formal letters to school

[blackeyedsusan]

How do I write a formal letter to school of the sort that will stay on file? for ofsted to read

Ah susan, what a coincidence i was only googling 'how to complain to ofsted' earlier on today...

don't want to complain to ofsted.... just wouldn't mind them knowing about it when they do eventually come.

What do you mean by "on file"?

Is it something you want a response to?

They don't go through files blackeyedsusan so it would be unlikely they would see it.

When Ofsted inspect there is an opportunity for parents to complete a questionnaire - would that be a suitable alternative to record something about the school formally?

I have found the schools official complaints procedure. I am going to think how to draft a letter. I want to stop her getting the new reading books home as they are getting a bit militant about charging for accidental damage.. the damage that occurred to dd's book happened in school and I have pointed this out to them but I do not want to risk getting charged for other damage. I also do not know whether they are going to get stroppy and demand payment for this book... in which case I will put in a formal complaint.

the previous books were crumpled and torn and patched together anyway so damage could have been repaired, not that we damaged any... (sod's law it is a new one.) this one came home from school damaged...

I would love to be able to invoice them for the damaged lunch boxes and t shirts that have been marked by the bloody dry wipe pens...

Do you really think...

a) a school would file a letter about paying for damaged reading books

b) Ofsted would care?

Seriously, if that's the biggest complaint you have, that school should be outstanding.

it is the latest in a long line of complaints at the end of a bad week to be fair. I am more concerned how to officially withdraw her from bringing books home on the grounds that I can not afford to pay for small amounts of damage and can not do with arguing the point everytime they think a book has been damaged. if ds crayoned in them or ripped them, i would expect to pay, but paying for worn corners or damage that has happened in school is not something that I can afford to do.

Hi blackeyedsusan

I absolutely understand your anger - my DD was charged for a book she accidentally left in the school library but couldn't locate later that day. Her teacher at the time told her not to worry about it, but 8 months later we were billed for it. Fortuantely the teacher concerned did back up my daughter and it was dropped, but it did make us very cross (and we did send in a letter itimising our problems with the chaotic black hole that is their school library - primarily functioning as a non-lending waste of time, as children spend 1 hour in library and end up not checking out books because the database crashes).

I think the question you have to ask the school is whether policies like charging families for damage to books is equitable or whether other more positive solutions might be found. From the school's perspective they probably are finding the constant damage to books annoying & very expensive. So, is the solution a book repair/ replacement fund? I don't think many parents would mind contributing a few pounds toward this. It's also a nice way for famlies leaving the school to say thank you.

So perhaps rather than complaining - you could write to suggest an alternative means of funding new books, repairs and replacements - which I suspect the school needs and most parents can understand.

In terms of complaining so OFSTED can see JWIM is correct. We included a letter itemising our concernrs about the school on a very general level (so issues affecting all students, not just our DDs) and said that we were happy to come and talk to them about specifics. I don't know if we made much difference, but the inspectors took what we had to say very seriously and they also insisted on improvements in the area of our main concern, which pleased us (whether we had any impact on that decision or not though is unclear - but we like to feel we 'helped').

Is this charging a school policy? I've never heard of such a thing. You could write a letter to the Chair of Govs. All such letters have to be read out at Govs meetings.

It sees an awful lot of fuss about a library book! I don't think that Ofsted would be interested.
If you want Ofsted to read something you need to write to them directly.

Ofsted might not be interested in the particular argument about this worn book or that worn book but they are very interested in parents overall attitudes and experiences with the school.

Visit the class teacher every time a new book is issued for her to check the books condition before taking it home. Photograph it before you remove it from school premises.

On returning it to school get the teacher to check it again and take another photo of it.

Think they may review the policy pretty quickly - don't you

In answer to your original question, Ofsted would not see the letter... frankly they do not have time to go reading everything in the school, not even when we had to do week long inspections could we get around to that.

This is a day to day management issue. So use the school complaints system, ask at reception or in the school office for a copy which they must give to you but the usual way is first to the class teacher, then the Head or line manager and then the Chair of Governors. Frankly, as a Chair, I would not be happy about this as it not practicable.

Is this for real? You want an official complaint on file for Ofsted to see (yeah right!) over a reading book?

I think that it would merely show Ofsted that schools had to put up with all sorts-some are interested in teaching standards and some in an argument over a library book!

I think it is actually a big deal in some ways. I hate that the books dd brings home from school are tatty but if a book is being read and enjoyed who gives a jot about worn corners?

Deliberate damage like graffetti/scribbling/torn out pages should be billed for but otherwise children should be taught to read and re read books not keep them hidden away in a book bag for fear of damage!

We bought a new set of books for KS1 in February and already many have been destroyed /damaged beyond repair in the home. It is frustrating to try and provide good quality resources when they aren't appreciated.

mrz do you think billing parents would help? I'm just wondering if those that don't care would refuse to pay and nobody would win?

You are right they won't pay

Our general rule is that we don't issue library books or reading books to take home until the last ones have been returned. Some parents will pay for lost or damaged(unreadable) books - the cost is determined by age and condition but usually £1 - £4. For some the 'threat' is enough that they look after subsequent books, some just don't care!

The cost of replacing a book at our local library is replacement plus admin charge, so I don't think charging for school books is completely outrageous as long as each case is taken individually. In your case I wouldn't pay and I wouldn't expect the school to follow it up.

We have the same policy but in practice it would mean some children never have a reading book to take home