Making a complaint about a school
School policy
The school should have its own policy for dealing with general complaints and will supply you with a copy if you ask for one. The school must follow other procedures for complaints or appeals about the curriculum, special educational needs provision, exclusions and admissions.
For more information visit the appeal process pages on the Department for Children, Schools and Families (formerly DfES) website – go to the DCSF Parent Centre where you can select appropriate information.
Staff disciplinary action, child protection issues or criminal investigation will need to be handled differently. The school should tell you which is the right process. The DCSF Parent Centre has more information on child protection.
Schools are free to adopt their own policies. The Children's Services Authority (CSA) recommends the following process.
To make a complaint against a school there are four stages you can follow depending on the nature of the complaint.
- If your complaint or concern is about the head teacher see Stage 3
- If your complaint or concern is not about the head teacher see Stage 1
Comments or complaints about Children's Services
Different procedures apply for complaining about Children's Services – please see our page on Making a complaint about Children's Services.
Stage 1 – 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 2 – 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 3 – 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?
Under the CSA model complaints procedure, ideally your complaint should be acknowledged within seven school days and a full response will be made within 20 school days. However, this may vary from school to school according to an individual school's complaints policy.
Stage 4 – 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 a complaints committee of governors.
What will happen?
The complaints committee 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 CSA
- The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
- The Local Government Ombudsman
The CSA
If you believe your complaint was not handled fairly according to a school’s own complaints procedure, you can ask the CSA to investigate.
You should explain your complaint and say why you think the school did not follow its complaints procedure properly. Wherever possible you should give evidence of why you think this.
You can write to the CSA complaints officer at:
Children's Services Authority
East Sussex County Council
County Hall
St Anne's Crescent
Lewes
East Sussex BN7 1SG
What will happen?
The complaints officer will look at your evidence and decide if he should investigate. The complaints officer will acknowledge your letter within 10 working days and tell you what the next course of action will be. They cannot do anything until the school has finished considering your complaint.
The complaints officer will investigate whether the school dealt with the complaint properly, according to its own procedures. The complaints officer will not investigate your original complaint all over again. The CSA cannot make the school come to a different judgement on your case if the governing body has considered your complaint in a reasonable way.
The complaints officer will tell you the outcome of the investigation in writing. If they conclude that the school did not follow its procedures properly, the matter will be referred back to the chair of the governing body. The governing body should then re-investigate the complaint.
Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
If you believe that your CSA has not dealt with your complaint against a school reasonably, you can appeal in writing to the:
Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
London SW1P 3BT
The Secretary of State can take action if a governing body or the CSA has not carried out or fulfilled a statutory duty, or has acted unreasonably. The Secretary of State cannot do anything until the school and the CSA 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:
Mr T Redmond
Local Government Ombudsman
The Commission for Local Administration in England
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London SW1P 4QP
Tel: 0845 602 1983
Fax: 020 7217 4621
Email: advice@lgo.org.uk
Website: lgo.org.uk
The Ombudsman will only investigate where there has been a fault in the way the process was handled by the CSA. 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 and the CSA have finished looking into your complaint. The Ombudsman will only investigate issues of maladministration.
