Standard Terms

The version history of these terms is kept on this page. The Data Processing Terms are at /trust/data-processing.

1. What this agreement covers

1.1 This agreement is made up of the Order Form, these Standard Terms, and the Data Processing Terms at Schedule 1, incorporated by reference from their published address at ournews.school/trust/data-processing. If they disagree, the Order Form wins, then Schedule 1, then these Standard Terms.

1.2 It starts on the date the Order Form is signed and runs for the Initial Term, then renews under clause 6.

1.3 The Order Form can only be changed in writing, signed or confirmed by email by both parties.

1.4 Versions of these Standard Terms

1.4.1 The version of these Standard Terms in force when the School signs is named in the Order Form. The Provider publishes the current version and every past version at ournews.school/terms.

1.4.2 The Provider may issue a new version. It will write to the School at least 30 days before the new version applies, with a plain-language summary of what changed.

1.4.3 A new version takes effect for the School at its next renewal date, not during a period it has already paid for. Two exceptions may take effect sooner: a change the law requires, and a change that is only to the School’s benefit.

1.4.4 If a new version would materially disadvantage the School, the School may reject it in writing before it takes effect and stay on the version it signed for the remainder of the then-current term. Clause 6.2 lets the School cancel at any time.

1.4.5 This clause cannot change what the School pays. The price is fixed by the Order Form and clause 4. No version of these Standard Terms can alter it.

1.4.6 The Provider expects to issue a fuller version of these Standard Terms around the public launch, adding a service level commitment, a reviewed data processing schedule and an acceptable use policy. Clause 1.4.4 applies to any of them that is not to the School’s benefit.

1.5 Adding to the subscription

1.5 The School may add services later by agreeing a further Order Form. Each one sits under these Standard Terms alongside the Order Forms already in force. A further Order Form never replaces this agreement and the School never signs the Standard Terms again.

2. The service and what the Provider will do

2.1 Early release. The School is aware it is purchasing an early version of OurNews that has not yet been released to the public. Every effort has been made to ensure stability and reliability, and the Provider will tell the School plainly what is in each release and what is not. The School should apply extra caution during the Pilot Program in what sensitive information it uploads and in presenting OurNews to families as a finished product. The Provider expects the School to use OurNews during the Pilot Program for testing (internally and with families) and to begin migrating content ready for a public launch in 2027.

2.2 What the Provider will deliver during the Pilot Program:

(a) access to OurNews for the School’s staff for the whole Initial Term;

(b) a bulk upload for the School’s existing newsletter PDFs, and an accessible presentation of them on the School’s page. The School does the uploading;

(c) three workshops of two hours each, run online or recorded, on dates the Provider confirms in writing. If the Provider cannot run all three, clause 2.4 applies;

(d) support by email to the Provider contact named in the Order Form. The Provider aims to respond within one business day and does not guarantee it during the Pilot Program;

(e) the School’s data held in the region chosen in the Order Form, on the terms in Schedule 1;

(f) a working export of everything the School has put into OurNews, available to the School at any time without asking the Provider.

2.3 Feedback. The Provider seeks the School’s feedback through the workshops and questionnaires and will consider it in shaping what it builds. Feedback does not oblige the Provider to build anything, and the Provider decides what is built.

2.4 If a workshop cannot run. If the Provider does not run all three workshops by 20 November 2026, it will either run the missing session by 31 January 2027 or credit the School A$250 + GST per missing session against its next invoice, at the School’s choice.

2.5 Availability. The Provider will use reasonable efforts to keep OurNews available and will tell the School in advance about planned downtime. There is no service level commitment during the Initial Term. When OurNews moves to general availability, the Provider expects to introduce one in a new version of these Standard Terms; clause 1.4 governs how the School is notified and the School’s rights when a new version issues.

3. What the School will do

3.1 The School will use and test OurNews during the Pilot Program (uploading stories, sharing them internally or with closed groups, and migrating existing content), take part in the three workshops, answer the Provider’s short questionnaires, and at the end of the Pilot Program give a short testimonial and permission to use its name and logo. Permission to use the name and logo lasts until the School withdraws it in writing.

3.2 The School’s content is the School’s responsibility. The School is responsible for everything it publishes through OurNews: that it is accurate, that it holds current consent for every image of a person it uploads, that it has the right to publish it, and that its publishing complies with the laws, regulations and guidelines that apply to the School, including privacy, consent, child safety and appropriateness. The Provider is not liable for the School’s content or for the School’s compliance with those obligations.

3.3 The School will keep its staff accounts secure and tell the Provider promptly if an account is compromised.

3.4 The School is not required to stop using its current newsletter system, and is not required to make any decision about changing systems during the Pilot Program.

4. Fees, and how the price changes

4.1 The fees and the amounts are set out in the Order Form. The Provider will issue a valid tax invoice for every amount payable, adding GST or any equivalent tax where it applies.

4.2 Year 1. The Year 1 fee is invoiced in full at the Pilot Program start date. It covers the Pilot Program and the rest of the first 12 months, and it is not refundable except where this agreement expressly provides otherwise.

4.3 Years 2 and 3. The fee is half the Standard Price for the School’s band.

4.4 The Standard Price Schedule. The Provider will publish it before 20 November 2026 and will at the same time write to the School with its band, its Year 2 fee and its Year 3 fee. That letter will also carry anything outstanding under clause 12.2. The subscription continues unless the School cancels under clause 6.2, which it may do at any time.

4.5 Year 4 onward. The Standard Price for the School’s band applies. The Provider will tell the School the amount at least 60 days before the renewal date.

4.6 Late payment. If an invoice is more than 30 days overdue, the Provider will write to the School. If it is still unpaid 14 days after that, the Provider may suspend access under clause 13.2.

4.7 Existing subscribers. Where the Order Form says the School is moving from the earlier version, the Provider will end that subscription on the Pilot Program start date and refund the unused portion within 30 days. The Provider will also migrate the School’s existing published newsletter content into OurNews at no charge, within the first four weeks of the Pilot Program, as structured stories in the School’s own pages rather than through the PDF upload in clause 2.2(b). The Provider will bring across as much as the content allows; some hand-tidying by the School may be needed, and the Provider does not promise that every past edition maps across perfectly.

5. Paying

5.1 The School pays by card or direct debit through the Provider’s payment platform, or by bank transfer against a tax invoice. The Order Form records which method the School has chosen, and the School can change it at any time by telling the Provider. From Year 2, the School may choose to be billed annually or monthly.

5.2 Invoices are payable within 14 days of issue.

5.3 Where the School has set up a card or direct debit authority, it authorises the Provider to collect the fees in the Order Form on the dates in the Order Form. The Provider will email an invoice at least 7 days before any collection. Removing that authority does not end this agreement; the School simply reverts to paying by bank transfer.

5.4 The Provider will not collect an amount it has not invoiced in advance.

5.5 The Provider may change its payment platform on 30 days’ written notice. If that means the School has to re-authorise a card or direct debit, the Provider will say so in the notice and will not let a collection fail in the meantime.

6. Renewing and cancelling

6.1 This agreement renews for successive 12-month terms unless cancelled.

6.2 The School may cancel at any time, by writing to the Provider contact. No reason is needed and no cancellation fee applies. Cancellation takes effect on the date the School names, or on receipt of the notice if it names none. The Provider refunds the unused portion of anything the School has paid beyond that date on a pro-rata basis, except the Year 1 fee, which clause 4.2 governs.

6.3 The Provider will send a renewal reminder at least 60 days before every renewal date, naming the fee for the coming year.

6.4 The Provider may choose not to renew by giving the School at least 90 days’ written notice before the renewal date.

6.5 There is no lock-in. Nothing in this agreement requires the School to keep using OurNews, to stop using another system, or to pay a fee for leaving.

7. The School’s content and the School’s data

7.1 The School owns its content. Everything the School uploads or creates in OurNews stays the School’s property. The Provider claims no ownership of it.

7.2 The School gives the Provider a licence to host, store, process and display that content only so far as it needs to in order to run the service for the School. The licence ends when the content is deleted or this agreement ends, whichever comes first.

7.3 The Provider will not use the School’s content for its own purposes. That means no reuse in marketing without the School’s written permission, no analysis for the Provider’s own benefit, and no use of it to train any AI model, whether the Provider’s or anyone else’s.

7.4 Export. The School can export everything it has put into OurNews at any time, in a standard open format, without asking the Provider and without charge. This works from the first week of the Pilot Program.

7.5 After this agreement ends, the School has 30 days to export its content. The Provider will then delete it under clause 6 of Schedule 1.

7.6 Data region. The School’s data is held in the region named in the Order Form. Schedule 1 sets out what that covers and what it does not. The Provider will not move the School’s data to another region without the School’s written agreement.

8. Confidentiality

8.1 Each party will keep the other’s confidential information confidential and use it only for this agreement.

8.2 The Provider’s obligation covers everything it learns about the School, its students and former students and their families, its staff, its fees, its enrolments and its plans.

8.3 This does not stop either party disclosing something that is already public, that it has to disclose by law, or that it needs to give to its own lawyer or accountant.

8.4 Either party may say publicly that the School is a founding pilot school of OurNews. Nothing else about this agreement is disclosed without the other party’s permission, except that the Provider may tell a prospective investor or adviser the commercial terms, in confidence.

9. Intellectual property

9.1 The Provider owns OurNews, including the software, the design, the templates and everything it builds. Nothing in this agreement transfers any of it to the School.

9.2 The School gets a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use OurNews for its own purposes for as long as this agreement runs.

9.3 The School owns its content, its brand and its logo. The permission in clause 3.1 does not change that.

9.4 If the School suggests an improvement, the Provider may build it and owns what it builds. The School owes the Provider nothing for it, and the Provider owes the School nothing for the suggestion.

9.5 The Provider will defend the School against any claim that OurNews infringes someone else’s intellectual property, and will pay any damages awarded, as long as the School tells the Provider promptly and lets the Provider run the defence.

10. Warranties

10.1 The Provider warrants that it has the right to provide OurNews, that it will provide it with the care and skill of a competent supplier, and that it will comply with applicable privacy law.

10.2 The Provider does not warrant that OurNews will be free of faults during the Pilot Program. It is an early release. What the Provider commits to is fixing what it can, telling the School honestly what it cannot, and not losing the School’s content.

10.3 Nothing in this agreement excludes any right the School has under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot be excluded.

11. Liability

11.1 Neither party is liable to the other for loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of anticipated savings, or any indirect or consequential loss.

11.2 Each party’s total liability under this agreement, however it arises, is capped at the total fees paid or payable by the School in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the liability.

11.3 The caps in clauses 11.1 and 11.2 do not apply to a party’s fraud or wilful misconduct, to a breach of clause 8, to the Provider’s obligations under clause 9.5, or to any liability that cannot be limited at law.

11.4 The Provider carries professional indemnity and public liability insurance and will give the School a certificate of currency on request.

12. Change of Provider entity

12.1 OurNews is currently operated by Bolsta Education Pty Ltd.

12.2 The Provider may transfer this agreement, whole and unchanged, to a related body corporate or to any entity that takes over the OurNews business. It will give the School at least 30 business days’ written notice, naming the new entity, its ABN and the transfer date.

12.3 On the transfer date the new entity takes on all of the Provider’s rights and obligations under this agreement, and Bolsta Education Pty Ltd is released from them. The School does not need to sign anything. The School consents in advance to that transfer and, if a document is needed to record it, will sign a short one the Provider prepares at the Provider’s cost.

12.4 The transfer changes nothing else. The price, the term, the renewal date, the data region, the content ownership, the export right and the Data Processing Terms all carry across as they are. The new entity is bound by everything the School has already paid for, including any prepaid year.

12.5 Data region is protected. Clause 12.2 does not let the Provider move the School’s data to a different country. If the transfer would do that, clause 7.6 governs and the School’s written agreement is needed first.

12.6 Invoicing. From the transfer date the School pays the entity named on the invoice. The Provider will not invoice the same period twice. Where the School has a card or direct debit authority in place, the Provider will tell the School what it needs to do to re-authorise it with the new entity, at least 20 business days before any collection.

12.7 One letter, one window. Where it can, the Provider will give its clause 12.2 notice at the same time as the Standard Price Schedule notice under clause 4.4. Where it does, the two notice periods run together.

12.8 If the transfer would materially disadvantage the School, the School may end this agreement under clause 6.2 at any time; the pro-rata refund in that clause applies.

12.9 The School may transfer this agreement only with the Provider’s written consent, which the Provider will not unreasonably withhold. Consent is not needed where the School amalgamates with, is acquired by, or moves into a school system or diocese, as long as the School tells the Provider.

13. Ending and suspending

13.1 Either party may end this agreement immediately by written notice if the other party materially breaches it and does not fix the breach within 30 days of being asked in writing, or becomes insolvent.

13.2 The Provider may suspend the School’s access if an invoice is overdue under clause 4.6, or if something the School has published breaks the law or puts someone at risk. It will tell the School why, in writing, and will restore access as soon as the cause is fixed. Suspension does not stop the School exporting its content.

13.3 If the Provider decides not to launch OurNews after the Pilot Program, it will tell the School in writing by 31 December 2026, keep the service running for at least three months from that notice, and help the School export its content.

13.4 On ending, clauses 7.1, 7.4, 7.5, 8, 9, 11 and Schedule 1 clause 6 survive.

14. Notices

14.1 Notices go by email to the contacts named in the Order Form, and take effect the next business day.

14.2 Either party can change its contact by telling the other in writing.

15. General

15.1 This agreement is the whole agreement between the parties about OurNews and replaces anything said or written before it.

15.2 Neither party is the other’s agent, employee or partner.

15.3 Neither party is liable for a failure caused by something outside its reasonable control, as long as it tells the other promptly and works to fix it.

15.4 If a clause is unenforceable, it is cut and the rest stands.

15.5 This agreement is governed by the law of New South Wales, and the parties submit to the courts of New South Wales.

15.6 The agreement may be signed electronically and in counterparts.

16. Definitions

Initial Term means 12 months from the Pilot Program start date.

Order Form means a signed order document under this agreement, including Part A.

OurNews means the software service of that name provided by the Provider, in whatever release is current.

Personal Information has the meaning given in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), and includes personal data as defined in privacy law that applies to the School.

Pilot Program means the period from the Pilot Program start date to 20 November 2026.

Provider means Bolsta Education Pty Ltd, and any entity that takes over the OurNews business under clause 12.

School Content means everything the School uploads to or creates in OurNews, and the metadata attached to it.

Standard Price means the annual fee for the School’s band in the Standard Price Schedule published by the Provider.

Standard Price Schedule means the Provider’s published schedule of annual fees by school size and features, to be published before 20 November 2026.