Terms of Service

1. About EarlyTrack

EarlyTrack is a South African software platform for preschools, Grade R classes, and aftercare programmes. It provides tools for developmental assessments and progress tracking, classroom and staff administration, attendance, parent communication, and optional finance features such as fee management, invoicing, payments tracking, and accounting integrations.

EarlyTrack is a software tool that supports the school's own staff and processes. It does not replace the professional judgment of teachers, principals, bookkeepers, or accountants.

2. Accounts and Access

The school's account is created and controlled by its authorised administrators. Administrators decide which staff members receive access and with which roles and permissions, and are responsible for keeping that access appropriate and up to date.

• Registration information must be accurate and kept current.
• Login credentials are personal and must not be shared. The school is responsible for activity that occurs under its users' accounts.
• If you suspect unauthorised access, change the affected passwords and notify us without delay.
• Access for staff who leave the school should be removed promptly by an administrator.

3. Subscriptions, Trials, and Billing

EarlyTrack is offered on paid subscription plans. Current plans, pricing, and what each plan includes are described on our pricing page.

Free trial

New schools receive a free trial with full access to evaluate the platform. When the trial ends, a short read-only grace period applies so that no information is lost while the school decides. If no subscription is taken, access is restricted until a plan is activated. School data is not deleted when a trial lapses; retention and deletion are described in the Privacy Policy.

Billing

• Subscriptions are billed in advance through our third-party payment provider. We do not store card details ourselves.
• If a payment fails or a subscription lapses, access may become read-only and can be restored by settling the subscription.
• Prices may change. We will give reasonable advance notice of price changes, and changes take effect at the next billing cycle after the notice.
• The school may cancel at any time. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the paid period, and amounts already paid are not refunded except where required by law.

4. Acceptable Use

The platform may only be used for the school's legitimate educational and administrative purposes. You agree not to:

• use the platform in breach of any applicable law, including POPIA;
• enter or upload content that is unlawful, defamatory, or that you do not have the right to use;
• attempt to gain access to another school's data, or to any part of the platform you are not authorised to use;
• interfere with the platform's operation, including attempting to probe, overload, or disrupt it;
• copy, resell, sublicense, or make the platform available to third parties, or use it to build a competing product;
• reverse engineer or attempt to extract the platform's source code, except to the extent the law allows this notwithstanding these Terms.

We may suspend or limit access where we reasonably believe this section is being breached, as described in section 14.

5. Your School's Data and POPIA

Information the school enters into the platform, including student, parent, staff, and financial records, belongs to the school. We claim no ownership of it.

For the purposes of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), the school is the responsible party for the personal information it records about its students, parents, and staff. EarlyTrack acts as an operator, processing that information on the school's behalf and on its instructions, as described in our Privacy Policy.

• The school is responsible for having a lawful basis, and where required consent, for the personal information it records, including photo consent for students.
• We process school data only to provide and support the platform, and we do not sell it.
• The school can export its key data from within the platform while its subscription or read-only access is active.
• Retention and deletion of data after account closure are described in the Privacy Policy.

6. Parents and the Parent Portal

Schools may invite parents and guardians to a parent portal to view their own children's information, reports, invoices, and communications. Parent access is controlled by the school. Parents use the portal under these Terms as they reasonably apply to them, and the school remains responsible for the accuracy of the information it shares through the portal.

7. Optional Integrations and Third-Party Services

The platform relies on reputable third-party providers for services such as payment processing, email, and SMS delivery. In addition, the school may choose to connect optional integrations, for example connecting its own Xero organisation for accounting synchronisation.

• Optional integrations are activated by the school's administrators and can be disconnected by them at any time.
• When the school connects a third-party service, relevant school data is shared with that service to make the integration work, as described at the point of connection and in the Privacy Policy. The third party's own terms and privacy policy apply to its handling of that data.
• We are not responsible for the acts, omissions, or availability of third-party services, but we choose and use them with reasonable care.

8. AI-Assisted Features

Some features use artificial intelligence to assist staff, for example drafting observation comments, summaries, or reminders. AI outputs are suggestions intended for review by a qualified person before use. They may contain errors, and the school remains responsible for the content it approves, sends, or relies on. AI features can be left unused without affecting the rest of the platform.

9. Financial Tools Are Not Professional Advice

The platform's finance features, including fee management, invoicing, payment tracking, financial reporting, payroll tools, the general ledger, and accounting integrations, are administrative tools that support the school's own bookkeeping. They do not constitute accounting, tax, or legal advice, and they do not replace a qualified accountant, tax practitioner, or auditor. The school is responsible for the correctness of its financial records, for its statutory and tax obligations, and for having its financial affairs reviewed by suitably qualified professionals.

10. Intellectual Property

The platform, including its software, design, and content we provide, is owned by EarlyTrack or its licensors and is protected by intellectual property law. We grant the school a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the platform for its own purposes for as long as these Terms apply. No other rights are granted.

Feedback and suggestions you send us may be used to improve the platform without obligation to you.

11. Availability, Support, and Changes to the Service

• We work to keep the platform available and performing well, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation. Maintenance, updates, and circumstances beyond our control may cause interruptions.
• We provide support through the contact channels on our website and in the platform's help centre.
• We improve the platform continuously and may add, change, or retire features. If we materially reduce core functionality the school relies on, we will give reasonable notice.
• We make regular backups as part of operating the platform. The school should nevertheless export and keep copies of records it is required to retain.

12. Disclaimers

To the extent permitted by South African law, the platform is provided "as is" and "as available", and we disclaim all warranties not expressly stated in these Terms. Nothing in these Terms limits any right the school may have under the Consumer Protection Act or any other law that cannot be limited by agreement.

13. Limitation of Liability

To the extent permitted by law:

• we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages, or for loss of profits, revenue, goodwill, or data, arising from the use of or inability to use the platform;
• our total aggregate liability arising out of or related to the platform is limited to the subscription fees the school paid to us in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim;
• nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability arising from gross negligence or wilful misconduct.

14. Suspension and Termination

• The school may cancel its subscription at any time from within the platform or by contacting us. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the paid period.
• We may suspend or restrict access for non-payment, for a serious or repeated breach of these Terms, or where necessary to protect the platform or other schools. Where reasonable, we will give notice and an opportunity to remedy the issue first.
• On termination, the school's right to use the platform ends. Data export, retention, and deletion are handled as described in section 5 and the Privacy Policy.
• Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including sections 5, 10, 12, 13, and 15) survive it.

15. Changes to These Terms and General Provisions

We may update these Terms from time to time. For material changes we will give reasonable notice, for example by email or a notice in the platform. Continued use of the platform after the effective date of a change constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

• Governing law: these Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa, and the South African courts have jurisdiction.
• Severability: if any provision is found unenforceable, the remainder of the Terms remains in force.
• No waiver: a failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.
• Assignment: the school may not transfer its rights under these Terms without our consent; we may assign these Terms as part of a business transfer, with notice.
• Entire agreement: these Terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between the school and EarlyTrack regarding the platform, unless a separate written agreement exists.

16. Contact

Questions about these Terms can be sent to support@earlytrack.co.za.