelt out under Clause 2.3 of the Student Contract;
2. Refunds for Withdrawal Without Cause as spelt out under Clause 2.4 of the Student Contract; and
3. Refund Policy within the 7 working days Cooling Off period under Clause 2.5 of the Student Contract.

The School, has the obligation to refund Course Fees and/or other Miscellaneous Fees (where applicable) stipulated in the Standard PEI – Student Contract. The quantum of the refund amount will be dependent on the circumstances of each case The School has a standard procedure to ensure that the treatment, calculation and accounting for any refund request are consistent with the Refund Policy.

4.1.1 Refunds for Withdrawal for Cause

In the event the School for circumstances under Clause 2.1 of the Student Contract, namely:

a. Fails, for any reason, to commence the Course on Course Commencement Date;

b. Terminates the Course, for any reason, prior to the Course Commencement Date;

c. Fails, for any reason, to complete the Course by the Course Completion Date; or

d. Terminates the Course, for any reason, prior to Course Completion Date,

The School shall inform the Student immediately within three (3) working days and the School shall process this within seven (7) working days after notifying the Student, refund to the Student:

(i) The entire amount of the Course Fees; and

(ii) The Miscellaneous Fees

It is not the School’s Policy to terminate or withdraw any course, once it has commenced. Generally, the School will only commence a new course when it is certain of achieving the minimum enrolment number.

However, in an event that a school should decide to terminate course via a lateral transfer from its students from one course to another or an alternative confirmed course arrangement in the interest of the students, the approval of the parents or guardians must be sought before such action is taken. For example, the school may decide to cancel Lower Secondary Ausmat Matriculation Programme (Year 7 and Year 8) and transfer the students to Singapore Cambridge Lower Secondary 1 and Secondary 2.
The conditions under which a course may be terminated via a lateral transfer are as follow:

• Less than optimum class size of  8 students is in fact not suitable for group work and learning over a period of not more than 6 months;
• The students must be transferred to a similar programme of equal or better standing and recognition;
• The School must seek the consensus of the parents/guardians in writing regarding the transfer. Before such action is taken, a hundred percentage (100%) consensuses must be achieved. No students can be forced to another Course.
• Any costs including the text books and change of student pass will be borne by the School.

In a case whereby the Student’s Pass application is rejected by Immigration and Checkpoint Authority (ICA), the School shall inform the student immediately within three (3) working days and the School shall process this within seven (7) working days after notifying the Student, refund to the student is a partial amount of the Course Application fee.

In case of circumstances that national Deferment is unsuccessful anfd the Student Pass Application is rejected by ICA, School will provide partial refund on Course Application Fee.

Alternatively, the Student will be provided with information and details of the alternative confirmed Course arrangement to allow the student to make timely and appropriate decision.

4.1.2    Refunds for Withdrawal without Cause
Where the Student withdraws from the Course for any reason other that those set out in Clause 2.2 (under Withdrawal for Cause) or Clause 9 (under Force Majeure) of the Student Contract, the School shall process this within seven (7) working days after receiving the notice of withdrawal from the parent or guardian refund to the Student the following sums (less any applicable bank administrative charges properly paid/payable):

4.1.3 Cooling-Off  Period

The School shall provide the Student with a Cooling-off period of [7] working days after signing this Student Contract. Within these [7] working days and regardless whether the Course Commencement Date has passed, the Student can submit a written notice of withdrawal to the School and a receive a Maximum Refund amount stipulated by the School under Clause 2.4 (less any Course Fees consumed by the Student if the Withdrawal date is later than the Course Commencement Date and the Student has started the Course, any School’s administrative charges which are stipulated  in the Miscellaneous Fees and any applicable bank administrative charges properly paid/payable under Clause 3 of the Student Contract).

4.2 Communication

1. The School shall bring to the Student’s notice Schedule 3 of the Student Contract by notifying the student of his rights to cancel the Student Contract within 7 working days from date of written notice or during the Cooling-off Period for any reason. Unless the School received written acknowledgment provided by the Student that Schedule 3 has been brought to his or her notice, the Student shall have the right to withdraw from the Course and receive a refund stated in Clause 2.5 of the Student Contract (on Cooling-Off period) anytime before the notice in Schedule 3 has been brought to the Student’s attention.

2. The School will inform the Student that refund will be processed as soon as practicable after receiving the Student’s written notice of withdrawal and in any event no more than seven (7) working days after receiving such notice

3. The Refund Policy is published in the school website, Student Contract and Student Handbook. The Standard PEI-Student Contract will be used as the Contract for all confirmed enrolment.

4. Refund Policy including Cooling off Period will be clearly explained to the Student, Parent and/or Guardian and Agent. The student and Parent/Guardian are requested to initial or sign on the pages pertaining to Clause 2.4 Refunds for Withdrawal without Cause and Clause 2.5 Cooling-Off Period to underscore their importance. Where possible, the refund Policy shall be translated in the native language of the student.

4.3 Reviews
The Refund Policy will be reviewed by Senior Management annually to ensure that the Policy remains fair to the students.

4.4 Documentation

1. The School must ensure that there is standard operating procedure written for refunds.
2. All requests must be in writing and is approved by Senior Management. Students below the age of 18 years old who have decided to terminate their contracts with the school prematurely must be supported by the parents’ written requests.
3. A Request for Refund must be raised together with the supporting documents mentioned above and is forwarded to the Finance Manager and authorised Approving for signatories for approval.

4.5 Accounting

1. The School adopts a prudent approach towards the accounting for school fee refunds. It must be deducted from revenue in the same month the cheque is raised.
2. Other refunds not directly related to school fees will be posted to the relevant accounts stated in the procedures.

5.0 Enforcement:       
Finance Manager will ensure that this policy is adhered to by implementation of procedures for Refund

6.0 Roles and Responsibilities        
Senior Management and Finance Manager are responsible for the operations of relevant procedures to ensure that such request are genuine and supported by a written request.

7.0 Definitions:
Term                                     Definition       
Income Cycle                          Income Cycle is the area relating to turnover in the Course of running a business.

To know more about Refund Procedure click here

4. SCHOOL TRANSFER / WITHDRAWAL POLICY

1.0 Objectives:  

This policy is set to provide the guidelines for the managing students’ request for course transfer or withdrawal in a fair and acceptable manner.  It also covers the documentation required to adhere to the Statutory and Financial requirements.

2.0 Scope:
This policy covers the operations, statutory and financial areas of the School Operations.

3.0 Definition:  
A student who has decided to discontinue his or her study prematurely or permanently is deemed to have withdrawn from school. This includes a request to withdraw to join another school be it a Government school or another private institution, Withdrawal means the student contract is terminated and the student is no longer a student of St Francis Methodist School (SFMS).  

Whereas a request for course transfer refers to a student changes the course of study but remains as a student of  SFMS.

4.0 Policy:
This withdraw / transfer policy can be explained by detail in three major areas which is as follows

1. Overview
2. Documentation
3. Communication

4.1 Overview
4.1.1 Transfer Policy
Transfer request to change to another course of study can be initiated by a student or by the school. The transfer policy includes following:

a. The transfer request from a student must be in writing. Consent from the parent or legal guardian is required, particularly for a student below 18 years old;

b. The school will assess the request and provide a reply within 4 week from the date of request;

c. If the transfer request is granted, the original contract will be terminated and a new contract will be signed;   

d. Any unused portion of the school fees may be “credited” or transferred to the new course at the discretion of the school;

e. Any additional fee payable (e.g., arising from the difference between the original and new course) must be settled before the transfer can proceed;

f. The student will not be entitled to any refund for the difference in the course fee between the original and the new course if the former is higher than the latter;

g. For international students, the student pass of the original course will be cancelled and the school will  apply a student pass for the new course;

h. It is the responsibility of the international student to fulfil Checkpoint and Immigration Authority (ICA) minimum attendance requirement of 90% and the school will not be held responsible if the student pass of the new course is not approved by ICA due to the attendance issue;

i. The student must pay for the applicable student pass processing fee;

j. The school can initiate a transfer of course under the following circumstances:

1. the student is not coping with the original course; and/or
2. less than optimum class size (of 8 students) affects effective learning and therefore the school may decide to effect a lateral transfer of the entire class to another course in the interest of the students.

k. It is not the Policy of the school to exercise any ‘forced” transfer under any circumstances;

l. Under  j.1) alone, should the student agrees to the change of course, the student must bear  the student pass processing fee, fee protection scheme insurance fee, cost of text books of the new course and additional school fees payable (if applicable);

m. Under j.2),  should the student agrees to the change of course, the school will bear the student pass processing  fee, fee protection scheme insurance fee and cost of text books of the new course and the student will not be required to pay for any difference in the school fee;

n. The time frame to complete the transfer policy will be within 4 weeks.

4.1.2 Withdrawal Policy
Students at SFMS are free to withdraw from the school before the completion of the course of study. The withdrawal policy includes the following:

a. The request has to be made in writing. The withdrawal request transmitted to the School by facsimile or via e-mail addressed to the Principal or Chief Operating Officer will be acceptable;

b. Withdrawal request will only be processed when a letter a consent from the parent or legal guardian, particularly if the student is below 18 years old is received;

c. Any outstanding fees or additional fee payable including the student pass cancellation fee (if applicable) must be paid;

d. Outstanding fees may include discounts or rebates given to the student for a full term of study. This would be forfeited and recovered back from the student if the student withdraws prematurely from the school.  In addition, student on instalment scheme is expected to pay the balance of the fees before leaving the school;

e. Where the withdrawal request is received within 30 days of commencement of the course, the student will be eligible for refund in accordance to the refund policy spelt out in the student contract. As an exception to this Policy, a refund may not be grantedin the case of forced or involuntary withdrawal arising from a serious breach of school’s  Code of conduct or in breach of Singapore’s law;

f. It is Policy of the school to refund the school fees within 7 working days from the date of notice of withdrawal;

g. For the international student’s the student’s pass must be surrendered to the school for cancellation. The school will cancel the student pass within 7 working days on receipt of the withdrawal request. The student contract is deemed cancelled when upon completion  of the withdrawal process;

h. The time frame to assess or process the withdrawal request will be completed with 4 weeks.

5.0 Documentation

1. All requests must be in writing and given to the school through facsimile transmission, e-mail or original copy of the parent/legal guardian’s letter.
2. The “Student Release Form” must be completed for withdrawal request by the student and given to Finance Department to process the refund, if any.
3. For transfer request, the school will issue a Confirmation Letter to advise the student and parent/guardian of the implications and information of the transfer and will require acknowledgement by the student and parent/guardian (if the student is below 18 years old).

6.0 Communication

The transfer and/or withdrawal policy is clearly communicated to all students via school website (www.sfms.edu.sg) and the student handbook. In addition, the school conducts briefing sessions to explain the transfer/withdrawal policy during assembly and in contact time via the care teachers.

All international students, upon collection of the new student pass will be briefed by the

Student services staff on the implication of receiving the new student passes, particularly on
consequences of not maintaining school attendance of 90% and /or breaking of Singapore’s law.

7.0 Enforcement:       
The school will ensure that this policy is strictly enforced and the school’s transfer/withdrawal procedures are aligned with the transfer/withdrawal for effective execution of any transfer/withdrawal application.

8.0 Roles and Responsibilities:
Senior Management (Principal and COO) Head, Admissions, Student Support Services Officer and Finance Officer are responsible for the execution of the transfer/withdrawal policies and its related procedures to ensure that such applications are managed in a fair and acceptable manner.

9.0 Reviews

The transfer/withdraw policy along with procedures will be reviewed by Senior Management annually to ensure that the Policy remains fair and relevant to the students.

Review of the transfer/withdrawal procedures will be conducted regularly by Head, Admissions and Finance Manager or Finance Supervisor for continual improvement. Some changes in procedures may lead to a revision in the Policy.

10.0 Definitions:
Term                           Definition       

11.0 Revision History:
Section Revision        Rev. Date                  Content Change
3.0                   15 October 2010          Minor change in Definition of Transfer Policy
4.1.2                15 October 2010          Minor changes made in Withdrawal Policy
4.1.1.               01 June 2011               Major Changes made in Transfer Policy

To know more about Transfer/Withdrawal Procedure click here

Click Here for Withdrawal/Deferment/Transfer Form.

Click Here for Student Release Form

Student Redress, Feedback and Grievances Process
It is our desire at St. Francis that a student's grievance shall be dealt with as expeditiously as possible. In this respect, all students' feedback, grievances or redress received will be dealt with according to the following procedures:a. All feedback, grievances or redress will be centralized at the office of the Deputy Principal, who will then channel it to the respective department or officer for investigation.
b. We will acknowledge receipt and give you an interim response within three (3) working days.
c. We will conduct our investigations.
d. You will receive a final response from us within seven (7) working days from the date of the feedback on the result of our investigations and our follow-up actions.However, in the event that our follow-up and resolution to your complaints or grievance does not meet with your satisfaction, you can take up the issue with our Management, which includes the Principal who will address it personally.In the event that the Student and the School are unable to resolve a dispute in accordance with the grievance procedure, the Student and the School shall refer the dispute to the CASE Mediation Centre for mediation prior to instituting any legal action or proceedings. The Student and the School hereby agree to such procedures and to pay such fees as the CASE Mediation Centre may prescribe from time to time for the purpose of resolving any dispute.Please see the flowchart attached on our Student Feedback/Grievance/Redress Process, for your information.You can obtain the Student Grievance Form from our website at www.sfms.edu.sg or from the General Office at Level 4. Alternatively, our School also entertains such communication through other channels such as e-mail, fax, telephone or letters.

Click Here for Student Feedback Form

Please Note
I. Presently Student School Fees are protected under Fee Protection Scheme (FPS). However all current students who have enrolled with us before 21 December 2009, their school fees are protected under Student Protection Scheme.

St. Francis Methodist School
492 Upper Bukit Timah Road
Singapore 678095
Tel: (65) 67 600 889
Fax: (65) 67 608 032
e-mail:sfmsadmin@sfms.edu.sg

*Last Updated on 5/10/2011