Who these terms cover
These terms apply to schools, learning institutions, school staff and experts who use or contribute to Recess sessions. Students participate through their school's supervised class process and receive short room rules before joining.
The service
Recess provides teacher-led classroom units with explanations, practical activities, reflection and learning materials, alongside separately arranged expert sessions. School sessions are intended for students aged 13 and over, through verified schools and learning institutions.
The expert on-demand format uses prerecorded expert videos so a teacher can choose when to use a session, pause and revisit the content, and guide their class through the activities. Classroom units do not require expert videos or a live presenter. Pilot access and the materials available to each school are confirmed during onboarding. Published topics do not guarantee immediate availability or a particular contributor.
Each class has its own joining code and responsible teacher. Schools can choose a classroom screen or individual student screens for the presenter video, while students respond to activities on their devices.
In one-off expert sessions, students join without an account or name entry and receive an automatically assigned participant label. Participation uses structured activities, polls and fixed-choice reactions. Saved classroom units use the teacher-issued learner access described below. Neither format provides peer-to-peer chat, private messages or questions to a presenter, or student camera and microphone participation. The optional school browser assistant is a separate feature described below.
For a separately arranged live session, the confirmed booking sets the date, duration, capacity and delivery arrangements. Existing bookings keep their agreed arrangements unless a change is confirmed with the school. An enquiry or access request is not a confirmed live booking.
Saved classroom units and learner access
For a saved classroom unit, an authorised teacher creates the class, assigns short learner nicknames and privately distributes each learner's access card. A learner uses the shared class code plus their private learning code to open their own work. Students do not need an email address or a separate family account. Teachers must keep the nickname roster and private codes within the intended group, check who is using a shared device, and replace a code if it is lost or disclosed.
The class creator and explicitly assigned co-teachers choose which sessions students can open, can pause access, and review saved activity responses, code notes, written evidence, reflections and submission status. Approved teachers do not automatically receive access to other classes in their school. Teacher feedback is visible to the relevant learner. These saved records belong to the school classroom experience; they are separate from the public short-course library and existing family-account work. Students should submit their own explanations and avoid including names, private contact details or sensitive personal information in learning responses.
Learner access defaults to a shared-device session with a non-persistent cookie and an eight-hour server expiry. On a personal device, learners may choose to remember access for up to 30 days. Browser restoration can retain cookies, so learners must sign out on shared devices. Class access normally lasts one year. A teacher can set a later course end date, up to two years from class creation; the class shows its access expiry. Access may be paused or ended earlier. These are access limits, not promises to delete saved work at expiry. A learner profile can be assigned to more than one class in the same school. Resetting its private code invalidates previous learner sessions across those classes while retaining saved work. Schools should contact hello@recess.education about access, retention, correction or deletion needs.
Unsaved response drafts may be held temporarily in this browser tab for recovery. A successful save or completed learner sign-out removes that draft; closing a tab normally ends its session storage, subject to the browser's restore behaviour. A recovery draft is not a durable backup. Students should save or download unsaved work, confirm the save status and sign out before another learner uses the device.
Games Design & Coding uses Microsoft MakeCode Arcade through an external link or a resource tab in the Recess browser. The school is responsible for approving the editor and project storage route for its devices and learners. Recess does not automatically receive or back up Arcade projects, and a code note in Recess is not an editable game-project submission. Students must export editable projects through the school-approved process and verify reopening. Microsoft's terms and privacy practices apply when its service is opened.
The ten-session Games Design & Coding unit is a Year 10 Headstart foundation for selected learning outcomes. It is not a full Semester 1 programme, a VCE unit, a qualification or a guarantee of curriculum mastery. The teacher remains responsible for subject suitability, instruction, assessment judgements and any school-required curriculum review.
School browser and optional assistants
The Recess browser brings the class, permitted resources and local document viewing into one workspace. School staff choose class resources and assistance settings within school permissions. These controls govern Recess and do not replace the school's device management, network filtering, supervision or assessment procedures. A browser restriction or submission through Recess does not establish that work was completed without outside help.
Teacher and student assistant permissions default to off. A school owner, school administrator or authorised Recess administrator can set school permissions; an assigned teacher can enable a class's guided student assistant only where the school permits it. Separate deployment, privacy and safety checks still apply. Student assistance is limited to school-confirmed users aged 13 and over and remains unavailable during independent work, paused classes and locked sessions. Confirming an age group or changing a permission does not itself establish school, legal or provider approval.
The teacher assistant can generate lesson planning and explanation suggestions for staff review. The student assistant selects reviewed support cards to help a learner plan, understand a concept or check an approach. Assistants do not grade learners, make achievement decisions, submit work, browse other sites, operate tools or change class records. AI-assisted suggestions may be inaccurate or unsuitable. Teachers must review them and retain responsibility for instruction and assessment.
A class lesson plan may use Independent, Guided or Review mode within school permissions. Independent disables student AI assistance. Review requires a saved initial attempt and reasoning before the learner can explicitly request AI feedback on that version. Initial attempts remain classroom records; ordinary responses can be revised. These settings do not establish secure exam conditions or prove that no other help was used. Shorter teaching plans focus on part of a published session; completing a segment does not automatically complete the full session.
When enabled, the assistant sends the deliberately entered question, attempt, recent conversation history and reviewed lesson context to OpenAI. Do not enter personal information, confidential school material or student assessment records. The browser does not automatically send opened files, page contents or saved classroom work to the assistant. Read the privacy policy and OpenAI's API data controls before agreeing an assistant use with Recess. Storage-disabled requests are not a promise of zero provider retention.
Assistant conversations are not monitored live by a person and are not an emergency-reporting service or a way to contact a teacher or presenter. Students should raise concerns directly with a supervising adult. Local documents stay in the browser's memory until closed or the session ends; Save a copy writes to the chosen location. Schools and users must keep original and exported work in approved storage, confirm that files reopen, and end their browser session before another person uses a shared device.
Accounts and invitations
The school dashboard is for approved school staff. Each adult uses their own email address and sign-in code. For classroom units, Recess confirms the teacher’s school role and issues an invitation to their work email. The class creator or authorised Recess staff may add another approved teacher to a specific class. Existing school team arrangements continue to apply to separately arranged services. Account access, invitations and classroom codes must stay within the intended group; shared staff logins are not permitted.
Experts arrange content contributions, reviews and reports directly with Recess by email. They do not need a school account. Presenters receive their own invitation and email-verified access to the sessions assigned to them. An invitation does not itself approve a person or session for live delivery. Tell us promptly if an invitation is misdirected or access may have been misused.
School access and the free pilot
Classroom units and pilot access are arranged with each school by email. The agreed scope identifies the unit, included materials and support, participating group, delivery arrangements and access period. Any fee, taxes, payment terms, duration and cancellation arrangements are confirmed before the school agrees; the website does not set a standard school subscription price.
A free pilot, where agreed, remains subject to its confirmed scope and access period. Using Recess, creating a class or joining a pilot does not activate a paid subscription or authorise a charge. Any later paid work or continued paid access requires a separate explicit agreement. Existing agreed arrangements are not changed by this description.
Access remains subject to school approval, topic suitability and the safety and acceptable-use requirements below. School access does not permit public redistribution, resale or access for unrelated schools.
Expert contributions and existing agreements
Each expert agrees the scope, content rights, recording and reuse permissions, credit, review process and any compensation individually with Recess. Any fee or revenue share must be confirmed in that agreement; the website does not promise a fixed payment, audience or earnings.
Existing signed agreements, including those for separately arranged live sessions, keep their agreed commercial and delivery terms. If such an agreement conflicts with these terms about its commercial or delivery scope, the signed agreement applies to that conflict. The platform, acceptable-use, privacy and learner-safety requirements continue to apply unless the signed agreement expressly sets a lawful alternative.
School and teacher responsibilities
The booking adult must have authority to act for the school, provide accurate age and group information, and complete the notices and permissions required for participation. Each class must have an approved, responsible adult who stays with the students throughout the session.
The supervising teacher keeps classroom and private learner codes within the intended group, opens the class, oversees participation, responds to student concerns and pauses or ends participation when needed. Students with valid access enter an open class without being admitted individually. This responsibility applies to both classroom-screen and individual-screen use. One-off session labels and classroom-unit nicknames do not independently verify a student's identity, so teachers must supervise who joins and responds in their classroom.
Recess and the school confirm delivery eligibility, topic suitability and relevant local requirements before participation. Being aged 13 or over does not replace required school or family notices, permissions or learner-safety safeguards.
Expert responsibilities
Experts must complete the required onboarding and content review for their role, use only approved materials and follow the learner-safety code of conduct. Content must not ask students to identify themselves, send messages or submit personal details through another channel. Experts must not use a session for direct marketing, lead collection or unsupervised recruitment.
For live delivery, presenters must also complete required training, rehearsal and location-appropriate screening, and stay within the approved live room.
Private rehearsal rooms let authorised presenters and Recess staff practise controls and check audio and video before an event. A rehearsal does not start the real event, admit students, count towards learning reports or replace the required delivery approval.
Acceptable use
Do not harass, threaten, exploit, groom or impersonate another person; share sexual, hateful, violent or unlawful material; request or disclose private contact information; attempt private contact with a student; promote products to students; record or screenshot the room without an approved permission process; bypass safety or access controls; disrupt the service; or misuse another person's account or join code.
We may hold or remove content, pause participation, remove a user, suspend access, preserve safety evidence, or make a lawful report. Affected adults can ask us to review an action through Help and complaints.
Content and learning materials
Recess or its licensors retain rights in the platform and session materials. Schools may share supplied guides and project kits with their participating students and use them for classroom learning. They may share their privacy-protected class summary with families. Materials may not be sold, publicly republished or stripped of ownership notices without permission.
Experts are credited for their work and grant the limited permission needed to show their agreed name, biography and profile image. Recording and reuse of expert content are covered by the individual contributor agreement. This does not authorise recording students or their classroom. Student projects are not sent to experts as part of ordinary participation; any separate showcase requires a specific review and permission process.
Availability and changes
Access depends on internet, devices and third-party services. Available content may change as it is reviewed, updated or withdrawn. We will use reasonable care and communicate material changes to authorised adults. Separately arranged live delivery may be rescheduled, paused or cancelled where safety, presenter readiness or technical reliability requires it.
Nothing in these terms excludes rights that cannot lawfully be excluded, including Australian Consumer Law rights where they apply.
Contact
Questions about these terms can be sent to Recess Pty Ltd (ABN 46 674 209 100, ACN 674 209 100) at hello@recess.education.