Complaints

From time to time parents may be worried or concerned about their child's education. If a parent has such worries about their child, schools welcome contact from parents as early as possible so that an attempt can be made to deal with the matter quickly and avoid the parent and possibly the child becoming more worried about the problem.

All schools have a procedure for dealing with complaints from parents and although there are slight differences in procedure from one school to another, most schools deal with complaints in the following way. Parents should ask to speak to the child's class teacher (primary school) or head of year/house (secondary school) in order to discuss their concerns. In most cases, the concerns can be resolved at this stage. If the problem is not resolved to a parent's satisfaction, parents may request a meeting with the head teacher of the school to discuss their complaint.

As schools are very busy work places for both pupils and staff, it may not be possible for a teacher or the head teacher to meet with a parent immediately without any notice. Parents are advised to request an appointment which will allow all concerned to devote sufficient time to discussing a problem.

After giving a head teacher reasonable time to deal with the complaint, if parents are still concerned, they may write to the chair of governors of the school who may consider the complaint themselves or refer the complaint to the governing body s complaints committee. In most cases, parents will be given the opportunity to attend a committee meeting to talk about their concerns. The committee decides whether or not to uphold a complaint or to uphold a complaint in part. This is the final stage in the school complaints process.

For further advice regarding the process of making a complaint about a school or the services offered by the local education authority, you are welcome to contact:

David Ball tel. 01642 201828 or Mary Griksaitis  tel. 01642 201829