To ask how one 'goes to the papers'?

Is there any way of getting legal advice from the paper prior to going a head with the story, to ensure you're protected and cannot be sued (even though telling the truth); or should you get independent legal advice - and what type of advice would that be?

No problem. Then when you call ofsted / fill in the complaints form, make sure everything is clear, factual, no speculation etc.

From there Ofsted will decide on their course of action (e.g. inspection, referal etc)

bandthenjust
I don't think you're considering it for sensationalist reasons. More I got the impression you have something you feel needs raising and are frustrated your current (perhaps scattergunned) attempts to raise it haven't had the impact you want.

Therr are channels for thisvsort of thing. You just need to follow them.

@bandthenjust

Have an exciting title followed by a first line hook and wait for the Sun or Daily Fail to show up.

contact.ofsted.gov.uk/online-complaints
There. That took me under 1 minute to find in google.

Just to clarify:
The LADO is a local authority designated officer. They are separate from the LA for dealing with schools. The LADO is the council's safeguarding person. Anyone can report to the LADO. I work in an academy and we are explicitly told that shouls we feel school has safeguarding issues and wasn't dealing with them then we are legally able to go to the LADO.

It sounds to me like you have an issue (haven't seen the original thread so not going to comment on whether it is/isn't an issue) but are approaching things in a 'I want to kick off so I'll scattergun complain to anyone and then be annoyed I'm not getting anywhere' way.

1. School policy for safeguarding and complaints
2. Academy trust level / MAT leaders
3. LADO
4. Ofsted

You need to be able to outline the facts of the issues based on your understanding. No reading between the lines. No assumptions. No I'm furious so will exaggerate a little to be taken seriously. You then need to outline where/when you raised things with the school (and who to) & why you feel it hasn't been dealt with. Have you spoken to the school's safeguarding lead, for example?

You also need to be aware that just because you've not seen something doesn't mean nothing has happened. You can absolutely raise your perceptions.

You get the idea. In my experience, it seems Ofsted will first ask how the person complaining has aimed to resolve an issue in school (hence why lots of us tell people repeatedly on MN taht threatening Ofsted is a silly thing to do)

If you have serious concerns then hopefully I've helped give you some ways to raise them further. I don't think the press is the answer.

Have you been through all the proper channels first?

Can you start a thread on the education boards here ? Lots of very well informed people who will have experience of dealing with academies.

You can phone or email whoever you want. A newspaper won't publish without checking facts or asking the other side to respond. Very unlikely to get a school complaint published unless it's something like a child being locked in a classroom overnight

If it's safeguarding concerns, do you have reasonable proof? Have you raised them with the school?
Have you contacted the LADO?
Have you contacted the police for advice (if relevant)?
Have you contacted Ofsted?

I'd be doing all of those before going to the papers, after all they are the people professionally equipped to respond to those situations (and probably 9 times out of 10 better placed to investigate than a local paper out for a quick story).

I emailed our local paper and they printed my "sad face" photo on the front page!

I thought you just wrote on AIBU and it got printed in the Fail.....

I did this last year. I just messaged their Facebook page saying I had a story I thought they might be interested in, told them a bit about it and they got back in touch to arrange to send a reporter out.

Another journo chiming in - if you have a complaint that would be newsworthy, contact your local newspaper editorial desk.

Don't be offended if they say no or aren't interested though - unfortunately, we get a LOT of it, and a lot of the time what's genuinely upsetting/enraging/shocking to an individual just doesn't make for 'good' news, and we get a lot of upset people wondering why we haven't published their dispute with their neighbours etc.

I did local this year for the first time. Just rang the news desk and they had me in one afternoon with their senior reporter.
The reporter was very kind

Go to a news agency. They sell stories to the papers and are a much better bet than contacting a paper directly as they will know where best to place your story. They are also better resourced for handling members of the public than newspaper newsdesks are. Just google U.K. news agency + selling story or somesuch.

There's a Daily Fail Sad Face App!

Try typing "report a story to the press" into google and you'll find your answer.

Many high profile individuals cultivate relationships with particular journalists or get approached.. everyone else has to go through the normal channels!