Personal Possessions Scheme

Covers a child's personal possessions, including mobile phones and laptops, at school, on journeys to and from school, and on organised school trips.

The Scheme is underwritten by Equity Red Star.

It is a fact of life that our children's possessions get lost and broken and funding an independent education is expensive enough without those additional costs.

So you have three choices:

Self insure

This should always be considered and depends on whether you are sufficiently well-off to carry the loss, and whether you believe the losses will be fairly small.

Claim on a domestic policy

This is a good option providing your child's possessions are covered at school and on school trips and that the majority of the claims will not be inside your excess (the part you self insure), which on some policies can be as high as £500.

...or get the cover of a specialist policy

Take out a specialist schools' personal possessions policy such as this one, but read the information carefully to ensure that it meets your requirements.

The SFS Group Personal Possessions Insurance Scheme covers the loss, theft or damage to all of your child's clothing or personal possessions whilst at school, on the direct journey to and from school, or on official school trips.

In this policy you can choose the amount you wish to insure. So, for example, if your child has lots of less expensive items and no 'big ticket' items, such as computers or expensive musical instruments, you may choose the lowest level of cover at £500. This attracts a premium of £8 per term.

If however there are some larger items that you wish to insure valued at more than £500 then you may choose to take out a policy for £1,000, £1,500, or £2,000 but you must provide specific information on all those items valued at more than £500. In addition all mobile phones must be specified if you wish to insure them (one per child).

The larger the amount you self insure (the excess) the lower the premium. There is a standard minimum amount of £20 on the £500 policy, but there is a choice of £50 or £100 on the more expensive policies which reduces the premium you pay.

Cost of cover per child per term

Total sum insured per claim	Self insured amount	Premium
£500 Only a mobile and a laptop need be specified	£20	£8
£1,000 A mobile phone, a laptop and any item valued over £500 must be specified	£20	£15
	£50	£12
	£100	£10
£1,500 A mobile phone, a laptop and any item valued over £500 must be specified	£20	£20
	£50	£16
	£100	£14
£2,000 A mobile phone, a laptop and any item valued over £500 must be specified	£20	£24
	£50	£20
	£100	£16

Exceptions

As is usual there are certain things the Insurer will not pay for. These are:

Damage caused by moth, vermin, wear and tear;
Damage from electrical or mechanical faults or breakdown;
Damage to, or deterioration of, any article caused by dyeing, cleaning, repair, renovation or whilst being worked upon;
Breakage of strings, reeds or drumheads forming parts of musical instruments;
Breakage of any sports equipment whilst in use;
Cash, currency, credit cards, animals, motor vehicles, contact, corneal or micro corneal lenses;
Accidental damage to tapes, records, cassettes, disks, or computer software;
Any consequential loss, e.g the loss of valuable study work as a result of damage to you computer;
Loss or damage to bicycle tyres, lamps and accessories unless the bicycle is stolen or damaged at the same time;
The theft of a bicycle unless it was locked to an immoveable object or kept in a locked building at the time of the theft;
Any equipment, integrated circuit, computer chip, computer software and any other computer related equipment that fails to recognise correctly any date change;
More than one mobile phone and laptop per policy or any mobile phone or laptop which has not been specified;
The first £20 of each and every claim; or the first £50 or £100 of each claim if chosen by you;
All unspecified items valued at over £500;
Claims arising during school holidays unless the item(s) were left in a locked room at school.

Cover commences on the date we receive the first term's contribution and the application form.

Claims

The insurance under this Scheme is provided by Equity Red Star at Lloyd's but all claims are handled for them by Claims Aid a specialist claims management company whom we have worked with for some time, and who provide a first class service to parents whilst ensuring the validity of all claims.

If you wish to make a claim you should firstly download a claim form from our website (www.sfs-group.co.uk); complete it and return it to us. We will check it and forward it to Claims Aid who will complete the due diligence process on behalf of the Insurer and either replace the item or make a cash payment on a 'new for old' basis.