Ofsted complaint.

[BlueFrillz]

Has anyone had to complain to ofsted before? If so, were they quite good at handling the complaint?

I don't really want to say what I have complained about because it's extremely specific and I've spoken to a few people about it, but in my opinion it is quite bad.

Just wondering if anyone has had to deal with them before...

I have and they weren't great at investigating. The manager talked her way out of it and the inspector didn't talk to the ordinary staff. (Nursery).
I'd suggest making a really detailed complaint. Don't leave anything out.

It depends what the complaint is. Have you followed your nursery’s complaints procedure first? People often go straight to Ofsted first but that is usually the first thing they will ask you, unless you have removed your child following a serious incident. They can do unannounced inspections if they feel it’s necessary, a nursery near me recently dropped from an outstanding to an inadequate rating following an unannounced inspection.

They were beyond shit with me. I had some concerns such as child coming home with bleeding skin as it was chafed so badly from soiled clothes, on another occasion they allowed someone else to collect her without using their password system or even asking them who they were, they jsed a coach without seatbelts for a day out...the list goes on.

I was told by Ofsted that I have to compile a list of my ‘issues’ and they would have an in-house meeting to decide whether it was worth pursuing.

Good luck.

I didn’t myself, but I knew several people who did about DC’s school. It got them absolutely nowhere! IMO, complaints to schools are a waste of time!

If it's a safeguarding complaint I would imagine they would act on it very quickly and properly but if it's a malicious he said/she said type it may be harder for them - which is yours?

It’s really not possible to say without knowing much detail, and I don’t want to pry if you don’t want to reveal

Unless it's a serious allegation of children being at significant risk of imminent harm, Ofsted will not necessarily rush an inspector round there. They used to, until they realised they were wasting huge amounts of time and public money on baseless accusations.

As mentioned by a pp, they generally expect you to have followed the nursery’s approved complaint process, and you should only contact Ofsted if you are dissatisfied with the nursery' s response.

I suspect most people's option on how well Ofsted handle a complaint will be based purely on whether Ofsted take their side 100%. Since it’s not Ofsted's job to take anyone’s side, coupled with the fact that most complaints turn out to be inaccurate, inappropriate or downright false, I think you may find a lot of replies in the negative.