Privacy, Refunds & Terms of Use

Last updated: 11 August 2026

Ladder Lessons is run by one person, Shari Chung, based in the UK. This page describes what this site actually does, not a template. If anything here is unclear, email me.

This page is available in English and Cantonese. If the two versions differ, the English version applies.

1. What I collect

If you do not give it, I do not have it

You can browse the whole site, play all 4 free games and work through the first two Ladder Phonics groups without giving any personal data at all. There is no forced signup and no forced login.

What you choose to give

Data	When it is collected	What it is used for	Lawful basis (UK GDPR)
Email address	You fill in the form to unlock group 3	Sending the unlock link, then new games and teaching tips	Consent
Name, email, billing country	You buy a subscription	Opening your account, handling refunds, keeping transaction records	Performance of a contract plus statutory accounting duties

I collect no data from children. The games never ask for a name, an age or a school. The person buying is always an adult.

Generated automatically

Server logs: Cloudflare records IP address, time and which page was opened, for attack protection and traffic figures. I cannot see the identity of individual visitors.
Stored on your own device: learning progress (which words are known, review lists), your chosen language and text size, all held in localStorage on your device. None of it is ever sent to any server and I cannot see it. Clearing your browser data deletes it.

I use Cloudflare Web Analytics to see how many people visit, where they come from and which pages they open. It sets no cookies, does not track you across sites and does not build a profile of you. What it collects is aggregate counts, not identities.

I do not use Google Analytics, Meta Pixel or any advertising tracker. That is why this site has no cookie banner: there are no cookies for you to consent to. If that ever changes I will say so here, and I will ask you before it changes.

2. Who else touches your data

Provider	What they do	Where
Cloudflare	Hosts this site, blocks attacks, counts page views	United States (standard contractual clauses in place)
MailerLite	Stores the email list and sends the emails	EU / United States
Google Fonts	Serves the fonts	United States

⚠️ Google Fonts: loading the fonts sends your IP address to Google. A German court ruled in 2022 that this needs prior consent. I plan to self-host the fonts, and this paragraph will be removed once that is done. If it bothers you, block fonts.googleapis.com in your browser. Nothing breaks: the site falls back to your device fonts and all the content is still readable.

I do not sell your data. I do not rent it and I do not trade it with advertisers.

3. How long it is kept

Email list: until you unsubscribe. Every email has an unsubscribe link at the bottom that takes effect immediately. You do not need my approval.
Transaction records: UK tax rules require these to be kept for 6 years. I cannot delete this part.
Server logs: Cloudflare normally deletes these automatically after a few days.

4. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you can ask to see what data I hold about you, to correct it, to delete it, to restrict how it is used, to receive a portable copy, or to object to my using it.

Email me and I will reply within one month. You do not need to give a reason and there is no charge.

If you think I have handled it badly, you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office: ico.org.uk.

5. Refunds and renewals

⚠️ Both plans renew automatically. Monthly plans are charged once a month and annual plans once a year, until you cancel. To cancel, open the receipt Payhip sent you and tap Manage subscription. After cancelling you keep access to the end of the period you have paid for, and you are not charged again.

Annual plans: full refund within 14 days, no reason needed. Just email me.
Monthly plans: cancel any time and keep access to the end of that period. The month already charged is not refunded.
Refunds go back to the card you paid with, normally within 5 to 10 working days.

⚠️ This site has 4 games that are free forever, and the first two Ladder Phonics groups are fully open with no payment and no email. Please try it before you buy. Digital content is usable the moment you buy it, so UK law would allow the 14-day cooling-off period to be waived. I give it anyway, but I would rather nobody found out it was wrong for them only after paying.

6. What you are buying

You are buying the right to use it for a period of time, not ownership. While your subscription is active you can open every unlocked game in your browser.

Parent plan

Limited to your own household, with as many children as you have.
Not for use in paid lessons, tutorial centres or schools.

Teacher plan (includes a commercial licence)

You may use it in lessons you charge for, online and in person.
The licence follows one teacher, not an organisation. A colleague who wants to use it needs their own subscription.

Neither plan allows

Reselling, redistributing, or uploading to another site or platform.
Copying the files out and hosting them yourself.
Stripping the branding and passing the material off as your own.

7. What is not guaranteed

These are practice tools, not an exam guarantee. I do not promise any result, score or rate of progress. How fast someone learns depends on many things, including how much time you spend on it together.

I do my best to keep the site up, but I do not guarantee zero downtime.

8. Changes

When this page is updated I change the date at the top. For a significant change, such as starting to collect a new kind of data, I email everyone on the list.

9. Contact

Email：[email protected]
Instagram：@ladderlessons
Operated by Shari Chung, sole trader, United Kingdom

For data protection requests please use email rather than an Instagram DM. I need a written record to meet the one-month deadline.

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