School Complaint

[Taraohara]

What happens if a complaint about a school is upheld by the governors and then the school continues to act as it did previously?

Am ibu to think governors can’t do anything other than uphold complaint they can’t actually enforce change?

It would depend on the nature of the complaint. There's a guide here on who you would contact for the various types of issue

www.gov.uk/complain-about-school

Thanks

However DfE can only assist after complaints process exhausted . So I have to go through complaint process again for same failures

Is there anything that the governors can do to enforce change

Would depend on what the complaint is about

I would imagine some of the changes would be unseen and take time to be effective. Depends what was going on.
Are you sure that nothing has changed? Or is it that what you want hasn't happened yet?

What does the school complaints policy say?

It doesn’t say they have to make any changes if a complaint is upheld

Posted too soon!

So I guess that means they don’t have to change anything

As others have said it will depend on the complaint and situation.

Eg. a complaint arising from a situation in specific circumstances may be upheld, but nothing major needs to be done because between the complaint going through the procedure and the end of the complaint, smaller changes have been put in place that means no major changes need to be done.

Or it could be a situation about a member of staff but they've got a different role and remit in the school.

Equally, it could be that some staff need further training and that happens behind the scenes and is shared with staff later.

Or that a period of review needs to happen and then following that review, there's gradually some changes.

I can think of some situations where large obviously change in a short time frame would be the right approach, but many more where it's a bit more subtle than that.

@Littlebluebird123
I want them to apply my child’s Ehcp support
Last year they said they weren’t aware of what DC was entitled to 🤔
This year they have said the have not given full support and said it’s an ‘oversight ‘

@LolaSmiles

Or any governors who can give some insight

Im sorry to hear that.
Do you know if they have applied for extra funding so they can give the support? It depends on the school and current staffing but sometimes that's what it boils down to, not enough manpower. The funding application sometimes takes a while to process.

I'm not saying that's right (because it certainly isn't) but it is possible that there are things going on behind the scenes to make this work. Although I would expect you to be informed.

Without knowing the exact circumstances I can't fully help. But I would keep complaining, keep going to the SENCo/Head and keep asking until the provision is given. Squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Although the governors are in charge, they trust the head to do the right thing. So if it's been phrased in a way that sounds like it's taken care of, they'll back off.

Can you say what you have already done? E.g Have you had a meeting with the head? Have you asked for a meeting with the COG? What have they told you about why your dc are not getting the support? It is really hard to give an opinion without knowing these answers. I am a governor and it is ultimately the governors who hold the head to account. In your shoes I would be emailing or speaking to the governors explaining that the provision is still not being provided and asking them to ensure it is and report back.

@Littlebluebird123

Well I don’t know if they have done anything!

Last year they said they didn’t know what support he should have been getting as they were looking at an out of date Ehcp

Now this year I’ve seen on a few occasions he’s without support. When I raised this with the head she’s just said it’s an ‘oversight’

I’ve tired to raise it with the CoG however she said it has to be dealt with as a stage 1 complaint... even though in the complaint I expressly said the complaint was about the head teacher and anyway the head has investigated that’s how she’s come to conclusion it’s an ‘oversight ‘

I just feel like the governors don’t have any interest in challenging the school

If it's to do with an EHCP, contact your looses SENDIAS or Ipsea group for advice. Do you have any local patent sorry groups for your child's particular need? They will often have experts who are able to come to school meetings - our local autism parents group were amazing for us, we never went to a school meeting without them and they really got things moving when our great wad acting borderline illegally. Which is what a breach of an EHC plan is.

looses = local

Have you had a stage 1 and stage 2 complaint already? You could ask for stage 3?

If your complaint is against the SLT then it should automatically trigger a stage 2 anyway. The school should have a complaints procedure, quote it back to them.

But in your specific case I'd ask for a meeting with the head, the SENDCo and the SEND governor.

I am a SEND governor and am in the middle of a stage 2 complaint. It is unfathomable to me that our head would ignore recommendations from a stage 2 complaint.

I’d seek support on the IPSEA website
www.ipsea.org.uk/
They have the legal knowledge and experience. The site has some brilliant model letters for people to adapt, suggestions of what to do and who to contact. It’s free and set up for people in your position.

@RNBrie

Had a stage 1-3 last year where governors upheld the complaint

But same thing happening again

It just seems ridiculous to have to go through whole process again as it didn’t help last time!

@Riv

Thank you they look really helpful!

www.ipsea.org.uk/making-a-complaint-about-an-ehc-plan
This is the page you want I think.

Yep, follow Riv's advice. Personally if you've already contacted the HT about this again I'd try also going straight to the second formal complaints stage and request another governor panel hearing. It doesn't hurt to attack from more than one angle. I would send the complaint to the Clerk to Governors and include a statement to say that as you have already spoken to the HT on numerous occasions you consider that the first formal stage has been completed.

Sorry! Meant to start a new thread... gah!

Governors are responsible for setting policy, and they are actually also responsible for monitoring it being implemented properly. As you've already been through this once you could argue in your request to go to panel that there are no "untainted" governors on the board and request and independent governor panel. Legally governors can co-operate with other governing boards, the Local Authority, or if they are a MAT the MAT board to enable this.
Escalating a complaint to the DfE isn't as powerful as it sounds because the DfE reviews how the complete was dealt with procedurally. They won't go back and overturn a decision or step in to make sure it's enforced.