General Information
We hope that your child is happy at our school. Occasionally, however, a problem may arise. We hope that we will be able to resolve any concern speedily, in a helpful, informal manner. We accept that on occasions our initial attempts to resolve an issue may be unsuccessful and the person raising the concern remains dissatisfied and wishes to take the matter further. For these occasions, our staged complaints procedure should be followed. This approach has been created to ensure that all problems and difficulties can be resolved.
Important definitions:
- A concern is defined as “an expression of worry or doubt over an issue considered to be important for which reassurances are sought”. The school will resolve concerns through day-to-day communication as far as possible.
- A complaint is defined as “an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about actions taken or a lack of action”.
Concerns
The general procedure for dealing with concerns of any kind is summarised as follows:
- In the majority of circumstances, the matter should be raised with the class teacher.
- If a satisfactory conclusion is not felt to have been achieved, then an appointment should be made with the Phase Leader, Deputy Headteacher or Headteacher. This meeting should take place as soon as possible and normally within three school days of the initial conversation with the class teacher.
- Occasionally, the person raising the concern may be of the view that the issue should go directly to one of the senior professionals at the school. If this is the case the matter should be raised in the first instance with the Deputy Headteacher or the Headteacher.
- If a satisfactory conclusion is not reached after a meeting with the Deputy Headteacher or the Headteacher, a second, follow-up meeting can be requested. This should take place within five school days of the request.
Complaints
If a concern is raised and the matter remains unresolved following this process, or if the person raising the concern does not want to exhaust the concerns procedure (for example by seeing no value in requesting a second informal meeting), the person may invoke the complaints procedure.
In addition, the complaints procedure may be invoked without following the concerns procedure at all if the matter is deemed sufficiently serious for that to be appropriate and reasonable.
To invoke the complaints procedure, the complainant should submit a formal letter of complaint to the school as detailed below. All such correspondence should be marked ‘confidential’, sealed and delivered via the Key Stage 1 office.
- Complaints about members of staff other than the Headteacher should be addressed to the Headteacher.
- Complaints against the Headteacher should be addressed to the Chair of Governors.
- Complaints about a single governor should be made to the Chair of Governors.
- Complaints against the Chair of Governors should be made to the Clerk to Governors.
- Complaints about chair and vice-chair of governors jointly or the majority or all of the governing board should be addressed to the Clerk to Governors.
You can read a copy of our complaints procedure HERE
