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Home: Council full menu: Complaints

Making a complaint about a school

Children & Young People Service - March 2010
john.edwards@kirklees.gov.uk

Listening to you
We are always delighted to receive compliments about our schools. Headteachers and staff are always pleased to hear from people who appreciate the hard work going on in our schools. In fact, although most parents do have positive relationships with their children's schools, things sometimes do go wrong. The Kirklees Children & Young People Service aims to make sure that we take into account the interests of pupils, parents and school staff when we handle complaints.

We take all complaints seriously and all schools have procedures in place for handling complaints. These include a governors' complaints committee.

We have agreed with schools that the process set out in this leaflet is the fairest and most reasonable process to follow.
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What is a complaint?
It is any issue you may have against a school because you are not satisfied with some aspect of the school or a person working at the school. It could also be a complaint because you are not happy with the way the school has handled a particular issue.
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Who can complain?
You may complain yourself, or you may get someone to support you. The person you choose to support you could be a friend, a family member or some other individual or group.
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Where do I begin?
  1. Contact the school, speak to the secretary and ask who is the best person to deal with your complaint. In a primary or special school this may be your child's class teacher or the headteacher. In a secondary school, it could be the form tutor or head of year. Arrange an appointment to meet them.
  2. Think about the nature of your complaint and try to jot down the details. In particular write down:
    • what you are complaining about
    • when and where the incident occurred
    • who else was involved
    • whether anyone saw it happen
    • who you have spoken to already and
    • what you want to happen as a result of your complaint.
    Or, you may want to raise more general concerns.
  3. If the matter cannot be resolved at this meeting, the school may need to look into the matter and carry out an investigation. This may take a few days but the headteacher or the person you have seen should be able to get back to you within 5 days.
  4. If the school agrees your complaint is justified they will tell you what action will be taken.
  5. If you still cannot resolve the matter then you should write to the chair of governors and ask for the governors' Complaints Committee to look at the complaint. You can write to the chair of governors care of the school, marking the envelope 'Private and confidential'.
  6. The governors' complaints committee will arrange a meeting when it will consider written evidence from you and from the headteacher. Both of you are entitled to be present at the meeting. The committee will consider two things: firstly whether the process has been fully and fairly followed and secondly, whether or not to uphold your complaint.
  7. The complaints committee will inform you of its decision either to:
    • uphold the headteacher's decision or
    • ask the headteacher to reconsider certain aspects of the decision or
    • ask the Local Authority to investigate your complaint.
  8. If the committee decides to ask the Local Authority (LA) to investigate your complaint it will ask the Chair of Governors to contact the Senior Improvement Manager for School Leadership & Management in the Children & Young People Service at the Deighton Centre.
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What if I am not satisfied with the way the school has dealt with my complaint?
  1. If the committee does not uphold your complaint and does not request an investigation, you may request an investigation yourself. You should write to the Senior Improvement Manager for School Leadership & Management in the Children & Young People Service at Deighton Centre.
  2. The Local Authority (LA) will assign an officer to investigate how the school handled the complaint and will enquire into the circumstances of the complaint.
  3. The investigating officer will collate the information and prepare a report describing the officer's conclusions.
  4. The report will be sent to the Chair of Governors with a copy to the headteacher. The governing body will consider the report's conclusions and decide what action to take.
  5. The Chair of Governors will then contact you to let you know the governors' response.
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What if my complaint is about the headteacher?
You should contact the Chair of Governors, in writing. The chair will call a meeting of the governors' complaints committee which will consider your complaint. The chair or a nominated complaints governor will respond directly to you.
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What if my complaint is about the governing body or about an individual governor?
You should still contact the Chair of Governors who will investigate your concerns. If the complaint is about the Chair of Governors you should contact a member of the complaints committee. The school should be able to tell you their names. If you have a complaint about the governing body as a whole, you should contact the School Improvement Officer (Governors) at The Deighton Centre.
  • School Improvement Officer (Governors) - Tel: 01484 225183
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What can I expect to happen?
You should expect to be listened to so that your complaint can be understood. If your complaint needs to be investigated you should give the headteacher or the Chair of Governors enough time to do this. A reasonable amount of time to carry out an investigation would be 20 school days. You should be informed if it will take longer than this.

If the school agrees that your complaint is justified they should tell you what actions will be taken. If the school does not support your complaint, they should tell you why and you can ask for these reasons to be given to you in writing.
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Who else can help me?
If you feel worried about making a complaint about a school you may involve a friend, representative or interpreter to support you. There are also agencies who might be able to help: If your child has special educational needs you might contact the Kirklees Parent Partnership Service If you are still not satisfied after the LA has investigated your complaint, you have a final right of appeal to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills. The LA can give you the address of the Secretary of State.

You can also find information and support for parents on a wide range of issues on the following websites:
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How long will it take?
Complaints should be handled quickly and most issues should be resolved in a few days. The school should complete most investigations within 20 school days but, if a complaint goes through all the stages listed above, it may take several months to resolve.
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