If you make a complaint/write to school governors is it published in the minutes on the school website?

[Kazooblue]

Tia

No. it would be confidential and would be taken out of minutes for public reading.

Thank you.

Would Ofsted see it if doing a return inspection?

Yes, if they looked at minutes they would ask to see 'official' ones.

I know this is a huge ask Feenie but could I pm you and just give you a brief summary in order for you to say a very brief yay/nay if I was being unreasonable.

I've seen some of your posts before and you seem quite knowledgable and balanced iykwim.

Could really do with some advice.

I totally understand if you'd rather not(being knackered and done with school issues for the week).

Am happy for you to pm me

Will just feed the hoards and do the bed thing so could well be later,only reply when you're not busy,just a yay/nay.

Many tia

Oh and thank you!

Ok - will need to put ds to bed too

Right, let's start with basics... you need to follow the school complaints procedure, ask for a copy when you are next in school, although it should be on the school website.

It will talk you through the process and you will need to follow this... eg, issue with a class teacher, then talk to teacher first, if it is unresolved then onto head, still not happy, then formal complaint which is investigated, still not happy then governors... still not happy appeals committee... still not happy then SoS for Education. BUT you have to work through the process as you will be referred back to it each time.

It would be unlikely that it would ever be published on a website, it is between the school and the complainant. Ofsted, would be unlikely to look at this unless there is a major issue, eg safeguarding.

Thanks Latte,what is SOS and if your school is being supported by a county advisor can you contact them?

Govs highlighted by Ofsted as a weakness hence my hoping Ofsted would get to see any complaints,not keen on such info being published on the school website though!

SoS is the Secretary of State, i.e. Michael Gove.

You may be able to appeal to the LA if you aren't happy with the decision made by the governors but that option isn't available for all schools. If it is an academy or free school you may be able to appeal to EFA (the Education Funding Agency). In general the DfE and Secretary of State won't get involved.

The basic principle is that the governors run the school and are accountable. They therefore have the final say on most things. This means that their decision on your complaint can only be overturned if they have failed to follow the correct process or their decision is unreasonable. The LA/EFA or whoever cannot overturn a decision simply because they think it is wrong.

Many thanks,it's a general whine so not serious enough for all that albeit incredibly irritating and damaging in the long term.Head not that great and a master of spin.So not an official complaint as such.Can't you just have a moan and expect them to sort it if the school staff don't?

as above, it has to go through the procedure, as if its not in writing as an official complaint then it can be left at headteacher level and is then listed as a 'concern' rather than a complaint. If they did publish anything of this nature on the website then it would have to be well hidden in number of complaints/concerns received and not be able to identify anybody involved.

So do I entitle any correspondence as a " concern" ?

Many thanks all.

As former Clerk to Governors it would be dealt with under Correspondence and minuted as "governors discussed letter from Y... Parent about ..........".
The details would be a confidential minute as stated by Feenie and even in the confidential minutes names of parents, teachers and pupils are not usually recorded. The letter should be logged in the correspondence list though and stored on file. Probably logged as Letter from Mrs Kazooboo and date received.
The confidential minute should also record the action taken by the governors e.g. Head (or chair) to write to parent and speak to ....... or Policy on ........ to be updated to include .......... etc.
Any staff (teaching or non-teaching) who are governors or other governors for whom this complaint would cause a conflict of interest are supposed to leave the room when this matter is discussed.
Depending on what the complaint is about, there are numerous school policies that governors need to see have been followed correctly by staff and these should be reviewed regularly. Policies should either be available on file or on the school website. Have you checked this?

OK, a general whine will get you nowhere, a concern will elicit very little.

You need to be constructive with your complaint... don't bother with the concern route if you actually want something to happen. Next, the governors do not deal with day to day management, this is the responsibility of the HT and the SLT (Senior Leadership Team), however if they are not discharging these responsibilities, then this is a cause for concern and could be the basis for a complaint.

Think about how this is affecting the teaching and learning, use that as the basis of your complaint.

If you want to take up a general moan then the person to speak to is the head teacher, they are responsible for all day to day operational matters.
If you raise a subject with them, then they should give you a response to what you are saying. You might or might not like the response. If you do not like the response or you might not get a response in which case you need to formal write to the head teacher saying that you now wish to make an official complaint.
Every school has a complaints procedure, which should be readily available to anybody and needs to be followed.
What it will probably say is that the head teacher has to reply in writing to you and give you a response. If the complaints procedure follows the new regs then it will say that if you do not like the response or more specifically the way that the head teacher conducted the complaint then you can complain to the governing body. There is now no complaint process that involves the Local Authority unless it involves statutory requirements that the school has to follow.

Thanks sadly head pretty ineffective( sorry but he is),middle management not good and governors don't hold them to account(bit incestuous)-all highlighted in Ofsted. Head never wants to know,have written before and he suggested I remove my dc(very well behaved),says I am the only parent unhappy(I know others who he has said the same thing to).

Many thanks though it's all really useful.