Unhappy with response from Chair of Governors. What next?

[MommaBear485]

Our child was physically bullied for the last 2 years of primary school. The majority of incidents were reported to the class teacher and twice to the Head who assured us everything was being dealt with and extra measures were being brought in. She and another member of UJ staff put bruising and the burst lip of another child down to ‘accidents.’ She also said parents had a tendency to blame this child unfairly as she was a SEND child. She recognised this child fixated on certain children of which our child was one of a handful. A restraining order had been set up to protect 2 other children from this child. This didn’t apply to our children. The school and the Chair of Governors have failed to explain why when asked.
3 months after speaking to the HT the bullying continued. I attempted to take it up with the HT who was unavailable so relayed my concerns to the school office. I received a holding response from the HT, however there was no further contact. Towards the end of the school year, our child told me kids in the class had been calling a name…the teacher had made up! I took it up with the HT who was apologetic and assured me it would be addressed internally. She claimed to be unaware that the bullying had persisted a further 6 months since our initial discussions so I reminded her I’d contacted the office 3 months prior and she’d not followed up on it for which she apologised.
At the end of the school year and school as it was, I reported the bullying and its management to the Chair of Governors. I also reported some equality issues where the same children were continually selected to represent the house and school at sports, many of whom were the children of teaching staff or volunteers at the school! I have recently received a reply which acknowledges and addresses the teacher name calling and extra provision required for break times and sports. It maintains however my concerns were addressed in a robust, timely and sensitive manner in accordance with school policy. It does not recognise the points I raised about equality and upholds the school policy that every child is treated equally.
I called the Chair to enquire at which stage was my complaint as I wished to progress it. He did not recognise this as a complaint. Furthermore, he said he was not willing to engage in discussion further as our child is no longer at the school! He was still at the school when I lodged the reports! They have just taken 3 months to respond to them!
Has anyone had a similar experience and can advise what I do next? Everything seems to point to following the school complaint process to completion, however what happens when the school and board are not, evading a discussion they are seemingly not open to and effectively shutting it down without any accountability?

I also reported some equality issues where the same children were continually selected to represent the house and school at sports, many of whom were the children of teaching staff or volunteers at the school!

That is not necessarily an equality issue. It is about equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome. When picking sports teams to represent the school/house, most schools will pick the children who are best at sports. There is nothing wrong with that. To get anywhere with this point you would need evidence that those being selected were only chosen because they were the children of staff or volunteers and that other children were better at the sports in question than those picked.

What are you trying to achieve here? Your child is no longer at the school, so they are not in a position to address the bullying, nor is there anything they can do about your child not being picked for teams.

If this is a state-funded school, you may be able to take this further given that the chair says he did not recognise your report as a complaint and appears to be refusing to consider a complaint. You can take the matter to the ESFA if the school is an academy. You may be able to take it to the LA if the school is not an academy, but only if the school's complaints procedure allows this.

This is a tricky one as you appear to have a number of different issues with the school. Each issue should have been dealt with as a separate complaint (by you and the school) with you raising it informally with the class teacher and then escalating to the head if you were unhappy. The complaints policy has to be followed - you cannot randomly approach the Chair.

It sounds very complex and it is unclear whether the school followed their own policy in terms of response time.

But as your child has now left, per the above I am unclear what resolution you are seeking. If you really do want to persevere then you need a copy of the complaint procedure and review that along with the correspondence you have received and go from there.

But personally I would let it go on the basis it was a bumpy road but that journey has finished now.

Hope the next path is smoother.

The problem is that you have complained about so many things at once you are being dismissed as “that parent”
Plus if your child is no longer there I’m not sure exactly what you want

The school has followed its complaints procedure and replied to you.
In answer to your final question, my understanding is that OFSTED do look into issues surrounding bullying when schools are inspected. So if the school haven't dealt with it properly, there could be consequences in the future.
I assume that your child and the bully are now at different schools, so there won't be an ongoing issue.
My advice would be to make sure that there are no long term effects for your bullied child and prioritise their well being, rather than pursuing the former school further.

She also said parents had a tendency to blame this child unfairly as she was a SEND child.

That definitely happens. I remember spending a day in A&E with one of my dc and a child from my older one's class was there.
Apparently there was an incident which was 100% definitely that child in the classroom while they were in A&E with mine, several children testified to that.

A restraining order had been set up to protect 2 other children from this child. I've never come across a restraining order for a primary school child. Was this an official thing or just a note for the teacher to keep them apart when possible?