Portal Terms and Conditions of Use

1. About these terms

Welcome to the Institute of Humanitarian Action (IHA) portal (the “Portal”), an online learning platform that provides free river and open water safety education resources. The Portal is designed primarily to support secondary schools across Greater London, Kent and Essex, and is also open to other users — including primary schools, colleges, alternative provisions, home-education networks, youth groups, community clubs, partner organisations, and parents and carers — who want to teach young people about river and open water safety.

The Portal is owned, operated and managed by Atlantic Pacific International Rescue Limited (a registered charity in England and Wales, charity number 1185605, registered office Hodnant, Wesley Street, Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, CF61 1RA) (referred to in these terms as “Atlantic Pacific”, “we”, “us” or “our”).

Phase 1 of the Portal is funded by a grant from the Port of London Authority (PLA), whose support enables free access for schools and partner organisations during the grant period.

These Terms and Conditions (the “Terms”) govern your access to and use of the Portal, including any teaching materials, lesson plans, videos, posters, interactive content and other resources made available through it (together, the “Materials”). They apply equally to teachers, youth and community leaders, partner organisations, and parents and carers. They also explain how we collect and use information about your use of the Portal.

By registering for an account, logging in, downloading any Materials or otherwise using the Portal, you confirm that you accept these Terms and agree to comply with them. If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not use the Portal.

These Terms should be read together with our Privacy Policy and any specific notices that appear on individual Materials or pages of the Portal. Where there is a conflict between these Terms and the general Atlantic Pacific website terms, these Terms take precedence in respect of the Portal.

2. Key terms used in this document

In these Terms, the following words have the following meanings:

• “Account” means a user account registered on the Portal.
• “Educator” means a teacher, lecturer, tutor, instructor, youth or community leader, or other person registered with us to use the Portal in a teaching, leadership or learning support role within an Eligible Organisation.
• “Eligible Organisation” means a secondary school, primary school, college, sixth form, alternative provision, home-education network, youth group, recognised community club, scout/guide or similar uniformed group, NGO, faith-based youth organisation, or partner of Atlantic Pacific or the PLA. Eligible Organisations are normally located in Greater London, Kent or Essex, although we may at our discretion grant access to organisations elsewhere.
• “Materials” means all teaching resources, lesson plans, posters, videos, images, text, interactive activities, assessments and other content made available on or via the Portal.
• “Parent / Carer” means a parent, guardian, foster carer, kinship carer or other adult with parental or caring responsibility for a child or young person, registered to use the Portal in a personal/family context.
• “Permitted Use” has the meaning given in section 5.
• “PLA” means the Port of London Authority, the funder of Phase 1 of the Portal.
• “Learners” means children, young people or other learners taught using the Materials, whether in a school, youth or community setting, or at home.
• “User” means any individual who registers for or uses the Portal, including Educators, Parents/Carers, partner organisation staff and Atlantic Pacific staff.
• “You” / “your” means the User accessing the Portal, and (where applicable) the Eligible Organisation on whose behalf they are acting.

3. Who can use the Portal

3.1 Age and capacity

The Portal is intended for use by adults aged 18 or over. By registering, you confirm that you are at least 18 years old and that you accept these Terms on your own behalf and (where you are registering on behalf of an Eligible Organisation) on behalf of that organisation.

You can register and use the Portal in any of the following capacities:

• as an Educator delivering river and open water safety education within an Eligible Organisation;
• as a Parent or Carer wanting to teach children or young people in your family about river and open water safety;
• as staff or a volunteer of a partner organisation working with us or the PLA on water safety education and outreach; or
• as Atlantic Pacific staff or an authorised contractor.

All registered Users currently receive the same level of access and the same licence to use the Materials. The Portal is not designed for direct, unsupervised use by children. Where Materials are shared with Learners, they must be delivered by, or under the supervision of, a responsible adult.

3.2 Geographic and organisational eligibility

Free access to the Portal is currently provided to Eligible Organisations and individual Users primarily within Greater London, Kent and Essex, in line with the funding provided by the Port of London Authority. We may, at our discretion, grant access to organisations and individuals outside this area — for example, PLA partners, academy trusts, the International Baccalaureate network, community delivery organisations, and parents and carers anywhere in the United Kingdom.

We may verify eligibility at any time, including by checking the postcode, organisation name or website you provide. We reserve the right to refuse or revoke access if we are not satisfied that an applicant or User is using the Portal for its intended purpose.

4. Your account

4.1 Registration

To download Materials or access the full features of the Portal, you will need to register for an Account. You must provide accurate, current and complete information when registering. The information we ask for varies by User type, but typically includes:

• your name and (where applicable) job title or role;
• an email address you can be contacted at — this can be a work address (for Educators), an organisational address (for partners), or a personal address (for Parents/Carers);
• if you are registering on behalf of an Eligible Organisation: the organisation’s name, type, location and postcode;
• if you are a Parent / Carer registering in a personal capacity: your home postcode (so we can understand the geographic spread of users); and
• the year groups, age ranges or learner groups you intend to use the Materials with.

4.2 Login and security

Login is normally provided via a magic link sent to your registered email address (and, for some account types, two-factor authentication). You are responsible for:

• keeping your login credentials and email account secure;
• all activity that takes place under your Account;
• ensuring that any device on which you access the Portal is appropriately secured; and
• notifying us immediately if you suspect any unauthorised access to your Account.

4.3 One Account per person

Accounts are personal to the registered User and must not be shared. A single Educator Account may be used to deliver lessons to multiple classes, year groups or sessions within the same Eligible Organisation, but it must not be used by colleagues in place of registering their own Account. A single Parent / Carer Account may be used to teach children in your own household, but should not be shared with other adults outside your household — they should register their own Account (it is free).

4.4 Keeping your details up to date

You agree to keep your account details accurate and to update them promptly if anything changes (for example, if you move to a different school, change role, or change organisation). We may suspend or close Accounts where the information held appears to be out of date or incorrect.

5. Your licence to use the Materials

5.1 Grant of licence

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, Atlantic Pacific grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, royalty-free, revocable licence to access, download, display, print and use the Materials for Permitted Use. All registered Users — whether Educators, Parents/Carers, partners or Atlantic Pacific staff — receive the same licence on the same terms.

5.2 What “Permitted Use” means

“Permitted Use” means using the Materials, free of charge, to teach children, young people or other Learners about river and open water safety, in any of the following non-commercial settings:

• classroom delivery in schools, colleges, sixth forms and alternative provisions, including in lessons, assemblies, tutor time, PSHE / RSHE sessions, after-school clubs and assemblies;
• youth group, scout / guide / cadet, faith-based youth, sports club, holiday club and community group activities;
• home-school and home-education settings, including teaching your own children or children in your home-education co-operative;
• parent and carer use at home — including teaching your own children, grandchildren or other children in your care, or sharing key safety messages with your family before a trip near water;
• partner-led outreach programmes, water safety roadshows, parents’ evenings, community open days and similar events run by Atlantic Pacific, the PLA, or our partners; and
• internal training of staff, volunteers or peer educators within an Eligible Organisation, where the purpose is to enable them to teach Learners about water safety.

Within Permitted Use, you may:

• download and print copies of lesson plans, posters and worksheets for use with your Learners (in the classroom, the youth group meeting room, or at home);
• display videos, slides and interactive content during sessions with Learners;
• share copies of Learner-facing Materials with Learners in your group, household or class (including via your school’s or organisation’s learning platform), provided that access is limited to those Learners and is not made publicly available;
• use the Materials in extra-curricular activities, school clubs, parent information evenings, family discussions or open days, where the purpose is educational and non-commercial; and
• retain copies of downloaded Materials for use in subsequent academic years, terms or seasons, subject to section 5.5 below.

5.3 Restrictions

Except as expressly permitted by these Terms or by applicable law, you must not:

• sell, rent, sub-license, distribute or otherwise commercially exploit the Materials, in whole or in part — including by charging for sessions, courses or downloads where the Materials form a substantial part of what is being charged for;
• upload the Materials to any public website, public social media account, file-sharing service, AI training dataset or other platform that makes them available to people who are not Learners or members of your organisation, household or group;
• remove, obscure or alter any Atlantic Pacific, IHA or PLA logos, copyright notices, watermarks, attributions or other proprietary markings on the Materials;
• modify, adapt, translate, re-version or create derivative works from the Materials without our prior written consent, except for minor adaptations needed to support your Learners (for example, simplifying language for SEND learners, translating short sections for English as an Additional Language learners, or adapting an example to make it relevant to your local river or community);
• represent the Materials as your own work, or as the work of any organisation other than Atlantic Pacific (with PLA acknowledged as funder);
• use the Materials in any way that is unlawful, misleading, defamatory, discriminatory, or harmful to children or vulnerable people; or
• use the Materials to provide formal lifesaving qualifications or in-water rescue training (the Materials are educational and awareness-raising in nature — see section 11).

5.4 Branding and acknowledgements

Where you use the Materials in a way that is visible to others (for example, in a presentation, newsletter, on a school website page describing your water safety teaching, or in any media coverage), you should acknowledge Atlantic Pacific as the source and the Port of London Authority as the funder of the Portal during the grant period. Logos and a short acknowledgement statement are available on request.

You may not use the Atlantic Pacific, IHA or PLA names or logos in any other way (including for fundraising, sponsorship or implied endorsement) without our prior written consent.

5.5 Updates and withdrawal of Materials

Materials are kept under review and may be updated, replaced or withdrawn from time to time, including in response to new guidance, campaign updates, or feedback from Users. Where Materials are updated, you should use the most current version available on the Portal. We may ask you to stop using older versions where there is a safety, accuracy or compliance reason to do so.

6. Intellectual property

All intellectual property rights in the Portal and the Materials (including copyright, design rights, database rights, trade marks and any rights in logos, photographs, video and audio) are owned by, or licensed to, Atlantic Pacific. The IHA and Atlantic Pacific names, logos and visual identity are trade marks of Atlantic Pacific.

Some Materials may incorporate content provided by, or developed in collaboration with, third parties — including the Port of London Authority’s campaign messaging (such as “Stay Back, Stay Out, Stay Safe”), and (where used) imagery or research from organisations such as the National Water Safety Forum. Those rights remain with the relevant owner and are used by us under licence.

Nothing in these Terms transfers any ownership of intellectual property rights to you. All rights not expressly granted are reserved.

If you believe that any content on the Portal infringes your intellectual property rights, please contact us using the details in section 16 so that we can investigate.

7. Acceptable use of the Portal

You agree to use the Portal in a responsible and lawful way. In particular, you must not:

• use the Portal in a way that breaches any applicable law, regulation, professional code, or your organisation’s safeguarding, e-safety or acceptable use policies;
• attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Portal, the server on which it is stored, or any connected database, network or system;
• introduce any viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful;
• use any automated system (including bots, scrapers or spiders) to access, copy or monitor any part of the Portal, except for normal indexing by recognised search engines where we have permitted this;
• interfere with, disrupt or place an unreasonable load on the Portal, or attempt to circumvent any security or access control measures;
• submit or upload content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, obscene, hateful, discriminatory, or that infringes the rights of others;
• submit information about a Learner in a form that identifies them, except where we have specifically asked for this and have provided an appropriate lawful basis for doing so; or
• use the Portal to send unsolicited marketing or other communications.

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Portal at any time, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe that you have breached these Terms. Serious or repeated breaches may also be reported to your Eligible Organisation, to professional or regulatory bodies, or to law enforcement.

8. Safeguarding and safe delivery

The Materials cover topics including drowning, cold water shock, emergency response and CPR. Some content may be emotionally challenging for Learners who have experienced loss or trauma — including Learners who have lost a family member or friend in a water-related incident.

8.1 If you are using the Materials in an Eligible Organisation

If you are an Educator delivering the Materials in a school, college, alternative provision, youth group, community club, faith-based youth setting, sports club, or similar organised setting, you are responsible for:

• reviewing Materials in advance and judging their suitability for the age, ability and circumstances of your Learners;
• delivering content in line with your organisation’s safeguarding, child protection, e-safety and (where applicable) PSHE / RSHE policies;
• ensuring that any signposting to support services is appropriate to your Learners’ needs; and
• following your organisation’s normal procedures if a Learner discloses a relevant concern (for example, about a previous incident or about risky behaviour around water).

8.2 If you are a Parent or Carer using the Materials at home

If you are a Parent or Carer using the Materials with your own children or children in your care, you are responsible for:

• judging what is age- and circumstance-appropriate for the children you are teaching;
• being available to talk through anything they find upsetting or difficult; and
• seeking support from your GP, school, or another trusted adult or service if a child becomes distressed by the content or discloses something that worries you.

8.3 The Portal is not a safeguarding referral route

If you are concerned about the immediate safety of a child or vulnerable person, do not use the Portal to report it. Follow your organisation’s safeguarding procedures (if you are in an organisational setting), or contact the relevant statutory services — including, in an emergency, the police on 999 or the NSPCC helpline.

9. Information we collect about your use of the Portal

This section explains, at a high level, what information we collect through the Portal and how we use it. Full details (including legal bases, retention periods and your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018) are set out in our Privacy Policy.

9.1 Information you give us

When you register for, and use, an Account we collect information you provide directly. The exact information depends on your User type, but typically includes:

• your name and (where given) job title or role;
• your email address;
• if you are registering on behalf of an Eligible Organisation: the name, type, location and postcode of that organisation;
• if you are a Parent / Carer: your home postcode;
• the year groups, age ranges or learner groups you intend to teach; and
• information you input when logging a teaching session — for example, which lesson plan you used, the date of delivery and the (anonymous, aggregate) number of Learners reached.

9.2 Information we collect automatically

When you use the Portal, we (and our service providers) automatically collect certain technical and usage information, including:

• login times and frequency of use;
• which pages, lesson plans, videos, posters and other Materials are viewed or downloaded;
• the order in which Materials are accessed, time spent on pages, completion of modules and any pre/post-learning checks;
• device, browser, operating system and approximate location (typically derived from IP address at city / region level — we do not use precise location data);
• how you arrived at the Portal (for example, from a partner website, search engine or email link); and
• error and performance information that helps us keep the Portal working.

We use cookies and similar technologies to provide this functionality. You can manage your cookie preferences via the Portal’s cookie settings and your browser controls. Strictly necessary cookies are required for the Portal to function (for example, to keep you logged in).

9.3 How we use this information

We use information about your use of the Portal to:

• provide, secure, maintain and improve the Portal and the Materials;
• understand which lesson plans, modules, videos and posters are most useful to Users — including how use varies between schools, youth groups, partner organisations and parents/carers — and where Materials need to be improved or expanded;
• see how the Portal is being used across the United Kingdom and (where relevant) internationally — for example, which regions, school types, organisation types and year groups are most engaged, and how usage changes across the academic year and around seasonal risk periods;
• measure the reach and impact of our river and open water safety education programmes, including for our own learning, board reporting, charitable trustees’ reports and impact communications;
• produce statistics, infographics, case studies and other materials about how the Portal is being used (these are normally produced in aggregate or anonymised form);
• communicate with you about your Account, new Materials, updates to the Portal, and (where you have agreed) wider Atlantic Pacific news;
• comply with our legal, regulatory and funder reporting obligations; and
• detect, investigate and prevent misuse, fraud and security incidents.

9.4 Funder and partner reporting

During the period funded by the PLA grant (and as required by our grant agreement), we will share aggregated and anonymised information about the Portal’s reach and engagement with the Port of London Authority. This includes things such as:

• number of Eligible Organisations registered and actively using the Portal;
• number of registered Users (broken down by type — for example, Educators, Parents/Carers and partner staff);
• estimated number of Learners reached (based on Educator- and User-reported delivery);
• geographic spread across London, Kent and Essex, and percentage of eligible schools engaged;
• frequency of use and completion of core learning modules;
• engagement with PLA campaign messaging; and
• learning gain indicators from short pre / post-learning checks.

We will not share information with the PLA or other partners that identifies an individual User, Learner or class, unless we have a clear lawful basis to do so and (where required) your consent. Where we provide live dashboards or reports, these are designed to show patterns and trends, not personal data.

9.5 Anonymised and aggregated data

We may produce anonymised and aggregated information from Portal data — for example, statistics about which lesson plans are most popular nationally, how engagement varies by region or term, or the cost-per-Learner-reached of the programme. This information does not identify any individual and may be shared publicly (for example, in our annual report, on our website, in funding applications or in academic and policy contexts), used to inform our future work, and shared with current or potential partners and funders.

9.6 Children’s data

The Portal is not designed to collect personal data about Learners, including children in your care or in your family. Users (including Educators and Parents/Carers) should not enter Learner names, contact details, photographs, or any other information that identifies an individual child or young person into the Portal, unless we have specifically requested this through a clearly designed feature with an appropriate lawful basis.

Where we ask Users to record numbers of Learners reached (for funder reporting), this should be a count only — for example, “28 Year 9 students” or “3 children at home” — and must not include personally identifying information.

9.7 Sharing with service providers

To run the Portal we use third-party service providers (for example, for hosting, email delivery, analytics, customer support, and authentication). These providers process information on our behalf, under contracts that require them to keep it secure and use it only for the purposes we have specified. A current list of key processors is available on request and is described further in our Privacy Policy.

9.8 International transfers

Some of our service providers may process information outside the United Kingdom. Where this happens, we put appropriate safeguards in place (such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses) so that your information continues to be protected.

9.9 Your rights

You have a number of rights in respect of personal data we hold about you, including the right to access it, correct it, object to certain uses, and (in some circumstances) ask us to delete it. You can exercise these rights, or ask any other questions about how we handle your data, by contacting our Data Protection Officer using the details in section 16.

10. Links and third-party content

The Portal may contain links to third-party websites, embedded videos, downloadable PDFs hosted by partner organisations, or references to external campaigns and resources. These links are provided for convenience and do not signify that we endorse the linked content or organisation. We are not responsible for the content, availability, privacy practices or terms of any third-party site or service.

Where the Portal embeds content from third parties (for example, video from YouTube or Vimeo, or PLA campaign assets), your interaction with that content may be subject to the third party’s own terms and privacy notice.

11. Important disclaimers — educational use only

The Materials provide general information and education about water safety, drowning prevention and emergency response. They are designed to raise awareness and support classroom-based learning. They are not a substitute for:

• formal lifesaving, lifeguarding, first aid, CPR or rescue qualifications;
• supervised in-water training; or
• professional medical, safety or legal advice.

Atlantic Pacific does not authorise the use of the Materials to certify any individual as competent in rescue, first aid or CPR. Users and Learners — whether teachers, parents, youth leaders, partners or children — should never enter the water to attempt a rescue based on the Materials alone. The “Throw, Don’t Go” principle should always be followed in line with national guidance.

11.1 Accuracy and availability

We work hard to make sure the Materials and other Portal content are accurate, up to date and fit for purpose. However, we do not warrant or guarantee that the Materials are error-free, or that the Portal will always be available, uninterrupted or free from bugs. We may, from time to time, suspend access for maintenance, upgrades or operational reasons.

12. Our liability to you

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for:

• death or personal injury caused by our negligence;
• fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or
• any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

Subject to that, and to the maximum extent permitted by law:

• the Portal and Materials are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis, without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied;
• we will not be liable to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, loss of opportunity or for any indirect or consequential loss arising under or in connection with your use of the Portal or the Materials; and
• our total liability to any user, in connection with these Terms or the Portal, in any 12-month period, will not exceed £100 (which reflects the fact that the Portal is provided free of charge).

Where you use the Portal in the course of your professional or organisational role, your Eligible Organisation remains responsible for ensuring that lessons, activities and any related practical exercises are delivered safely and in line with its own risk assessments, safeguarding policies and statutory duties. Where you use the Portal as a Parent or Carer in a personal/family setting, you are responsible for judging what is appropriate for the children in your care and for supervising them safely around water.

13. Changes to the Portal and these Terms

We may update or change the Portal, the Materials and these Terms from time to time — for example, to reflect new content, new features, changes in law, changes in funding arrangements (including after the end of the PLA grant period), or changes in the way we operate.

Where we make material changes to these Terms, we will let registered Users know — for example, by email to the address on your Account, or by posting a clear notice on the Portal. The “last reviewed” date at the top of this document shows when these Terms were last updated. Continued use of the Portal after a change takes effect means that you accept the updated Terms.

14. Suspension, closure and ending your Account

You may close your Account at any time by contacting us using the details in section 16. We will retain certain information after closure where we are required to do so (for example, for funder reporting, legal records or to defend legal claims), as set out in our Privacy Policy.

We may suspend or close your Account, or restrict your access to the Portal or particular Materials, where:

• you are in breach of these Terms;
• we are no longer satisfied that you are an Eligible Organisation, an Educator, a genuine Parent or Carer, or otherwise a person we are willing to grant access to;
• we are required to do so by law, regulator or funder;
• the Portal (or any feature of it) is being withdrawn; or
• we have any other reasonable concern about safeguarding, safety, security or misuse.

On closure of your Account, your licence to use the Materials under section 5 ends. You should stop using and, where reasonably practicable, delete any downloaded copies of the Materials, except where retention is required by law or by your Eligible Organisation’s record-keeping obligations.

15. General

15.1 Whole agreement

These Terms (together with the documents they refer to, including the Privacy Policy) form the whole agreement between you and Atlantic Pacific in relation to your use of the Portal.

15.2 Assignment

You may not transfer your Account or your rights under these Terms to anyone else. We may transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms to another organisation — for example, as part of a charity merger, restructure or transfer of the Portal — provided this does not adversely affect your rights.

15.3 No waiver

If we do not insist immediately that you do anything you are required to do under these Terms, or if we delay in taking steps against you in respect of a breach, that will not mean that you do not have to do those things, and it will not prevent us from taking steps against you at a later date.

15.4 Severability

If any provision (or part of a provision) of these Terms is found to be unlawful, invalid or unenforceable, the remainder will continue in full force and effect.

15.5 Third-party rights

Nothing in these Terms gives any third party any right to enforce them under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999, except that the Port of London Authority may enforce the acknowledgement obligations in section 5.4 in respect of the funded grant period.

15.6 Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms, and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them, are governed by the laws of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any such dispute or claim, except that we retain the right to bring proceedings against you for breach of these Terms in your country of residence or any other relevant country.

16. How to contact us

If you have any questions about these Terms, the Portal, the Materials, or how we handle your personal data, please contact:

Atlantic Pacific International Rescue Limited
Hodnant, Wesley Street, Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, CF61 1RA
Email: [email protected]

Data Protection / Portal queries:
Kate Sedwell
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +44 (0)7816 874930