The School of Stitched Textiles Ltd Company no 5935078 (Eccles Farm Needlecrafts) is fully approved by City & Guilds of London, England to offer City & Guilds Accredited courses by distance learning.

At the start

Students will be required to acknowledge the content of the course specific Terms and Conditions below whilst acknowledging that, in doing so, they also agree to abide by the wider Online Terms and Conditions (which also contains details of cancellation rights) contained on this website. During the enrolment process customers are unable to enrol upon a course without this acknowledgement and it is taken as evidence of their acceptance and agreement to abide by them. If a student wishes to enrol by phone or letter the assumption is that they have previously read and understood and agreed to both the current Terms and Conditions and Terms of Use. Both may have additions, deletions and alterations made in the future and the definitive current version will be the one posted on our website.

Registration, course life and extension details vary from course to course and are detailed on the individual course description page. Extension of some courses may require an additional registration fee for City & Guilds and is subject to the course still being made available by SST and/or City & Guilds.

A description of the individual course content is made available to students on our website. Additional guidance can be obtained by contacting the School of Stitched Textiles.

Use and access to a computer are requirements of the courses, so each student must either already possess basic IT skills or be prepared to acquire them to facilitate their production of digital course folios and in the use of an online file transfer service. It is the student’s own responsibility to ensure they have made digital copies of all work sent in to SST, who cannot be held responsible for any hardware or software failure which results in loss of evidence of student work. Sewing machine access is required for all stitched textile courses.

Timing
Average completion time for most of our course modules is around 6-8 weeks, although students can speed up or slow down within the overall course time limit to suit themselves. Guidance is also given on individual course descriptions for Total Course Estimated Completion times. SST gives these estimated completion times to aide students in course choice and facilitation of time planning, however individuals vary considerably in their work output and speed, so these time estimations can only be considered as indicative.

If the maximum course time allowance is reached without course completion being achieved, a student still wishing to continue study would need to contact SST to see if this is possible. If it is, they would generally need to re-register, pay again or make a further payment for any outstanding modules at the current rate in order to continue with their course. Continuation outside of the course timeframe is predicated on SST and/or City & Guilds continuing to make that course available. The timeframe is measured from initial registration date.

The information, course materials, tutor support, verification and other activities supplied by SST are offered as a complete course package, not as a set of independent modules, and so progress to the next module is subject to satisfactory completion of the previous module. If a student decides not to continue to pursue their course, SST will not supply remaining or additional modules for self-study, as this does not reflect the complete course package. After each module, students will be given written feedback containing an Action Plan, which must be returned to the School to acknowledge that any changes or additions required by their tutor in order to fulfil course and assessment requirements have been made. It is only then that they can progress onto the next module.

Cancellation and Refunds

Students are given the option to pay in advance for the complete course at a considerable discount. Alternatively, for most courses, they are also able to pay in instalments, with the first payment including either registration with SST and/or enrolment with the awarding body City & Guilds of London, in addition to the course fees. Current details of costing are available on the website. Please note that those paying in full for their courses receive significant discounts but, as refunds are not given if the student does not continue with their course or undertake all of the modules paid for, so this method of payment should only be undertaken after due consideration and in acknowledgement of this, after fully reviewing the course and site information made available by SST to enable pre-enrolment students to determine suitability and skill level. If doubt still exists after review of the pre-enrolment materials, we would encourage a prospect to get in touch with us directly to answer individual queries. Once enrolment and registration has taken place no fees are refundable, except under the 14 day statutory rights listed in this site’s Online Terms and Conditions, so it is particularly important that students wishing to obtain a greater discount by paying for the whole course note this as being the case and review these conditions thoroughly prior to enrolment. Please also see the section in these T&Cs on what a student is paying fees for, contained in the General section below.

What you can expect
Formal assessment is supplied throughout the course in the form of written feedback at the end of each completed module, detailing any alterations or additions required, as well as informal feedback as and when required. Students have the opportunity of altering or adding to their work throughout the course and their tutor will tell them when this is required in order to meet the course criteria.

In the event that a phone contact is requested, a mutually convenient time is agreed and the student is then required to give advance details of the matter they wish to discuss so that the tutor can bring themselves up to date with the student’s work and records prior to the conversation taking place. Post-conversation the tutor will forward a brief email detailing the main content of the conversation and any action that has to be taken by either side. If the student has anything to add or believes something is incorrect they need to respond to that email within 10 days of receipt.

The School of Stitched Textiles reserves the right to amend the information and requirements of the course as necessary in order to keep it current and creative. This means that no more than 2 or 3 modules (depending on the course) are dispatched at once, even to students who have paid in full at the start of their course, in case changes need to be made.

The course tutor will normally respond to students’ enquiries and assessment material within as short a time as possible – we aim for no more than 10 days – but it should be noted that on occasion there might be a delay of no more than 3 weeks to allow for holidays and other teaching commitments. We strongly advise students to make a reasonable time allowance for assessment to take place when planning their course timetable, as SST cannot be held responsible for delays in assessment which take students over the maximum time limit.

The School of Stitched Textiles reserves the right to involve extra tutors and assessors as necessary to meet the demand for courses and to provide cover for periods of absence or illness so that students are able to continue with their studies without disruption.

SST offers a digital assessment facility or online study to students on condition that, if necessary, we may also need to ask for pieces to be returned to us if details are unclear. Students may choose to send in presentations of their work via a CD/memory stick or through our file transfer service.

Complaints
If a student believes they have reason for complaint about SST, administrators, tutors, assessment or work, then they need to contact the SST office within 4 weeks of the date of the problem they are complaining about taking place. This first contact could be via email addressed to the Office Manager or a phone call if preferred to briefly outline the issue they have encountered. This gives chance for a discussion to take place and suggestions or actions to be jointly agreed upon, which would generally resolve the matter. If, however, they still subsequently feel the issue has not been addressed to their satisfaction, they have a further 2 weeks from this initial contact in which to submit a formal, written complaint via letter or email and a formal response will be made by SST within 2 weeks of receipt of the written complaint.

If the matter is still not resolved to the complainant’s satisfaction, then they have a further 2 weeks after receipt of SST’s reply to inform SST of their continuing dissatisfaction and request an escalation. At this point we will request City and Guilds or, depending upon the nature of the complaint, the Head of Centre review the complaint and come to an informed decision about the best way to proceed. This decision is final, and no further discussion will be entered into. If SST has not received a response from a student after their escalated complaint has been received and responded to, then after 2 weeks the matter will be considered as closed and the complaint will not be re-opened.

What we expect
All course content is the intellectual property of the School of Stitched Textiles Ltd and is not to be copied or distributed in any form without prior consent being obtained from SST.

Students undertake to supply only their own work for assessment and not that of any other party. Any student who supplies or directly copies the work of another (plagiarism) will have their tuition cancelled, will forfeit their fees and have any certificates already obtained or pending withdrawn or cancelled.

All communications will be conducted in a courteous, respectful and polite manner. This applies to tutor/student, office/student and student/student communications and is particularly important where groups of students and tutors converse online and where supportive, respectful dialogue is vital to other student’s comfort and progress.

Some general health and safety guidelines have been included with course materials, but as SST Ltd cannot oversee a distance student’s working environment, individuals are expected to take responsibility for their own actions and work in a healthy and safe way. No responsibility can be accepted for any accident or injury sustained during the courses offered by the School of Stitched Textiles.

Completion
Any changes made by City & Guilds to the course, course content, deadlines, registration or completion etc. are out of our control and must be adhered to by us, as is the occasional withdrawal of certain courses from City & Guild’s portfolio – changes do sometimes occur and we are bound to implement them for all students. We cannot be held responsible for any extra time or inconvenience on behalf of students which may be held attributable to this, or for a student being unable to complete a qualification because they have failed to return completed work to us at least 6 weeks ahead of the final certification date set by City & Guilds.

Courses are considered completed and final certification is awarded on satisfactory completion of the entire course and is subject to Internal and External Verification in order to maintain the standards required by the accrediting body City & Guilds of London, England. An additional charge to the student for the final certificate/s, is payable post Internal Verification but prior to the certificate being drawn. If no payment is forthcoming SST will allow a further 1 month period of grace to allow for payment to arrive, but after this time an additional payment of whatever the current rate of registration fee will be charged to re-submit work for certification.

Once completion of the course has been agreed with a tutor the candidate will be required to present all work in a digital presentation/s for Internal Verification/External Verification. This process can take up to 8 weeks to complete. Sometimes an IV/EV may request that work be sent in for them to actually see part way through or on completion of the student’s course. Any required postage charges and the service used are at the cost of the student and by prior agreement, payable in advance.

Students from outside of the UK will be supplied with their final certificate via a pdf file send digitally. UK students will have a physical copy posted.

Student work will be displayed in an online gallery so that it can form a professional presentation and can be shared with friends and family at the end of a course. This is achieved either by the student as part of their coursework requirements or alternatively by SST for certain courses.

General

The School of Stitched Textiles reserves the right to reproduce images of students’ work for use on their website and others, course material and in other promotional material, social media and as part of articles done by third parties as well as for verification use. Students will not be fully identified (usually just a first name is used) on the website or promotional material to preserve confidentiality, unless requested.

For the avoidance of doubt, successful enrolees on each cohort are paying their fees to secure a place on that cohort, along with the attendant support mechanisms provided by SST (allocated specialist tutor, office admin, group support sessions, course materials) and their place is reserved on that cohort dependent on whether they have chosen to pay using either Option 1 or 2 payment choices. The place remains available whether or not the student has chosen to participate in their course group, received feedback from their tutor or sent in work for assessment and effectively preclude SST from taking on another student during that time. Option 1 reserves the place for the whole of the advertised course time-frame, whilst option 2 reserves it for 6 months from commencement date, after which it is renewed by the purchase of further modules and the return of coursework to their tutor for assessment. If this does not occur, then the  place will be forfeited and offered to another enrolee on a future cohort to ensure efficient use of tutor time (our tutors are limited in the number of students they can take on at any particular time) and support mechanisms.

Whilst we do not make a single module payment options generally available, we do set a price for this in case it is required for calculations or specific circumstances, which is fifty percent greater than the current price for the complete course payment option divided by the number of course modules. Prices are subject to change at the discretion of School of Stitched Textiles but will be held for individuals at the rate agreed for the stated time allowance of their course.

All of the information and advice held on our website, printed and course material is given in good faith and believed to be true.