Performance issues with Head Teacher

[EloiseMinch]

At DC's primary the Head Teacher is all but absent. I am not sure we have physically seen her this school year and all problems are referred to the deputy head. DD is in year 4 and this almost complete absence has been going on since DD started.

We have been trying over the course of the year to escalate bullying problems involving DS - the problems are still ongoing and we are unable to get an appointment to discuss the issues with the Head. This is a problem for other parents who have other concerns about the school (eg staff turnover, resourcing, teaching standards etc).

We're going to write to the governors to set out our concerns - and try and arrange a meeting with them. Does anyone know what performance standards a head teacher has - or how we can find them out? We'd like to make some concrete suggestions about how the head should be performance managed.

I think you should be performance managed, OP, as a whinging, spiteful and envious stirrer.

Is the school under LEA control or is it an Academy and part of a chain.
The head teacher my also not be the head of just one school.

I think you should be performance managed, OP, as a whinging, spiteful and envious stirrer.

This. Suddenly your other thread snarking about teachers fictional holidays makes more sense.

So the deputy head is dealing with the bullying.

What is your problem? Is the deputy head's handling of the situation poor? If not why do you need to see the head as well?

If you take a pair of knickers back to M&S do you demand to have the store manager do your refund or do you let customer services handle it up until there is an unresolvable problem?

So have you and all the other unhappy parents followed the school complaints procedure? Even if someone tells you to leave it til September you are still within your rights to ignore that and do it now.
No. They just claim to be in a situation where their child has been verbally abused and physically assaulted since they first raised it in November but have allowed their child to attend a harmful environment for almost a whole year.
When I asked why they didn't go down the formal route it's claimed they didn't know they could!
And now they are trying to pretend they are a reaosnable individual:
Someone asked why I didn’t make a formal written complaint earlier. Maybe I should but it still feels odd to walk out of a meting with the deputy and then immediately write a letter.
Of course you wouldn't walk straight out and write a letter because you'd actually allow the Deputy to act on things first.

I dont know about you but I sure as hell wouldn't allow my child to be harmed in the way the OP claims for almost a year.

2 threads of the big 'I am' and now we're getting 'but I'm so reasonable and didn't want to complain... even though earlier i claimed it's because I didn't know I could'.

Madness i tell you. But amusing.

As continues to be said ( I am an educational professional) use the school complaints procedure. Your complaint could include reference to the Headteacher Standards doc that I posted earlier; this is a guide as to what the expectations are of the HT role - we do use this to guide performance management - to form the basis of where you think there are shortcomings.

You need to be clear, objective and follow procedure. This will ensure a process that is fair to all; one that seeks to solve issues where reasonably possible, one that involves school governors. In some cases, if the complaint isn't resolved the LA can draft in governors from other schools to independently handle the complaint ( of course only if the school is a local authority maintained school and not an academy).

Please also keep in mind the type of school your children are at. We don't know this. The head of a large school with a large leadership team is going to delegate duties to the deputy head and other senior leaders just be the very nature of size, leadership capacity and roles; the head of a small primary maybe not so much and will have much more contact with parents.

It reads that you have a problem which has been handled by the Deputy Head who seems to be a suitable senior member of the school management. It may be that the Head deals with the management of the school and it is the Deputy’s responsibility to handle pastoral care. He/she has tried to fix the problem but not to your satisfaction.

What do you want the Deputy to do? Why should it be for the Head to deal with?

OP you had another thread a day or so ago where you were angry that the HT didn't respond to emails in the summer break. At the end of the day I think you just don't like the HT! If you're not happy I'm sure you could always move your child to another school?

Blue: the Government’s document talks about the relationship with parents but of course does not say how the Head should do this. However it is expected that the Head leads in this area. So therefore if delegation to the Deputy has not been effective, it is the Heads responsibility to deal with the issue if its escalated. To those who think the Heads are not expected to see parents as much in a larger primary - this is incorrect. They still work to the same standards and goals. They are the ones who set the high standards and at times they cannot delegate and sit back. If they do, they are not leading the school. No primary is so big that a Head cannot see a parent. As I said earlier, it would diffuse the situation and help the child.

To those who think the Heads are not expected to see parents as much in a larger primary - this is incorrect

I think the OP and all of us need to consider the nature of the leadership roles in the particular school discussed. I have been the HT of a number of schools, that role is different in all schools but is clearly linked to the size of the school. As HT of a school of 50 pupils I knew every parent and met with them directly. There weren't any other leaders. As HT in primary with 800 pupils the relationship with parents was much more distant and managed much more by a team of senior leaders.
The HT is accountable ultimately.
I can see that in normal circumstances the HT should be more accessible, especially if the senior leaders are unable to solve the issue. However, in the OP's case I can also see the reasons behind non contact by the HT.
Vexatious complainants take up so much time for everyone, senior staff, senior LA staff, LA lawyers and governors. The OP hasn't even started an official complaint yet and seems reluctant to have this investigated and dealt with properly. It is often very difficult to solve the issues for such complainants through the correct complaints procedure because often the outcomes they want are just not achievable. Yet they never accept this!

IME the school complaints procedure ( which will be to the Chair of Governors as it is about the HT) will set out a time scale - number if days/weeks. These will be school working days.