Has anyone tried complaining about the actions of governors? How, why, who etc?

[patsys2]

New to this site and I've come as a Governor myself and a parent. Some time ago we had a lot of problems at youngest d's school. the school dealt very badly with it and we fought them for the whole 7 years except for the 3 years (Yrs10,11,12) that a brilliant Senco was there and we managed to get a lot done then. Point was that d is very dyslexic and has a high IQ. The school wouldn't accept that though they had the evidence given to them. So low sets etc. A group of governors answered our official complaint with a report that was totally inaccurate and we had written evidence to prove it. We were bullied to accept it and Head refused to look at our evidence. We didn't accept it! Then school became an academy and procedures changed. Then new Senco started and things got better. At one time we were told 'Why don't you leave it to the experts? which was hilarious as I am an SEN teacher in post as one at the time and I've done a year long Dyslexia training course. Now I've reached the stage where d is finishing university and is going to get a !st and IQ level is turning out to be higher than we thought and I know the school's attitude hasn't changed to similar children. The governors acted with a lack of integrity and as one myself (not at the same school) I feel a complaint needs to be made as Chair etc and governors are largely the same. This is a high attaining school with a good reputation! Just wondered if anyone had tried to complain ABOUT a board of governors.

I think if you try anything of the sort you'll just look bitter and unable to move on.

For what it's worth, I knew a couple of people who really got dreadful GCSE results. One's a doctor the other is fairly high in academia. One of them had a shock at GCSE and realised they needed to work, and did so. The other discovered that they were very very good at their university subject but it didn't change the fact they were hopeless (their words) at most of their GCSE subjects.
I'm putting that in just to say that will probably be the governors' conclusion if you say "see he's doing very well now".

If you do write I would make it much more subtle. Along the lines of "I thought you'd like to know how well X has achieved at university. He got a first in .... and was very happy there. I hope that you can use him to give encouragement to similar pupils who are currently at the school."

Thanks for the comments Witchend! I've kept in touch with the school anyhow as there were a few good teachers who did help, especially her Psychology and Statistics 'A' level teachers. I've kept them appraised of her success and thanked them. She'd started to do better by year 10 and that's when we put in the complaint, along official channels, as everyone then denied she'd ever been in low sets. We have letters from them proving our points. She got mainly 'A's at GCSE but that was put down to excellent teaching. I don't feel I have any bitterness against the school, just concern at the level their dislike of us showed itself (I got thrown out of the PA) and my daughter had a lot of very unprofessional things said to her by staff. That even extended to other talents - as an Athletics Club runner she wasn't impressed at being shut out of school athletics. The governor's report contained massive inaccuracies and people lied. I guess they couldn't cope with the situation and that's how they reacted, especially as I was actually better qualified than their SenCo. I think they need to know that what they did wasn't acceptable but perhaps I could try as hard as possible to be positive as well. As a governor myself I know how unacceptable their behaviour was. I'm thinking of going to see the Head - that would sort it. My reason for posting is wondering if anyone has every raised a complaint against a Governing Body. But thanks so much for your input and for taking the time.

I doubt you would achieve what you are seeking to achieve. I also suspect you have been timed out of official complaints procedures which is the route you would want to follow. I don't know about school governors but generally you need to raise a complaint within six months of the incident. What I suspect you would get now would be a) you no longer have any links with the school so won't be welcome, b) your attitude was the problem, c) they did everything correctly (just look at her results!) and d) anyway everything has changed since you were there (that is if they answered your complaint at all).

Much as it may grate, you need to move on. Sorry.

Thanks Blaeberry (what a lovely username). Yes, they could probably say all those things but I just wondered if anyone had ever actually done this in retrospect - complained about a governing body! I do intend though that anyone complaining about anything at the school I am a governor of is going to get a fair hearing, if I've got anything to do with it! It's affected how I go about my dyslexic tutoring as I am aware that this kind of thing is endemic when it comes to SEN students. Ps the good results only came about because the SenCo I really got on with managed to get her up in to sets where they taught to an 'A'. She's now SenCo to the school that is a feeder school to mine. Brilliant! Thanks for your input and for taking the trouble to respond!

patsys I understood your point about the SENCO and teaching - I was just saying what their response was likely to be. I've put in complaints to the council and you are lucky if they even address your actual complaint. They prefer to answer easier questions you haven't asked - much like politicians! I just think you are likely for get frustrated if you pursue this.

Schools are judged on pupil progress so these Governors must ensure all children make progress and that includes SEN ones. I suggest you let Ofsted do what it does and rejoice in your DCs success with or without their help. Didn't make much difference to the end result and many SEN children never get near a university, never mind a first! Be happy and move on!