Introduction
These terms and conditions shall govern your use of the Swansea Virtual School website.
Swansea Virtual School is operated by the Education Directorate at Swansea Council, whose registered office is at Swansea Guildhall, Swansea, SA1 4PE (‘City and County of Swansea’, ‘Swansea Council’, ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’).
Please read these terms and conditions (the “Terms”) before using the My Choice website. These Terms apply to the use of the My Choice website (‘My Choice’, ‘this website’) and any associated service:
Should you wish to contact us with regard to these terms and conditions, you may do so by:
- e-mailing us at education@swansea.gov.uk, or
- writing to us at Stakeholder and School Support, Education Directorate, Swansea Guildhall, Swansea, SA1 4PE.
By using this website, and in consideration of Swansea Council allowing you access to it, you accept and agree to be bound by these terms and conditions (‘Terms’, ‘Terms of Use’). From time to time we may modify these Terms, so please continue to review them whenever accessing or using the website. You may only use this website if you agree to these terms and conditions and by continuing to use this website you are agreeing to these terms and conditions.
If you disagree with these terms and conditions or any part of these terms and conditions, you must not use the My Choice website.
If you are acting in the course of your employment by or representing another legal entity, you personally warrant and represent to us that you have the authority to accept these terms and conditions on behalf of that entity, and you undertake to abide by these terms and conditions insofar as they are applicable to you as an individual user.
The My Choice website and services are designed for the education sector in Wales, a part of the United Kingdom. You must not use our website to enhance any commercial business offerings, or artificial intelligence or language learning models, without our prior written consent.
Consent to use of Website
These provisions apply to use of My Choice, some portions of which may be available to non-authenticated visitors and others to authenticated users when logged in to our website.
You may:
- View pages from our website and submit forms on our website using a web browser;
- download pages from our website for caching in a web browser; and
- where authorised by us – use, modify, and maintain the data contained within as part of your employment at or involvement with Swansea Council;
- subject to the other provisions of these terms and conditions.
You must not:
- Republish material from My Choice (including republication on another website);
- sell, rent or sub-license material from our website or services;
- exploit material from this website for a commercial purpose; or
- make use of material from this website for the purposes of training artificial intelligence or language learning models; or
- redistribute material from My Choice except where directly related to education, non-profit, and inline with data protection laws as they apply in Wales,
- unless expressly permitted by these terms and conditions.
We reserve the right to restrict access to areas of My Choice and related services, at our discretion; you must not circumvent or bypass, or attempt to circumvent or bypass, any access restriction measures on our website.
Except to the extent required by applicable law, you must not reverse engineer, or attempt to reverse engineer, the software elements of the My Choice website.
No Reliance
While Swansea Council has endeavoured to ensure the material accuracy of the information available on My Choice, Swansea Council does not guarantee or give any warranty as to the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of any information or material on My Choice.
Swansea Council cannot accept responsibility if any information provided on My Choice is out of date or inaccurate, but will endeavour to correct mistakes in a timely manner.
Swansea Council disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on resources, information, or materials, by any user or visitor of the My Choice website and related services.
We advise you to verify the accuracy of any information before relying on it.
We do not warrant or represent:
- the completeness or accuracy of the information published on this website;
- that the material on this website is up to date; or
- that this website or any service on this website will remain available.
The software that we use to provide My Choice is complex. You acknowledge that complex software is never wholly free from bugs, and we give no warranty that our software will be wholly free from such bugs.
We reserve the right to discontinue or alter any or all of this website, and to stop publishing this website, at any time in our sole discretion without notice or explanation; and save to the extent expressly provided otherwise in these terms and conditions, you will not be entitled to any compensation or other payment upon the discontinuance or alteration of any web application services, or if we stop publishing My Choice.
Authorised Users
Parts of the My Choice website are restricted to authorised users. Unless you are an authorised user, you have no right to access those parts of the website or services. Any access gained by you may constitute a criminal offence pursuant to the Computer Misuse Act.
Should you access restricted parts of the site by accident, please e-mail us at:
Authorised users of My Choice may include employees of Swansea Council’s Education Directorate, and third-party staff working on our behalf.
Intellectual Property
My Choice, including (but not limited to) text, content, software, videos, graphics, photographs, illustrations, artwork, photographs, names, logos, trade marks and other material (‘Content’) is protected by copyrights, database, rights in designs, trade marks and/or other intellectual property rights.
Content includes both content owned or controlled by Swansea Council and content owned or controlled by third parties and licensed to Swansea Council.
All individual elements making up My Choice are copyright works. You agree to abide by all additional copyright notices or restrictions contained in My Choice and these terms and conditions.
You may not use any of Swansea Council’s trademarks or trade names without Swansea Council’s consent and you acknowledge that you have no ownership rights in and to any of those names and marks. You agree to notify Swansea Council in writing promptly upon becoming aware of any unauthorised access to or use of My Choice by any party or of any claim that My Choice or any of the Content infringes any copyright, trade mark, or other contractual, statutory or common law rights of any party.
The My Choice logo and brand design belongs to Swansea Council and must not be used without prior consent from the Education Directorate. The logo is available in different formats and sizes if required and where consent has been granted.
We make use of open source and public domain / royalty free artwork to improve the look and feel of My Choice. We are grateful to the producers of these items and respect their efforts by providing links below:
External Links to/from My Choice
Websites or pages to which My Choice is linked are for information only and have not been reviewed by Swansea Council.
Swansea Council has no responsibility for the content of the web sites or pages linked or linking to or from My Choice (including related services), and Swansea Council accepts no responsibility or liability for any losses or penalties whatsoever that may be incurred as a result of your clicking through to linked web sites or services.
License Rights
Access to the My Choice website and related services is provided on a temporary basis and you acknowledge that you acquire no rights or licences in or to My Choice and/or the Content other than the limited right to use My Choice in accordance with these Terms and to download on the terms set out in these terms and conditions.
If you are provided with a username, passphrase, or other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential and you must not disclose it to any third party. We have the right to deactivate any username or passphrase if in our opinion you have failed to comply with any of the Terms.
Other than as set out in this section (or provided by applicable law) you may not copy, decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer, distribute, make available, adapt, upload, or in any other way exploit any part of My Choice.
You may only print copies of My Choice web pages for use within your employment at Swansea Council, and provided always that such printed copies are necessary and secured in line with data protection laws as they apply in Wales, within the city and county of Swansea. You agree that you will ensure that:
- the need to print such copies is justified versus the cost of printing; and
- you retain on such printed copy all copyright notices and,
- shall remain bound by the terms of such wording and notices.
Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, you may link to My Choice royalty-free, provided always that any link to My Choice which is restricted to the general public and is only accessible by authorised users, does not make that part of My Choice accessible to any person who is not an authorised user. By linking to any restricted parts of My Choice you warrant that only authorised users will be able to access that part of My Choice.
We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission at any time and without notice.
My Choice and the information contained therein may not be used to construct a database of any kind without prior consent, nor may My Choice be stored (in its entirety or in any part) in databases for access by you or any third party or to distribute.
Permissions
If you would like information about obtaining Swansea Council’s permission to use any of the Content or to insert deep links on your web site to the web pages available on My Choice other than as permitted by these Terms, please e-mail education@swansea.gov.uk.
Artificial Intelligence bots, applications, and organisations may not make use of restricted content without our prior written consent. Non-restricted content may be used as reference material by non-AI and non-LLM (language learning models) providing it is clearly stipulated that My Choice.
Swansea Council are not responsible for the output produced by Artificial Intelligence bots, applications, or organisations.
A contract under these terms and conditions is for our benefit and your benefit, and is not intended to benefit any third party.
Viruses, Hacking, and Other Offences
You must not misuse My Choice by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to My Choice or the server on which it is stored, and you must not attack My Choice by way of a denial of service attack or distributed denial of service attack.
Swansea Council will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a distributed denial of service attack arising following your use of My Choice.
No Warranty
My Choice, the Content, and related services are provided “as is” excluding any warranties and conditions of any kind, either express or implied, to the fullest extent permissible pursuant to applicable law including (but not limited to) fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement of proprietary or third-party rights. Swansea Council further accepts no responsibility or liability for functions contained on My Choice and makes no warranties that My Choice will operate uninterrupted or error-free or that defects will be corrected.
Swansea Council does not warrant that My Choice is compatible with your computer equipment or that My Choice or its server is free of errors. You should ensure that you have installed up to date virus checking software prior to any internet session and Swansea Council is not liable for any damage you may suffer as a result of such destructive features that may infect your computer or data due to your use of My Choice or your downloading any Content from it.
Swansea Council shall not be held responsible for Content provided by third parties. Swansea Council is also not responsible for the reliability or continued availability of the broadband connections, telephone lines, and/or equipment you use to access My Choice.
Limitation of Liability
You hereby indemnify us, and undertake to keep us indemnified, against any and all losses, damages, costs, liabilities and expenses (including without limitation legal expenses and any amounts paid by us to a third party in settlement of a claim or dispute) incurred or suffered by us and arising directly or indirectly out of:
- a breach by you of any provision of these terms and conditions; or
- any misuse by you of our website or services.
You acknowledge that your use of My Choice, related services, and the Content, is at your own risk. If you are dissatisfied with My Choice, the Terms or any of the Content your sole remedy is to discontinue use of My Choice. Save in respect of fraud and of personal injury or death to the extent it results from Swansea Council’s negligence, in no event will Swansea Council be liable to you or any third party for any direct, special, indirect, consequential or incidental damages, exemplary or lost profits, or any other damages of any kind whether based in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, even if Swansea Council has been advised of the possibility thereof.
Applicable law may not allow the limitation or exclusion of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so this limitation or exclusion may not apply to you. If your use of material in My Choice results in the need for servicing, repair or connection of equipment, software or data, you assume all costs thereof.
Under no circumstances will Swansea Council be liable in any way for any Content, including, but not limited to, any errors or omissions in any Content, or any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, e-mailed, transmitted or otherwise made available via My Choice.
Local Laws and Regulations
My Choice is not directed at any person outside the United Kingdom. If you are located outside the United Kingdom you should not access the My Choice website or related services.
My Choice is only intended to be used by people within the United Kingdom. Access outside of the United Kingdom to My Choice may not always be possible, may be restricted, and is not guaranteed.
Swansea Council does not represent that either the My Choice website or the Content are appropriate for use or permitted by local laws in all jurisdictions. Those who access My Choice do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws or regulations; legal advice should be sought in cases of doubt.
These terms of use, their subject matter and their formation, are governed by the laws of England and Wales as applied in Wales.
The courts of England and Wales sitting in Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim that arises out of or in connection with these terms.
Termination and Severability
Swansea Council may terminate these Terms with or without cause at any time.
To the extent that any provision in these Terms is held to be void or unlawful, these Terms will apply as if such term had no effect and the remaining provisions of these Terms shall continue to apply.
Changes to My Choice
At any time, the My Choice website may contain material which is out of date. While Swansea Council has no obligation to do so, you accept that Swansea Council and the agents or providers who provide the Content have the right to change the content or technical specifications of any aspect of My Choice at any time at Swansea Council’s sole discretion. You further accept that such changes may result in your being unable to access the My Choice website and related services.
Waiver
No waiver by Swansea Council of any breach of any obligation arising under these Terms shall constitute a waiver of any other breach and no failure to exercise or partial exercise by Swansea Council of any remedy shall constitute a waiver of the right subsequently to exercise that or any other remedy.
Privacy and Data Processing
In addition to the Terms contained herein, access to My Choice infers agreement with and compliance to our Privacy Policy.
Accessibility Statement
We have tried to make My Choice accessible to as many people as possible.
If you have any comments about the accessibility of My Choice, please help us make the site even more accessible by emailing your suggestions to education@swansea.gov.uk.
Miscellaneous
Swansea Council shall have no liability for any breach of these Terms caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control.
A person who is not a party to these Terms shall have no right under the Contract (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of these Terms.
Governing Law and Jurisdiction
The Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales as applied in Wales and the parties irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales sitting in Cardiff, to settle any dispute or claim that arises out of or in connection with the Terms or its subject matter (included any non-contractual disputes or claims).
