A dispute exists when two or more people see their needs or values as incompatible. In the classroom, the Care Teacher and/or School Counsellor can act as a mediator in resolving the disputes that could arise. On a wider scale, Head of Department, Managers and Senior Management can be deployed to seek restitution for a dispute within the school community. If there is an issue that needs addressing with a member of the public, the Senior Management would be involved in addressing any dispute that may arise. If need be, an external agency can be engaged to bring about a consensus so that a win-win situation is arrived for all parties concerned.

Dispute Resolution Policy

Students can fill up the feedback form, email or make an appointment to see the Head of Department, Vice Principal or Principal if they feel that a dispute needs addressing. The dispute may arise from issues involving:

• Retention
• Suspension
• Expulsion
• Awards
• School fees refund
• Others

All parties are given the option to seek redress for any issues that they feel have disadvantaged them.

All students are welcomed to speak to any member of the Senior Management regarding issues they face in the classroom or in the school in general.

In the case of staff, they can email or have a face-to-face session with the personnel which is usually a Senior Staff or member of the Senior Management assigned to mediate. Members of the public can contact the school directly via email or make an appointment to meet with the principal or Vice Principal.

All disputes (including feedback/complaints) will be attended to or acknowledged to within 3 to 7 working days from the date received.

The school will inform the complainant or person giving the feedback of the action(s) taken where feasible and that it is committed to work towards a resolution within 21 working days where feasible.

For matters that remain unresolved, the complainant may refer to CPE Mediation-Arbitration Scheme or seek Small Claims Tribunals (SCT) for redress.

Channels of Incident / Feedback / Complaint / Appeal (Including Disputes)

• Emails
• Written on feedback form
• A written letter
• Face-to-face with personnel concerned

There is a Suggestion Box placed within SFMS, one at Level 4 where students, parents or staff can drop their feedback and suggestions.

Withdrawal Due to Non-Delivery of Course

SFMS shall refund the entire amount of the Course Fees and Miscellaneous Fees already paid within seven (7) working days after notifying the Student if:

• It fails, for any reason, to commence the Course on Course Commencement Date;
• It terminates the Course, for any reason, prior to the Course Commencement Date;
• It fails, for any reason, to complete the Course by the Course Completion Date;
• It terminates the Course, for any reason, prior to Course Completion Date;
• It has not ensured that the Student meets the course entry or matriculation requirement
  set by the organisation stated in Schedule A within any stipulated timeline set by CPE; or
• The Student’s Pass application is rejected by Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).

Withdrawal Due to Other Reasons

Where the Student withdraws from the Course for any reason other than those stated above, the School shall within seven (7) working days of receiving the notice of withdrawal, refund to students an amount based on the table below:

*% of (the amount of the fees paid under Schedules B and C)

Notes:
1. Course Application fee is non-refundable and non-transferable
2. Enrolment Fees is non-refundable
3. Fee Protection Scheme insurance fee is non-refundable
4. Student Pass processing fee is non-refundable
5. Enrichment Programme fee is non-refundable

Refund during Cooling-Off Period

SFMS shall provide the Student with a Cooling-off period of 7 working days after the date
that the Contract has been signed by both parties. The Student will be refunded the highest
percentage (stated in Table above) of the fees already paid if the Student submits a written notice
of withdrawal to the PEI within the cooling-off period, regardless of whether the Student has
started the course or not.

Overpayment of School Fees or Miscellaneous Fees

The above fees will refund in full to the student within thirty (30) working days of receiving notice of over payment in line with the School’s usual payment cycle of our invoices.

Transfer Policy

Course transfer means a student changes the course of study but remains as a student of SFMS. The request for transfer from one course to another within SFMS will only be considered if the Transfer of Course Application Form is duly completed and signed by the Student and Parent/ Guardian (applicable for students below age 18 years old).

A student must satisfy SFMS that he/she has a genuine reason to request for a transfer. The grounds for transfer may be due to, but not limited to the following circumstances:

• The student is not coping with the original course;
• Insufficient student number in a course leading to cancellation of classes
• Teachers/Parent/Guardian considers the transfer of course to be in the student’s best interest;
• School offers promotion to eligible students.

It is not the Policy of the school to exercise any ‘forced’ transfer under any circumstances. The transfer of course application will be assessed and the outcome will be made known to the student within 14 working days.

If the Transfer of Change request is approved, SFMS will have to terminate the existing PEI-Student Contract and sign a new PEI-Student Contract.

SFMS will have to inform FPS service providers and relevant government agencies of any change in the student’s status that may affect the existing Student Pass. The application for a new student pass will be subject to the approval of ICA.

Additional Fee Payable Due to the Transfer

For promotions or course transfers initiated by students/parents/guardians, additional fees will be incurred and the student will have to bear the non-refundable costs e.g. student pass processing fee, fee protection scheme insurance fee and additional school fees payable (if applicable). The computation of the difference in fee or refund will be provided to the students/parents/guardians.

However, where the transfer of course is due to school’s reason such as insufficient student number in a course or class or the inability of the school to continue with the course and should the student agrees to the change of course under such circumstance, the school will bear the student pass processing fee, fee protection scheme insurance fee and cost of textbooks of the new course and the student will not be required to pay for any difference in the school fee

Withdrawal Policy

Withdrawal refers to the situation where the student contract would be terminated and the student is no longer a student of SFMS.

The request to withdraw will only be considered if the Clearance Form is duly completed and signed by the Student and Parent/ Guardian (applicable for students below age 18 years old).

The request to withdrawal can also be made in writing and/or transmitted to the School via e-mail addressed to the Principal or Vice-Principal;

Withdrawal requests will only be processed when consent in writing is received from the parent or guardian, particularly if the student is below 18 years old is received;

An international student has to return his/ her student pass to the school for cancellation. The school will cancel the student pass within 7 working days from the effective withdrawal date indicated on the form. The student contract is deemed cancelled upon the cancellation of student pass.

The time frame to assess or process the withdrawal request will be within 14 working days.

Outstanding Fees and Refunds

Clearances from Finance, Facilities and Learning Resource Centre have to be received. Any outstanding fees or additional fee (if applicable) must be paid before the departure of the student so that the school can return the progress report file to the student.

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 installment scheme is expected to pay the balance of the fees before leaving the school;

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.

Where applicable, the student will be refunded according to the Refund Table printed in the PEI-Student Contract within 7 working days from the effective withdrawal date.

Purpose

• St Francis Methodist School (SFMS) being an Edu-Trust Certified Private Education Institution is required to adopt the FPS to provide protection to school fees paid by our students.
• The FPS serves to protect the international and local students’ school fees in the event SFMS is unable to continue operations due to insolvency, and/or regulatory closure. In addition, the FPS also protects the students if SFMS fails to pay penalties or return fees to the students arising from judgements made against it by the Singapore courts.
• SFMS adopts FPS in the form of insurance facility and the insurance cover will be purchased from Liberty Insurance Pte Ltd. The protected total school fees comprise the following:
  i. Course fee;
  ii. Enrolment fee;
  iii. Meal Plan;
  iv. Student Pass Processing fee;
  v. Examination/Moderation fees;
  vi. Course Material fees;
  vii. Enrichment Programme fee.

Application

• All students covered under FPS may pay their fees (in SGD) through the following methods:
  i. Cashier’s Order;
  ii. Cheque;
  iii. Bank Draft;
  iv. NETS;
  v. Bank Transfer and
  vi. Credit Cards

Procedure Instructions

Implementation of FPS
The following procedure is strictly followed in implementing the FPS in St Francis Methodist School:

1. SFMS has undertaken a policy with “blanket” insurance cover for all existing and new students with effect from 1st January 2020 under an FPS Group Insurance policy. The FPS Group insurance policy is issued by Liberty Insurance Pte Ltd for the full academic year from 1 January to 31 December. Upon receipt of the school fees, the students will be automatically covered by the FPS Group insurance until the end of the course.

2. There will be no individual FPS certificates issued.

Cancellation of FPS Insurance
With the above changes, the cancellation of the FPS insurance Policy is no longer required. Any change in the course of study or withdrawal will be informed by SFMS to Liberty Insurance Pte Ltd.

SFMS is not required to purchase FPS insurance

• if a Student attends the English Immersion Programme, Exchange Programme, Summer Camp, School visit or School Visit cum Immersion for duration of not more than 30 days;
• for examination fees of additional subjects over the prescribed minimum number of subjects in each Course or re-sitting of subjects.
• for examination fees that is collected of less than 2 months.

Under EduTrust’s requirements, all students need to purchase medical insurance throughout their entire course of studies.

At SFMS, all international and local students are automatically insured under a Group Medical Insurance Cover of not less than S$20,000 per student, B2-ward hospital treatment in government or restructured hospitals. This is a co-insurance arrangement between SFMS, the student and the insurer. It includes a 24-hour personal accident cover in Singapore and overseas (if the student is involved in school-related activities) throughout the course duration.

SFMS has appointed Liberty Insurance Pte Ltd to be its medical insurance provider.

Get more information here

Student Medical Insurance Product Summary

1.0 Introduction

• Tel:  +65 67600889
• Email:  askdpo@sfms.edu.sg

2.0 Introduction to Personal Data Protection Act

• “Personal Data” is defined under the PDPA to mean data, whether true or not, about an individual who can be identified from that data, or from that data and other information to which an organization has or is likely to have access. Common examples of personal data could include names, NRIC, FIN or Passport number, contact information, medical records, thumbprint, photographs and video images.
• SFMS will collect your personal data in accordance with the PDPA. In general, before we collect any personal data from you, we will notify you of the purposes for which your personal data may be collected, used and/or disclosed, as well as obtain your consent for the collection, use and/or disclosure of your personal data for the intended purposes.

3.0 Purposes for Collection, Use & Disclosure of Personal Data

• Depending on your relationship with SFMS (e.g. as an applicant, student, parent, guardian, staff, vendor, service provider, or other person relating to our organisation), the personal data which we collect from you may be collected, used and/or disclosed for the following purposes:
• (a) Evaluating suitability for admission or employment, enrolling or employing, providing educational services and teaching, including sending materials on course / study / assignment / study notes, information on time tables and examination details via postal mail, electronic mail, SMS or MMS, fax and/or voice calls;
• (b) Administering and/or managing relationships with SFMS (including responding to enquiries, the mailing of correspondence, statements or notices which could involve the disclosure of certain personal data to bring about delivery of the same);
• (c) Carrying out due diligence or other screening activities (including background checks) in accordance with legal or regulatory obligations or risk management procedures that may be required by law or put in place by SFMS, including the obtaining of references and/or other information from prior educational institutions and employers;
• (d) Processing application(s) for scholarships and/or financial aid, and bursary, and administering and managing scholarship/financial aid/bursary and other support programmes, which may include use of personal data for development and disclosure of personal data to external organisations for purposes of periodic reports, event invitations, surveys and/or publicity of SFMS’s related programmes;
• (e) Investigating possible fraud, misconduct, unlawful action or omission, and utilizing electronic access and video systems to maintain campus security of persons or property, control access or to investigate suspicious or inappropriate activities;(f) Responding to requests for information from government or public agencies, ministries, statutory boards or other similar authorities or non-government agencies authorised to carry out specific Government services or duties; (g) Carrying out market-related, evaluative or similar research and analysis for SFMS’s operational strategy and policy planning purposes, including providing data to external parties for school programme evaluation; (h) Supporting SFMS functions including, but not restricted to, the teaching and personal / professional development of students, and administration of SFMS matters; (i) Processing and administering applications for overseas exchange programmes and other overseas activities and administering such programmes which may include disclosure of information to overseas universities, employment and training organisations; (j) Processing, administering and conferring awards of prizes, medals, scholarships and other marks of distinction, student or graduation status and the publication or releasing of information on the same; (k) Processing applications and enrolment activities related to medical insurance and service provision, home stay or hostel accommodation and administering matters related to use of these services; (l) Processing applications for and administering local and overseas study related activities, events, programmes, and career coaching, and sharing information with companies (whether local or overseas) for purposes of recruitment; (m) Taking of photographs and/or videos (whether by SFMS staff or third-party photographers and/or videographers) during events or seminars organised by SFMS or its affiliates for publicity purposes; (n) If consented to in the registration form and/or other methods of consent notification, providing marketing, advertising and promotional information via postal mail, electronic mail, SMS or MMS, fax and/or voice calls; (o) Any other purposes which SFMS may inform you of in writing from time to time, but for which SFMS will seek your separate consent.
• In order to conduct our operations more smoothly, we may also be disclosing the personal data you have provided to us to our third party service providers, agents and/or our affiliates, which may be sited locally or outside of Singapore, for one or more of the above-stated purposes. Such third party service providers, agents and/or affiliates would be processing your personal data on our behalf for one or more of the above-stated purposes.

4.0 Specific Issues for the Disclosure of Personal Data to Third Parties

• The instances listed above are not intended to be exhaustive. For an exhaustive list of exceptions, you are encouraged to peruse the PDPA which is publicly available at https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/PDPA2012.
• In all other instances of disclosure of personal data to third parties with your express consent, we will provide for adequate forms of protection over such personal data and confidentiality and security in the handling and administration of your personal data by such third parties in compliance with the PDPA and our data protection policies.

5.0 Third-Party Sites and Digital Services

6.0 Request for Access, Correction and/or Withdrawal of Personal Data

• You may request to access and/or correct the personal data currently in our possession or withdraw your consent for the collection, use and/or disclosure of your personal data in our possession or under our control at any time by submitting your request through the following methods :
• (a) E-mail: askdpo@sfms.edu.sg (b) Telephone: +65 67600889 (c) Address: 492 Upper Bukit Timah Road Singapore – 678095
• For a request to access personal data, we will:
  • provide you with the relevant personal data within a reasonable time from such a request being made.
  • process your request, including undertaking necessary verification activities, as soon as practicable after the request has been made. We will send the corrected personal data to every other organisation to which the personal data was disclosed by SFMS within a year before the date the correction was made, unless that other organisation does not need the corrected personal data for any legal or business purpose, or if you so consent, only to specific organisations to which the personal data was disclosed by us within a year before the date the correction was made. We may also be charging you a reasonable fee for the handling and processing of your requests to access and/or correct your personal data, but you will be notified in advance of such costs.
• For a request to withdraw consent, we will process your request within a reasonable time from such a request for withdrawal of consent being made. Requests for withdrawal of consent may adversely impact your relationship with SFMS. We will notify you in advance of such impacts.

7.0 Administration of Personal Data

• We will take appropriate measures to keep your personal data accurate, complete and updated.
• We will also take reasonable efforts to take appropriate precautions and preventive measures to ensure that your personal data is adequately protected and secured. Appropriate security arrangements will be taken to prevent any unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure, copying, modification, leakage, loss, damage and/or alteration of your personal data. However, we cannot assume responsibility for any unauthorized use of your personal data by third parties which are wholly attributable to factors beyond our control.
• We will also take reasonable efforts to ensure that the personal data in our possession or under our control is destroyed and/or anonymized as soon as it is reasonable to assume that:
• (i) the purpose for which that personal data was collected is no longer being served by the retention of such personal data and (ii) retention is no longer necessary for any other legal or business purposes.

8.0 Retention of Your Personal Data

9.0 Updates on Data Protection Policy

Complaint Form for Misuse of Personal Data

Personal Data Correction Request Form

Withdrawal of Consent Request Form