St. Thomas a Becket Federation of Catholic Infant and Juniorschools

St. Thomas a Becket Federation of Catholic Infant and JuniorSchools

COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

Staff, governors and the LEA want to promote open and positive relationships between parents and the school. However, things may go wrong, resulting in your wishing to discuss problems or make a complaint.

At The Federation of St Thomas a Becket Catholic Infant and Junior Schools we follow the East Sussex County Council Policy ‘Dealing with Complaints’.

Most queries or complaints can be dealt with at school by the teaching staff, headteacher or governing body. Others may need to be referred to the County Education Officer or elsewhere. The school should be your first point of contact.

There are special procedures which apply to certain types of complaint. These include complaints about the school’s delivery of the National Curriculum, Statements of special educational needs, admission to or exclusion from school and some matters related to staff conduct. The school will be able to advise you about how to take forward your complaint, and whether a special procedure applies to it.

Complaints and queries are most easily resolved if they are taken forward as soon as possible after the event.

Where to start

(a)The school. If parents are unhappy with any aspect of the school they should make an appointment to see their child’s class teacher. If the matter is not satisfactorily addressed then they should discuss their complaint with the headteacher or deputy headteacher. Difficulties can usually be resolved quickly in a spirit of openness and dialogue.

In some cases, the headteacher may refer parents directly to the Local Education Authority. This may occur where the query raised relates to an issue outside the control of the school.

(b)The governing body. If parents remain dissatisfied and wish to take the matter further, they should write to the Chairman of Governors with full details of the complaint.

The chairman will inform parents how the governors propose to investigate the complaint and if necessary a meeting will take place of the panel of governors set up to follow this through.

(c)The Local Education Authority (LEA) Should parents be unhappy with the decision or action taken by the governing body, the complaint can be taken forward, in writing, to the LEA.

The complaints officer will write back to acknowledge receipt of the complaint within three weeks. Sometimes a meeting with the complaints officer and school staff is appropriate and parents are informed of decisions and action taken.

(d)Where else? Use of the Local Education Authority’s complaints procedure does not preclude parents from taking their complaints to others, such as their local County Councillor or Member of Parliament. If there is dissatisfaction with the Local Education Authority’s decision parents can ask the Head of Paid Service of the County Council to review the matter.

(e)If parents are unhappy with the actions of the LEA itself, rather than the school, complaints can be made to the Commission for Local Administration (the Ombudsman). The Ombudsman cannot investigate internal matters in schools, but can investigate complaints about the LEA alleging ‘maladministration’ which means bias, neglect or unjustifiable delay. The Education Department Complaints Officer can give you further information about taking a complaint to the Ombudsman.

Date: June 2016

Review: June 2019