Terms of Service

1. About these terms

Polymath Science provides online tutoring in Mathematics and Physical Sciences, together with study resources and marking of submitted work, to Grade 10 to 12 students in South Africa. These terms form an agreement between you and Polymath Science and apply every time you use the platform.

By creating an account or using any part of the service, you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, please do not use the platform.

These terms should be read together with our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle your personal information.

2. Who may use the platform

The platform is built for learners in Grade 10 to 12. Most of our students are under 18, which means they are minors in South African law and cannot enter into a binding agreement on their own.

A parent or guardian who agrees to these terms for a learner is responsible for that learner's use of the platform and for payment of any amounts owing.

3. Your account

You need an account to book sessions, submit work and view resources. When you register and complete onboarding you give us details such as your name, phone number, school, province, grade and curriculum.

• Give accurate information and keep it up to date. Your grade and curriculum determine the content and tutors you are matched with.
• Keep your password private. You are responsible for activity on your account.
• Use one account per student. Do not share an account or let someone else use yours.
• Tell us promptly at info@polymathscience.co.za if you think someone else has access to your account.

4. Tutoring sessions and bookings

Tutoring is optional. You can use the platform for resources and practice without joining a tutoring programme.

If you do join, you choose your subjects, how many sessions you want each week, whether you prefer group or one-on-one sessions, and the times you are available. We use that to place you with a tutor and a slot.

Attendance and changes

• Join sessions on time. A tutor is not required to extend a session because you arrived late.
• Tell us as early as you can if you cannot attend, so the slot can be offered to another student.
• We may need to move or cancel a session, for example if a tutor is unavailable. We will give you as much notice as we can and offer a replacement session where possible.
• We may change tutor allocations from time to time to keep group sizes and timetables workable.

We cannot guarantee that a specific tutor, time slot or group size will always be available.

5. Fees, invoices and payment

Prices for tutoring depend on the subjects you choose, the number of sessions per week and the session type. The price shown to you before you confirm is the price that applies to that invoice.

• We issue an invoice with a payment reference. Use that reference so we can match your payment to your account.
• Access to paid tutoring starts once we have confirmed your payment.
• Submitting a proof of payment reference is not the same as us receiving the money. Confirmation follows once the payment reflects.
• If a payment is reversed or fails, we may suspend tutoring access until it is settled.

Refunds

If we cancel a paid session and cannot offer you a replacement, you can ask for that session to be credited or refunded. We do not generally refund sessions that you booked and did not attend. If you think a charge is wrong, contact us at info@polymathscience.co.za and we will look into it.

6. How you may use the platform

Sessions are a shared learning space, often with other students in the group. We expect everyone to behave accordingly.

You agree not to

• Harass, bully, threaten or discriminate against a tutor or another student.
• Record, photograph or stream a session, or share a session link, without our written permission. Other students have a right to privacy.
• Share, resell or publish our study material, past paper solutions or marking outside the platform.
• Upload anything unlawful, harmful or that infringes someone else's rights.
• Attempt to break, probe or gain unauthorised access to the platform or another user's account.
• Submit someone else's work as your own when asking for marking.

7. Study material and your work

Our material

Resources we publish, including worked solutions, quizzes and notes, belong to Polymath Science or to the people who licensed them to us. You may use them for your own studying. You may not redistribute or sell them.

Past examination papers and similar documents remain the property of the examining body that produced them. We make them available for study purposes only.

Work you submit

Work you upload for marking stays yours. By submitting it you give us permission to store it and to share it with the tutors and staff who need to see it in order to mark it and give you feedback.

We may use anonymised information about submissions, for example which topics students get wrong most often, to improve teaching and content. This does not identify you.

8. Availability of the service

We work to keep the platform running, but we cannot promise it will always be available or free of faults. Access depends on things outside our control, including your internet connection, your device and services we rely on.

We may add, change or remove features, and we may take the platform down for maintenance.

9. Suspension and closing your account

You can stop using the platform at any time and ask us to close your account by writing to info@polymathscience.co.za.

We may suspend or close an account if these terms are broken, if fees are unpaid, or if conduct puts other students or tutors at risk. Where it is reasonable to do so, we will tell you first and give you a chance to put things right.

If your account is closed, our Privacy Policy explains what happens to your information.

10. No guarantee of results

Tutoring is support for your studying. It is not a guarantee of a particular mark, a pass, a distinction, university admission or funding. Your results depend on your own work and on factors we do not control.

Nothing on the platform is career, financial or legal advice. Confirm admission and funding requirements directly with the institution concerned.

11. Our responsibility to you

Nothing in these terms limits any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 or other South African law that cannot be excluded by agreement.

Subject to that, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, including lost opportunities or disappointing results. Where we are liable, our liability is limited to the amount you paid us for the service in the three months before the issue arose.

We provide the platform and its material as they are, and we do not warrant that every resource is free of errors. Tell us if you spot a mistake and we will correct it.

12. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as the service changes or as the law requires. The date at the top of this page shows when we last did so.

If a change materially affects your rights, we will give you reasonable notice, for example by a notice in the platform or an email. Continuing to use the platform after a change means you accept the updated terms.

13. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the law of the Republic of South Africa, and the South African courts have jurisdiction.

If something goes wrong, please contact us first at info@polymathscience.co.za. Most problems are quicker to sort out directly, and we would rather fix an issue than argue about it.

14. Contact us

Questions about these terms, your account or an invoice can go to info@polymathscience.co.za.

For questions about your personal information, see our Privacy Policy.