Advice sought - complaining about headteacher at a private school

[Tilly838212]

If anyone here has had experience of going through a complaints procedure at a private/independent school, could you please help?

I am contemplating putting in a formal complaint to my son's school. According to the ISI website, the complaint can only be logged whilst the child is at the school. With our school holidays starting this Thursday, I am very much restricted by time. This is made more pertinent due to the fact that we have chosen to withdraw our child from the school.

Nature of complaint :

We have been discriminated against due to our decision to leave.

It is a long and painful story and due to the nature of the events, we are likely to be identified if I explain in detail here the chain of events. I sincerely apologise, but I can't write specific details publically yet.

Having discussed the case with a number of teachers, they have said that the treatment we received would not have happened at a state school and have encouraged me to formally complain. They have likened the treatment to bullying.

I would do so if I had more knowledge of what to expect. I have tried to put some of the upset behind me, so do not want to open a can of worms if it's not likely to result in anything.

If you have had experience of making a formal complaint about the headteacher/deputy head, I would be so grateful if you could respond and I will contact you privately to discuss.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

I would read the school's complaints procedure and follow that.

As the previous poster said, you need to follow the school’s complaint procedure. It should be on their website. If not, ask for it. They have to have one. If you pursue this though, you need to be clear about what you want the outcome to be, ie, what you’re hoping to get out of it. May not be worth it if you’re leaving? If you do go ahead, a governor will be assigned to investigate. There should be a timeframe in the complaints procedure but it may be too close to the holidays.

Follow the guide and report to the board of governors

I did this a couple of years ago. Email the school for their formal complaints procedure (say no more than this when requwsting the information). Usual route if it’s a complaint about the head is to make a formal complaint to the board of governors. Keep it factual and unemotional - good luck.

Hi everyone, thank you for your replies.

I have downloaded a copy of the complaints procedure and will follow all instructions.

I have since spoken to the Independent Schools Inspectorate who have been very helpful in explaining what next steps I should take. Initially I was worried I would be wasting time as I feared that my son's school would ignore my complaint, or not take my complaint seriously. I have been advised that if I copy the ISI into my complaint then the school will have no choice but to respond to me.

I wrote this post to try and gain some insight from a parent who has been through a similar experience. I wanted to know how tough the whole process is, so that I can better prepare myself mentally.

However, as I only have 2 days to submit my complaint, I will now focus on writing a thorough and factual account.

Thank you for taking the time to respond me though.

You are 100% doing the right thing and definitely copy ISI into the email.

I complained about the head of our senior school to the chair of governors. Some of my complaint was upheld. It was basically about the treatment of my older DD after we decided to remove my younger DD. I was correct about what happened to my DD1 and she did receive an apology.

Schools can be vindictive. Heads also. I have a whole list of things they did and yes, it’s bullying. If you have already decided to go I doubt they will take it seriously. They usually take the view they are better off without complainers. It’s not a great thing to go to and it reduced me to tears on numerous occasions. You do feel it’s important to get your views across though! It might make you feel better.