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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Bit of Advice - HT’s/Teachers/Nursaries/Inspectors

31 replies

JurassicParkRocks · 13/03/2022 16:30

Thinking about putting a complaint in with OFSTED against my sons school.

Just wondering how diplomatic to go about things or to go in all guns blazing. Will the school receive a copy of the complaint letter I send to OFSTED or will OFSTED just tell them the key points that they’re investigating.

My concern is that the school will pick apart my letter and bring a case against any allegations that don’t have enough evidence to back them up.

OP posts:
Hankunamatata · 13/03/2022 16:35

Have you gone through schools complaint policy first ie teacher then escalate to next level etc

glitterelf · 13/03/2022 16:35

Depending on the nature of your complaint the school complaints process should be followed unless of course it's a very serious matter regarding safeguarding.

Tiredforfive45 · 13/03/2022 16:42

Ofsted will not accept any complaints that have not first been taken through the school’s complaints procedure.

They won’t show your letter to the school but, depending on the the content, they may well be able to identify who has made the complaint.

IME, unless you have damning evidence of any allegations, the school can you say ‘xyz happened and we dealt with it by doing abc.’

Unless it is a serious safeguarding breach or a number of parents complain about the same thing, it is unlikely to go anywhere.

Merryoldgoat · 13/03/2022 16:44

How do you expect to succeed with allegations that can’t be proved?

WombatStewForTea · 13/03/2022 16:56

You need to go through the normal complains process first. Have you done this? If you're unsure the info should be on the school website but is normally putting the complaint in writing to the chair of governors.

What's the nature of the complaint? Because quite often Ofsted won't care at all

Original poster
JurassicParkRocks · 13/03/2022 16:58

It can be proven and yes it is safeguarding. It is a sackable offence. However, the staff member involved is extremely dangerous and holds a lot of power within our small little village so I’m a little apprehensive. Will the evidence I disclose to OFSTED be shown to the school?

OP posts:
toomuchlaundry · 13/03/2022 17:01

What do you mean extremely dangerous?

WombatStewForTea · 13/03/2022 17:01

If it's provable then go to the chair of governors. You can mark the envelope as private and confidential and it won't be opened by the head. There's no reason to go to Ofsted before school

AlwaysColdHands · 13/03/2022 17:02

go to the Designated Safeguarding Lead or Head of Governors.
If it’s a safeguarding issue then I’m afraid the village considerations pale into insignificance

MadameMinimes · 13/03/2022 17:08

As others have said, you need to go through the school’s complaints procedure first. I’m going to answer on the presumption that you’ve done that already and that, if you haven’t, you’ll do that first.

It’s hard to know whether complaining to Ofsted will be a total waste of time or not without knowing what the issue is and what evidence you have. Ofsted wouldn’t typically act on this kind of letter without evidence that the initial complaint had been mishandled by the school. It would also have to be something of serious concern. Is it a safeguarding concern?

Frlrlrubert · 13/03/2022 17:08

DSL for a 'normal' teacher. Chair of governors if the complaint is about the Head.

You say 'show the school' like you think there's some sort of big coverup though. If you think this person may harm you for reporting your concerns maybe a chat with the police might also be in order.

Hankunamatata · 13/03/2022 17:10

Surely of they are that dangerous you go to the police

BobblyBlueJumper · 13/03/2022 17:11

@JurassicParkRocks

It can be proven and yes it is safeguarding. It is a sackable offence. However, the staff member involved is extremely dangerous and holds a lot of power within our small little village so I’m a little apprehensive. Will the evidence I disclose to OFSTED be shown to the school?
If it is a safeguarding issue within a school you can:

Contact the safeguarding lead within the school (this may or may not be the head)
Contact the head
If the issue concerns the head, contact governors or the lado (local authority safeguarding lead)
If a child is in immediate danger, call the police

Ofsted will not be interested.

MadameMinimes · 13/03/2022 17:17

Just read your update. You must contact the school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead/ Headteacher and pass on your evidence first thing tomorrow. If you have evidence that a member of staff may have harmed children in their care or otherwise put them at risk then the school need the information so that they can act immediately. Ofsted can’t sack teachers, and they would of course share evidence of wrongdoing by staff with the school. Going through Ofsted will only slow down the process. It is the school that needs to know and, if it isn’t dealt with appropriately, then it’s the Teaching Regulation Agency that you need to contact, not Ofsted.

SarBear1980 · 13/03/2022 17:17

The LADO won’t investigate for you but if an allegation has been made about an adult working in the school they would support/advice the school. Ofsted will hold the complaint on file and not do much unless they get several of the same complaints. If the complaint has followed through the school process and you still feel it is unresolved then I’d suggest advice from NSPCC may help clarify your points/next steps or make a referral to your local MASH team if the issue has caused harm/potential harm to a child. Immediate concern then call the police as a priority.

PyjamaFan · 13/03/2022 17:19

When you say dangerous do you mean violence or assault of some kind? If so then go to the police.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 13/03/2022 17:27

Make a complaint to the Local Authority - be absolutely specific about the circumstances, why you feel the staff member is dangerous and why you fear making the complaint to the school in case you are identified.

A zero notice safeguarding inspection is a lot more effective in catching things than a diplomatically worded email to the school office.

WutheringCripes · 13/03/2022 17:32

If you think safeguarding lead or headteacher is implicated then you go straight to the governors and go from there.

You need to read the complaints procedure because otherwise you'll end up wasting time being pointed back and forth.

If there is a child in imminent danger then you go to the police.

Original poster
JurassicParkRocks · 13/03/2022 17:34

I raised a concern in letter form that my son had been assaulted by a staff member with HT, HT lied and said MASH team were involved when they weren’t and said that the MASH team had sided with the school that there were no basis to the allegation. We rang the police to get confirmation that they weren’t following it up and the police were completely unaware of the incident and had not been alerted by the HT. This obviously caused a delay to the investigation. OFSTED complaint?

OP posts:
FingersofFish · 13/03/2022 17:35

Worst case this is a LADO issue not Ofsted. 24hr contact details will be on your local authority website. Report immediately!

NotYourOscarSpeech · 13/03/2022 17:36

Surely if it’s safeguarding, sackable and extremely serious you would WANT to go through the school fast as they will be able to act much quicker to put appropriate protections and safeguards in place? Complaints against the Head will go somewhere else depending on policy, if an academy chain/trust then often to the CEO or similar.

WutheringCripes · 13/03/2022 17:40

I don't think Ofsted is the right institution to deal with this.

What does the complaints procedure say in regards to complaints against the head teacher? I'm sure it will be the governors but you need to check.

What did the police say to do?

toomuchlaundry · 13/03/2022 17:44

I didn’t think individuals could refer to LADO, don’t they refer to MASH?

smalltreethisyear · 13/03/2022 17:45

Is your reason for thinking the HT is lying because the police were unaware? The HT would report the assault allegation to the LADO and then follow their advice rather than calling the police. Perhaps it’s worth contacting the LADO yourself to satisfy yourself that the HT did inform them. If you aren’t satisfied with the outcome, follow the school complaint procedure-usually this will involve the governing body. They can then review what happened and if the HT lied.

BobblyBlueJumper · 13/03/2022 17:46

@JurassicParkRocks

I raised a concern in letter form that my son had been assaulted by a staff member with HT, HT lied and said MASH team were involved when they weren’t and said that the MASH team had sided with the school that there were no basis to the allegation. We rang the police to get confirmation that they weren’t following it up and the police were completely unaware of the incident and had not been alerted by the HT. This obviously caused a delay to the investigation. OFSTED complaint?
Ofsted won't deal with it. Go to governors, or ring the police and say you want them to investigate because a staff member assaulted your DS.