School governors child involved in bullying

The headteacher. Make an appointment. If not happy after that make a formal complaint using the complaints procedure from the website. The fact that the parent is a governor is truly irrelevant. That just means that they cannot be involved in the complaints process as a governor in any way, and if they were you could request that they be removed from proceedings.

i think that is my only option

My granddaughter was being bullied and the school did nothing as the mother of her bully also worked there and refused to acknowledge the problem. So we pulled her out and she totally thrived in her next school

hi, just want some advice please
my son is being bullied by the son of the vice chair of governing board. she is not doing anything about it who do i talk to be heard

There is always so much misinformation on these threads. Parent governors can be trusted in all matters. And governing bodies and heads do not in my experience gang together to protect their own. It's not some kind of Mean Girls club.

If there is a genuine case of bullying going on, and you are not satisfied it has been resolved after informal discussions (speaking to the class teacher, having interventions put in place as appropriate), then you need to follow the formal complaints procedure. As others have said, the head teacher will review the issue and may suggest action that needs to be taken.

In my long experience, most genuine problems in school are resolved after informal discussions, or at least parents are reassured that genuine efforts are being made to resolve the problems and are happy to work with the school on an ongoing positive basis.

For clarity, I do know they can be trusted in those matters, I've done both.

If parent governors can't be trusted with HT appointments or appraisal "for obvious reasons" what can they be trusted with?

I am a parent Governor, and sit on all sorts of committees and meetings, including student disciplinary, PEX appeals etc.

Before you complain, think about what outcome you want.

I’ve clerked in about 100 schools and am an NGA accredited clerk and trainer. Parent governors are routinely involved in these committees. It would be hoped that as a governor you would know that all governors are expected to understand the need for confidentiality. When breaches of confidentiality happen, as they do, the culprits are from all categories. It would be an insult to parent governors to decide that parents were not able to deal with issues relating to staff performance.

Ok - you can have the full letter of law governing standards view, or what happens in the real-world which in my experience is most parent governors are not involved in that process for obvious reasons of confidentiality/ objectivity and whilst there are small Boards only 2 people need to be on it.

All of that is aside to the point being made which is HTs are not in bed with all governors and particularly such that the remainder of the Board wouldn’t be objective in dealing with this, should it come to them.

I moved one of mine for the final year, he started in the October of year 6 and it was the best decision we could have made. Years later he has mentioned how glad he was that I moved him. I think the child’s well-being is paramount rather than how long they have left at the school.

Definitely put it in writing, to class teacher, head teacher, chair of governors, any pastoral support manager. Use the school's bullying policy for reference. Although your child is soon to be moving on, it is important for her story to be heard, believed and acted upon. This could be valuable for their secondary school experience. Also, of course, your official complaint will demand a response, and reflection by the school concerning their response (Ofsted klaxon).

That’s hardly the same as governors dismissing a head and I hope you contacted your union and raised a grievance.

This is complete rubbish. Of course governors don’t dismiss a headteacher because one of their number was unhappy with how a complaint was handled. Nor can it affect their performance management decisions, unless the head was handling complaints badly.
Parent governors have to wear two hats - in this case the governor is just another parent and in any decent board would be kept well away from any process other governors were involved in.

This would not surprise me. I am a head of year and my life was made very difficult by a governor because I made sure there were serious consequences when her son bullied another child.

This isn’t true. I am a governance professional and leading clerk to governors. The only governors who cannot be involved in the head’s performance management process are staff governors. This is something a lot of boards get wrong. Bearing in mind that the Chair and Vice Chair should not both be on that committee, and staff governors can’t either, a lot of small boards would run out of governors if that were the case.
Anyway op - you should not write to the safeguarding governor to raise a complaint. If you read and follow the complaints procedure you will see what to do. This parent governor cannot be involved in any part of this complaint because they are considered “tainted” due to their involvement. The Headteacher responds to the complaint, and would prepare a response for panel.
If you get to the stage where a panel of governors is set up, this will be organised by the Clerk. If they cannot get enough governors together who have no prior knowledge they are legally allowed to approach other governing boards to ask if they have a governor who will step in.

My experience, having worked with lots of governing boards is that you need to make yourself impossible to ignore. Follow the complaints procedure, but at the point where you feel that it is being ignored it could become a safeguarding issue and I would start using phrases like ‘you cannot ensure the safety of my child’ and ‘you are not safeguarding my child’s mental health’ that kind of thing. Safeguarding is so key in schools. Get hold of their Anti bullying policy so you can show they are not following it. You could make a complaint about the Head if ultimately nothing happened. You might not be inclined to do this, but there are also solicitors who specialise in this kind of thing, which might not be the route you want to take, but it does make people take you seriously.
Personally though, I think if I felt I needed to do that it would be time to go somewhere else.

I’m an independent governor. Parent governors are excluded from some things ie. they can’t be on the HT performance and appraisal committee. I’ve seen some great parent governors and then there are others…. They are needed but numbers usually kept in check to balance the Board, and doesn’t mean they are BFFs with the Head by a long stretch.

So they are a parent governor ‘only’. There will be several other independent governors there who whilst not safeguarding leads will have had safeguarding training and access to the all
policies.

Follow the school complaints process to the letter and get it escalated.

It’s unlikely the head will be keen to act on this due tho the fact the governors appoint, monitor and review a head of school and can dismiss.

You have to follow the complaints policy through each stage. A poster has outlined usual procedure above. It moves quickly as there are or should be timescales attached. Don’t mention Ofsted, schools know they don’t deal with parental complaints unless the complaints procedure has been followed. And even then not really.

If no action is taken by the school and they are in breach of their own guidelines, maybe advise them that you intend to report them to OFSTED and see what action that provokes.