Terms & Conditions

1. Introduction

Welcome to GCSE Python Lab ("we," "our," or "us"), operated by Forge Class Software Ltd. These Terms and Conditions govern your access to and use of our educational platform, including our website, services, and content.

By accessing or using GCSE Python Lab, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, please do not use our services.

2. Definitions

• "Platform" refers to the GCSE Python Lab website and associated services
• "User" refers to any individual accessing the Platform
• "Teacher" refers to educators with teacher accounts
• "Student" refers to learners accessing assignments through a class
• "Content" refers to all materials, questions, courses, and assignments on the Platform
• "School" refers to a single-site educational institution (e.g. a secondary school, sixth form, or college) operating from one physical location in the United Kingdom. Multi-site institutions, multi-academy trusts (MATs), and online or virtual schools are not covered by the standard plan and should contact us for custom pricing (see Section 8.5).
• "Subscription Year" refers to the 12-month period beginning on the date your subscription starts or renews

3. Account Registration

3.1 Account Types

We offer two types of accounts:

• Teacher Accounts: For educators who wish to create classes and assign work to students
• Student Accounts: For learners who join classes via a class code

3.2 Age Requirements

To create a teacher account, you must be at least 18 years old. Students under 13 may use the Platform only with parental consent and under teacher supervision in an educational setting.

3.3 Account Responsibilities

You are responsible for:

• Maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials
• All activities that occur under your account
• Notifying us immediately of any unauthorized use
• Ensuring all information provided is accurate and up-to-date

4. Acceptable Use

4.1 Permitted Use

You may use the Platform for:

• Educational teaching and learning purposes
• Creating and sharing assignments with your students
• Accessing and completing assigned work
• Building custom questions and courses for your classes

4.2 Prohibited Use

You may not:

• Use the Platform for any illegal or unauthorized purpose
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of the Platform
• Share answers or solutions to assessments inappropriately
• Redistribute, resell, or commercially exploit our Content without permission
• Use automated systems (bots, scrapers) to access the Platform
• Upload malicious code, viruses, or harmful content
• Impersonate another user or provide false information
• Harass, abuse, or harm other users

5. Intellectual Property

5.1 Our Content

All Content on the Platform, including questions, courses, assignments, code, graphics, and design, is owned by or licensed to Forge Class Software Ltd and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.

Our questions are original content written in an exam-style format aligned to the OCR J277 specification. They are not official OCR materials.

5.2 User-Generated Content

When you create custom questions or assignments on the Platform:

• You retain ownership of your original content
• You grant us a license to host, display, and process your content as necessary to provide the Platform services
• You represent that you have the right to upload the content and that it does not infringe any third-party rights

5.3 License to Use

We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and use the Platform for educational purposes in accordance with these Terms.

6. AI Features and Limitations

6.1 AI-Powered Support

Our Platform uses artificial intelligence to provide:

• Hints and guidance for students (with pedagogical guardrails)
• Automated marking and feedback on submissions

6.2 AI Limitations

AI-generated content is provided "as is" and may contain errors. Teachers should:

• Review AI-assigned marks before finalizing grades
• Use their professional judgment to override AI decisions when appropriate
• Understand that AI hints are designed to guide, not provide complete solutions

6.3 Rate Limits

We apply rate limits on all AI-powered features to manage costs, prevent abuse, and encourage independent learning. Current limits include:

• AI Assistant (hints): Up to 30 requests per student per day.
• AI Feedback: Up to 3 feedback requests per submission. Each submission may request Low, Medium, High, or Step-by-step support.
• AI Marking: Automated marking runs once per submission when the student clicks "Check".

These limits may change as the Platform develops. We will update this section if limits change significantly. Current limits are also displayed in the Platform interface.

6.4 Right to Restrict AI Access

We reserve the right to temporarily or permanently restrict, throttle, or suspend access to AI features for any user or school if we reasonably believe that:

• The user is attempting to bypass or circumvent rate limits (e.g. through automated scripts, browser extensions, or API abuse).
• The user is using AI features for purposes other than genuine educational use (e.g. generating content for resale, bulk extraction of model outputs).
• Usage patterns suggest the account is being shared beyond the subscribing school.
• Continued usage at the current level would cause disproportionate cost to us relative to the subscription fee paid.

Before restricting access, we will make reasonable efforts to contact the school administrator to discuss the issue, except where immediate action is needed to prevent abuse or protect the Platform.

6.5 AI Cost Responsibility

AI features depend on third-party services (currently OpenAI) which charge us per request. The subscription price includes a reasonable level of AI usage for a typical school. If AI costs for a particular school consistently exceed what is sustainable under the standard plan, we may discuss adjusted terms at the next renewal. We will not change your price or restrict core features mid-year without prior discussion.

7. Data and Privacy

Your use of the Platform is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal information.

Teachers are responsible for obtaining appropriate consent from students and parents/guardians where required by law.

8. Payment and Subscriptions

8.1 Free Access

During the early adopter phase (until September 2026), access to GCSE Python Lab is provided free of charge to all schools.

8.2 Standard Pricing

From September 2026, the standard plan is £150 per School per year. A "School" for pricing purposes means a single-site secondary school, sixth form, or college in the United Kingdom (see Section 2). This includes unlimited teacher and student accounts, subject to the Fair Usage Policy in Section 8.4.

Payment can be made by card (via Stripe) or by submitting a school purchase order. Purchase order payments are due within 30 days of invoice.

8.3 Price Changes

Subscription pricing is fixed for each Subscription Year. We will not increase your price during a paid year.

We may change the price for future Subscription Years. If we do:

• We will give you at least 60 days' written notice before your renewal date
• The notice will state the new price clearly
• You can choose not to renew at the new price with no penalty
• If you do not cancel before your renewal date after being notified, the new price will apply for the next Subscription Year

We will not apply price increases retroactively. Any change only takes effect from your next renewal.

8.4 Fair Usage Policy

The standard plan is priced for what a normal single-site secondary school CS department looks like: a couple of teachers and up to a few hundred students doing GCSE or A Level Computer Science. There is no hard cap on teacher or student accounts. The following fair usage expectations apply:

• AI features: AI hints, feedback, and marking have daily per-student request limits (see Section 6.3 for current limits). These exist to keep things fair for everyone and to encourage students to think independently. We reserve the right to adjust these limits at any time (see Section 6.4).
• Single site: One subscription covers one School at one physical location. You cannot share a single subscription across multiple sites, campuses, or separate organisations.
• No automated access: The Platform is intended for interactive use by real students and teachers. Automated scraping, bulk API calls, bot accounts, or programmatic access to AI features is not permitted.
• Reasonable student numbers: The standard plan is designed for a typical single-site CS department. Schools whose usage significantly exceeds what would be expected for a single department should contact us to discuss whether the standard plan is appropriate.

If your school's usage is consistently well beyond what a typical single-site secondary would generate, we may get in touch to discuss it. We can then agree adjusted pricing at your next renewal. We will never change your price mid-year, and we will always talk to you first.

If we believe fair usage is being breached, we may:

• Contact the school administrator to discuss the issue.
• Temporarily reduce AI rate limits for the school while the issue is being resolved.
• In serious or repeated cases, suspend AI features until we reach an agreement.

We will always try to resolve fair usage issues through conversation first. Suspension of core platform access (login, assignments, classes) will only happen as a last resort after reasonable attempts to resolve the matter.

8.5 Online Schools, MATs, and Larger Organisations

The standard £150/year plan is designed for single-site schools. The following types of organisation are not covered by the standard plan and need to contact us for custom pricing before subscribing:

• Online or virtual schools (schools that deliver education primarily or entirely online)
• Multi-academy trusts (MATs) wanting a single subscription for multiple schools
• Multi-site institutions operating across more than one physical campus
• Tutorial colleges, tuition centres, or private tuition providers with large student numbers

If you fall into any of these categories, please email us at enquiries@forgeclass.co.uk and we will put together pricing that works for your situation. We want to support as many schools as possible, and we're happy to have an open conversation about what makes sense.

8.6 Cooling-Off Period

Under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, you have a right to cancel a new subscription within 14 days of purchase for a full refund, provided you have not made substantial use of the Platform during that period. To cancel, email us at enquiries@forgeclass.co.uk.

8.7 Refunds

Outside the 14-day cooling-off period, subscriptions are non-refundable. If you cancel mid-year, you will retain access until the end of your current Subscription Year but will not be charged again. If there are exceptional circumstances, please get in touch and we will do our best to help.

8.8 Late Payment (Purchase Orders)

If payment by purchase order is not received within 30 days of the invoice date, we reserve the right to:

• Charge statutory interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate on the outstanding amount, in accordance with the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.
• Charge a fixed late-payment fee as permitted under the same Act (£40 for debts up to £999.99; £70 for debts £1,000–£9,999.99).
• Suspend access to the Platform until the outstanding balance is settled.

We will always contact you before taking any of these steps and give you a reasonable opportunity to resolve the matter.

8.9 VAT

Forge Class Software Ltd is not currently registered for VAT. Prices shown are the full amount payable. If we become VAT-registered in the future, we will give you at least 30 days' notice before any change to invoiced amounts.

8.10 Future Features and Add-ons

We are continually developing the Platform. From time to time we may introduce new features, tools, or content. Some new features will be included in the standard subscription at no extra cost. Others may be offered as optional paid add-ons or as part of a different pricing tier.

If a feature that was previously included in the standard plan is moved to a paid tier, we will give you at least 60 days' notice before your next renewal and you will retain access to that feature until the end of your current Subscription Year. You can then choose whether to renew at the new price, move to the updated standard plan, or cancel with no penalty.

We do not guarantee that any specific feature or piece of content will remain available indefinitely. We may modify, replace, or retire features at any time if they are no longer sustainable, technically feasible, or aligned with the Platform's educational purpose. Where a significant feature is being removed or substantially changed, we will give reasonable notice and, where practical, offer an alternative.

9. Termination

9.1 By You

You may cancel your subscription or close your account at any time by emailing us at enquiries@forgeclass.co.uk. If you cancel a paid subscription:

• You will keep access until the end of your current Subscription Year
• You will not be charged again at the next renewal
• No partial refunds are given outside the 14-day cooling-off period (see Section 8.6)

9.2 By Us

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account if:

• You violate these Terms
• You engage in fraudulent or illegal activity
• Your account remains inactive for an extended period
• We discontinue the Platform (with reasonable notice)

9.3 Effect of Termination

Upon termination:

• Your access to the Platform will cease
• Your user-generated content may be deleted (we recommend exporting important data)
• Provisions regarding intellectual property, disclaimers, and limitations of liability survive termination

10. Disclaimers and Limitations

10.1 No Warranty

The Platform is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. We do not guarantee that:

• The Platform will be uninterrupted or error-free
• All content is accurate or complete
• AI-generated feedback is always correct
• The Platform will meet your specific requirements
• Any particular feature, tool, or piece of content will remain available or unchanged
• The Platform will include any features beyond those available at the time of your subscription

The Platform is delivered in its current form at the time of subscription. We reserve the right to update, modify, or remove features at any time in line with Section 8.10. Your continued use of the Platform after any changes constitutes acceptance of those changes.

10.2 Educational Use Only

Our Content is designed to support GCSE Computer Science education but should not be used as the sole basis for official examination preparation. Teachers should supplement with official exam board materials and past papers.

10.3 Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Forge Class Software Ltd shall not be liable for:

• Indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages
• Loss of data, profits, or business opportunities
• Damages arising from your use or inability to use the Platform
• Errors or omissions in the Content

Our total liability shall not exceed £100 or the amount you paid us in the last 12 months, whichever is greater.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Forge Class Software Ltd, its officers, directors, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including legal fees) arising from:

• Your use of the Platform
• Your violation of these Terms
• Your violation of any third-party rights
• Content you upload to the Platform

12. Data Processing and School Responsibilities

12.1 School as Data Controller

When a school subscribes and invites students to use the Platform, the school acts as the data controller for its students' personal data. Forge Class Software Ltd acts as a data processor on the school's behalf. Our processing activities are described in our Privacy Policy.

12.2 School Obligations

The subscribing school is responsible for:

• Having a lawful basis under UK GDPR (e.g. legitimate interest or consent) for student data being processed through the Platform.
• Obtaining and documenting any necessary parental or guardian consent for students under 13, in line with ICO guidance.
• Informing students and parents that the school uses third-party AI and cloud services (OpenAI, Google Firebase) as part of the Platform, as described in our Privacy Policy.
• Ensuring teachers use the Platform in compliance with the school's own data protection and safeguarding policies.

12.3 Data Processing Agreement

We provide a standard Data Processing Agreement for schools. You can view it at forgeclass.co.uk/dpa. If your school requires a signed or customised version, please email enquiries@forgeclass.co.uk.

12.4 Sub-processors

We use the following third-party sub-processors to deliver the Platform:

• Google Firebase / Google Cloud Platform: application hosting, database, authentication, and file storage. Firestore is configured in the EU Belgium region (europe-west1); other services depend on configured region.
• OpenAI: AI-powered marking, feedback, and student support features. Student code submissions and responses are sent to OpenAI for processing. Per OpenAI API policy and DPA, this data is not used to train OpenAI models.
• Microsoft (Azure AD / Entra ID): authentication provider for schools/staff using Microsoft SSO (only when enabled by the School).
• Stripe: payment processing for card transactions. We do not store card details.
• Resend: transactional email delivery (invoices, receipts, notifications).
• Render: application hosting and deployment.

International transfer safeguards (including SCCs and the UK Addendum where required) are applied in line with each provider's terms and DPA.

We will notify subscribing schools by email at least 30 days before adding any new sub-processor that handles personal data.

13. Service Availability

13.1 Uptime

We aim to keep the Platform available 24/7 but do not guarantee uninterrupted access. We may carry out scheduled maintenance outside of UK school hours (8 am – 4 pm on weekdays during term time) where possible, and will give reasonable notice of planned downtime.

13.2 No SLA

We do not offer a formal service-level agreement (SLA). If the Platform experiences significant outage during lesson times, we will do our best to resolve it quickly and will communicate updates via email or our status channels.

14. Force Majeure

We shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performing our obligations where such failure or delay results from circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including but not limited to: natural disasters, acts of government, internet outages, power failures, third-party service outages (e.g. Google Cloud, OpenAI), pandemics, or civil unrest.

15. Changes to Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make changes:

• We will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page
• For minor changes (e.g. clarifications, typo fixes), the updated Terms take effect when published
• For significant changes that affect your rights or obligations, we will give you at least 30 days' notice by email or in-app notification before they take effect
• If you do not agree with a significant change, you may cancel your subscription before the change takes effect. If you have paid, you will retain access until the end of your current Subscription Year

Your continued use of the Platform after changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms. We recommend checking this page from time to time.

16. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

17. Contact Us

If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us:

18. Miscellaneous

18.1 Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Forge Class Software Ltd regarding the Platform.

18.2 Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.

18.3 Waiver

Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be considered a waiver of those rights.

18.4 Assignment

You may not assign or transfer these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign our rights and obligations without restriction.