Nepotism - Governors and heads

[ssflower]

Has anyone out there been stonewalled by their teachers, head and board of governors when making a formal complaint? Any advice would be gratefully received!

Sorry no advice!
But nepotism occurs everywhere. Lots of TA jobs never get advertised. HT's DD gets to go as helper on a school residential trip
as part of her gold DofE. Another DC of a member of staff gets the job of emptying the bins and vacuuming the floors. Lots of the mums would have liked the extra cash. Teenagers work placements are similar, very much dependant on who you know. As for the stonewalling.....yes people get very uptight when their integrity is questioned. It is human nature to help your own. Was this the sort of thing you mean? Sorry if I misunderstood OP!

Ask for a copy of the complaint's policy. Follow it - to the letter. The usual thing would be (a) speak to class teacher, if done that or that not appropriate (2) speak/write to head teacher. Only if still not satisfied, write to CoG. keep a log of all letters/phone calls/conversations.

If you don't feel the school are following the complaints policy & procedures, write and complain to chair of governors, and send a copy of the letter to governor services at the local authority.

Be aware that you can escalate your complaint right up, but it depends what you are complaining about. Last year I had to deal with a complaint against the head teacher because a class teacher who usually taught Yr6 was going to teach Yr4 instead. A parent didn't like the fact that their child wouldn't get the teacher they'd hoped for. Tough - governing body has delegated day-to-day running of school to the head, head made a decision about where to place class teachers - all in line with their delegated powers, complaint not upheld.

Thanks notagrannyyet, you are so right and yes i agree it is human nature to help your own but my problem is and this is for you too Snowsquonk (thanks for your responses) I have followed complaints procedure to the letter but my complaints relate to staff, head and chair directly hence the stonewalling! Apologies for my "talking" but am new to mumsnet!

ssflower - I'm afraid that with this Government's policy of creating ever more Academies this situation is going to get a lot worse as schools gain even more autonomy with no overseeing authority to control them.

Even now many schools are little more than oligarchies run by empire builders and their cronies.

If you have a serious complaint and your school is (at least for the present) still under the jurisdiction of the Local Authority, copy all correspondence to the CEO of that Authority and the CEO of the Education Authority and make sure the Chair of Governors and the Head know that you are doing so!

Good luck!

Breton1900 - Thanks for that! Have copied various authorities and have just been advised to inform the GTC, so onward and upward!!