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 Procedures
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East Riding Of Yorkshire Council
SCHOOL COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
GUIDANCE FOR PARENTS
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Most complaints can be quickly resolved by talking to the teacher or member of staff concerned. To do this you can contact the school to arrange a time to meet with the person concerned and discuss the problem.
If you cannot resolve the matter directly with the person concerned, you should take it up with the Headteacher. Again, you can do this by contacting the school and arranging an appointment. It would be helpful if you could put your concerns in writing and let the Headteacher see them before you meet so that he/she is able to look into the matter and inform you of the situation at the meeting.
In a very small number of cases, the matter may not be resolved even with the involvement of the Headteacher. When this happens, the complaint should be directed to the Governing Body. In most cases, this means putting your complaint in writing to the Chair of Governors and sending it to him/her through the School. The Chair of Governors will then contact you.
If you do not discuss the matter with the Headteacher, it is not normally possible to proceed further with the official complaints procedure. In this circumstance, you should also put your complaint in writing, stating the reasons why you have not discussed it with the Headteacher, and send it to the Chair of Governors.
If the complaint cannot be resolved by the involvement of the Chair of Governors, you can ask for the complaint to be considered by the Governing Body's own Complaints Committee. You will then be informed in writing of the outcome.
The Local Authority does not investigate complaints directly. If a complaint is made either in writing or verbally to the Director of Children, Family and Adult Services or to any officer of the Local Authority, the Governing Body of the school is made aware of the complaint and is requested to deal with it through the adopted procedure. If you are not satisfied with the process of the investigation, (not the outcome), you can make this known to the Director of Children, Family and Adult Services. However, further action can only be taken if it can be demonstrated that the agreed procedure has not been followed, or if the Governing Body has not correctly exercised its functions. Ultimately, you can complain to the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if you feel the Governing Body or the Local Authority has not reasonably exercised its functions.
May 2007
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