The responsibility for dealing with complaints about a school lies with the school itself and not the council. Each school has a complaints procedure that it must follow and should make available at the school's reception.
Different types of complaints about schools
Some types of complaint are handled differently, and the school must follow other procedures. The school should tell you which is the right process. These include:
- complaints or appeals about the curriculum
- special educational needs provision
- exclusions
- admissions
- staff disciplinary action
- child protection issues
- criminal investigations.
In general however, to make a complaint against a school there are a number of stages you can follow depending on the nature of the complaint.
- If your complaint or concern is about the head teacher please write to the school governors (see below: Stage 2)
- If your complaint or concern is not about the head teacher see the informal procedure below.
Informal procedure
Discuss your concerns with the class teacher or other relevant member of staff. This will usually resolve the issue.
What will happen? The member of staff will deal with your issues or make sure you have the information you need if you feel you want to take the matter further.
Stage 1 – formal procedure
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your earlier complaint, you should complain to the head teacher either verbally or in writing.
What will happen? Your complaint will be acknowledged within five school days. A full written response will be made within 15 school days.
Stage 2 – writing to governors
If you are not satisfied with the response from the head teacher, you should write to the chair of governors.
What will happen? Ideally your complaint should be acknowledged within five school days and a full response will be made within 15 school days. However, this may vary from school to school according to an individual school's complaints policy.
Stage 3 – writing to clerk of governors
If you are still not satisfied with how your complaint has been handled, you should write to the clerk of governors requesting that your complaint be heard by the Governing Bodies Complaints Panel.
What will happen? The panel will meet between 12 and 20 days from receipt of your letter. The committee's decision is final and you will be told of its findings within five school days of the hearing.
What to do if you are still not satisfied
If you have already followed the stages described above and are still not satisfied you can contact the Secretary of State or the Local Government Ombudsman:
Secretary of State for Education
If you believe that the school has not dealt with your complaint reasonably, you can appeal in writing to the:
Secretary of State for Education
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
London SW1P 3BT
The Secretary of State can take action if a governing body has not carried out or fulfilled a statutory duty, or has acted unreasonably. The Secretary of State cannot do anything until the school has finished looking into the complaint.
Local Government Ombudsman
If you believe there is a fault in the way your complaint has been dealt with, the second option is for you to write to the:
Local Government Ombudsman
PO Box 4771
Coventry CV4 OEH
Phone: 0845 602 1983
Email: advice@lgo.org.uk
Website: Local Government Ombudsman
The Ombudsman will only investigate where there has been a fault in the way the process was handled by the school. They can investigate complaints about how something has been done.
This could be giving the wrong information, not dealing with letters or taking too long to take action. They cannot question what has been done just because someone does not agree with the result.
The Ombudsman cannot investigate how schools and colleges are run. The Ombudsman cannot do anything until the school has finished looking into your complaint. The Ombudsman will only investigate issues of maladministration.
Complaints about colleges, academies and other post-16 providers
School Sixth Forms
Complaints about matters relating to school Sixth Forms are dealt with by the schools using their own complaints procedures. Please follow the advice above.
Further Education Colleges, providers of Apprenticeships, and Independent Training Providers
To make a complaint about these, please contact the Skills Funding Agency.
Academies, Sixth Form Colleges and Independent Specialist Providers
These complaints are dealt with by the Young People's Learning Agency.
East Sussex County Council