Complaints Procedure
Overview
Since 1 September 2003 Governing Bodies (GBs) of all maintained schools and maintained nursery schools in England were required, under Section 29 of the Education Act 2002, to have in place a procedure to deal with complaints relating to the school and to any community facilities or services that the school provides. The law also requires the procedure to be publicised.
Context
Parental concerns and complaints are a reality of the day-to-day life and work of schools and most informal complaints are handled with much success, drawing upon effective parent-school relationships and an “open-door” approach to complaining.
Commitment
This school is committed to:
- a robust complaints procedure
- a positive ethos and outlook to complaints and complainants
- access to training for staff and governors e.g. via annual discussion and review of the procedure
- addressing the complaint informally wherever possible
- providing a termly update about complaints to governors (anonymised where appropriate)
- having an appropriately appointed complaints committee in place
- a whole-school approach towards dealing with concerns and complaints
- communicating regularly with parents
- a willingness to learn from complaints where appropriate.
However, the following should be taken into account:
- Complaints that move beyond the informal stage are by their nature rare and it may take several “live” complaints to test the robustness of the school’s procedure
- All complaints are unique and so there should sometimes be some flexibility in how a complaint is addressed. Where this is the case, for example changes to timescales, it should be discussed with, and agreed by all parties
- Complaints that move beyond the informal stage are often stressful for all concerned and this should be borne in mind by all parties.
- Due to their rare nature, those addressing complaints may have limited experience of dealing with them and all concerned should try to be understanding of this; communication is the key and a clear and mutual understanding of what is happening, why and when is useful