If you have concerns about your child's welfare at school or there has been an incident involving your child, you have a right to raise your concerns with your child's school.
By law, each school governing body (or board of trustees) must have its own complaints procedure and is responsible for investigating and responding to complaints about their school. Ask your child's school for a copy of it, as it explains how the complaints process operates and how your complaint will be dealt with.
Please note: If your complaint relates to services run by the council, such as special educational needs or education welfare, contact the complaints officer.
Steps to take before making a school complaint
- Get the full picture
Before reporting a matter as a complaint, review the incident or situation. Your child might well be telling the truth; however, their account of the situation may not give you the full picture of what happened.
Arrange an informal meeting with your child's class teacher, so you can get a fuller picture and discuss any concerns and worries you may have.
Staff will make every effort to resolve your problem informally, ensuring they understand what you feel went wrong and asking what you would like the school to do to put things right. - Not satisfied? Arrange to meet the headteacher
If the teacher wasn't able to help or you are not satisfied with the response given, you should approach the headteacher.
Contact the school's office to arrange a meeting or a telephone conversation with the headteacher. If this isn't possible, you may wish to make a written complaint to the headteacher. - If you are still unhappy, contact the governors/trustees
If you are still not satisfied, you can approach the chair of the governing body/board of trustees to ask for the matter to be referred to the trustees/governors' complaints panel. Ask the school office to provide you with the name of the chair and address.
Further action
If your complaint has not been resolved through the school's complaints procedure, you may be able to raise it with one of the organisations below.
Department for Education (DfE)
You should complete the school's complaints procedure before contacting the DfE, unless:
- a child is not receiving an education
- a child has been exposed to harm
- the school is preventing you from following its complaints procedure
The DfE will consider your complaint and may use the information you provide to recommend improvements to school policies and procedures. However, the DfE can not investigate complaints about:
- penalty notices issued for term-time holidays
- compensation or apologies from the school
- the behaviour of individual members of school staff.
If you have completed all stages of the school's complaints procedure and believe your complaint was not handled correctly, you can complaint to the DfE.
Ofsted
Ofsted records complaints and may use the information provided to help inform future inspections. It considers concerns that affect the school as a whole rather than individual cases.
Ofsted can not:
- resolve disputes between you and the school
- require the school to respond directly to your complaint or take action
- change the outcome of a complaint
- alter a school's complaints procedure because of a complaint.
If you have completed the school's complaints procedure and remain concerned about an issue, you can raise it with Ofsted.
Please note: Making a complaint to Ofsted does not mean the school will be inspected.