complaint about a headmaster

[geesdad]

I need to make a serious complaint about the headmaster at my childrens school , in legal terms he has committed perjury , in plain old terms he has lied to either my face or to social services , I have proof of this in writing where he has plainly contradicted himself and also has , as i said before lied to my face , please can someone point me in the right direction as i want to make a complaint but cannot find out how to do this on the school website , many thanks in advance .

Address your letter to the Chair of Governors - mark it "confidential" to ensure it is not opened in the school office

The school has to have a complaints procedure - it’s a statutory document. If it’s not on their website then you’ll need to ask the school for it when term starts again. Or, you could write to the
Chair of Governors as suggested. Your complaint needs to be clear and rational. You need to clearly explain what you are complaining about, the evidence you have and what you would like the outcome to be. It should be investigated by a governor at Stage 1 who will be impartial. They will decide if the Headteacher has followed the school’s policy and has acted professionally.

Be aware that governors can not get involved in operational matters and can’t over-rule the headteacher or tell them what to do. If there is a recommendation that the headteacher needs to undergo a disciplinary procedure, you would not be party to the outcomes of this process.

LEA school go to council education department

Academy chain or MAT: go to CEO.

If it's standalone academy then chair of governors is first port of call.

You describe him as a Headmaster. Is it a private school? In state schools they are always Headteachers.

That’s not quite right for an LA school. Each school has their own complaints procedure and you have to go through that procedure first. The If you go straight to the LA they will bat it back to the school.

Address your letter to the Chair of Governors - mark it "confidential" to ensure it is not opened in the school office.

Office staff don’t open any mail addressed to a specific member of staff, whether it’s marked confidential or not.

When you say he has committed perjury

Are you sure you mean perjury? That means he lied under oath.

Yes, I would be very careful about using words like perjury, it has a very specific meaning.

The name of the Chair of Governors should be available on the school website, if they have had a recent OFSTED it will also be on the report , though it could have changed so be careful, or you can contact the officer at the LA who is responsible for overseeing school governing bodies.

The process is clear you have to use the school's complaints procedure. In the circumstances you need to send a written complaint to the Chair of Governors in a confidential envelope.
You need to state very clearly the reasons for your complaint and you need to be stating that you require a full independent investigation to take place.
However I note that your say in your post that they have possibly lied to social services so i question whether this is safeguarding related. If it is then you should direct a written complaint to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) as they have responsibility for all investigations of school staff.You will have to find out from the LA who that person is.
In either situation if there is any kind of investigation then you will be asked to contribute to that but you will not necessarily be told what the outcome of the investigation is. You are making a serious allegation about a senior person in the school and it should be taken very seriously.

I think the LADO would only be appropriate if you have proof that the headteacher has done something to harm a child.

Be careful that you aren’t just venting because you are disagreeing with what the head has done. It can be really upsetting when social services are involved but the school have a duty to act if there is a safeguarding concern.

Hard to know without more information from you OP. Hope you get it sorted soon.

in legal terms he has committed perjury

If he’s lied under oath in court then go to the police? ,

I doubt op will return

“Committed perjury... in plain terms either lied to my face or social services”

Pud2, the LADO will get involved if for instance the headteacher has not be truthful in conversations with SS and influenced decisions of SS by their comments. That would be considered a safeguarding issue.

But it does obviously depend on the nature of what has been said.

Lying is not perjury. If you go round saying that if it's not true or inaccurate you'll lose any credibility. Perjury is a crime. Lying in most cases isn't.

It would be good to hear back from you OP? Or perhaps your post was an impulsive response to a social services referral which is likely to be upsetting. It’s natural to want to kick off and complain but you need to consider whether the head has actually been unprofessional or unlawful, or is it that you just don’t agree with their actions.

im dealing with a school head at present very slippery and never wrong be patient be super accurate in any correspondence they will use anything to wriggle out of things