Complaints Committee

[Pallas27]

I have made a complaint to the Chair of Governors about the head and the lack of implementation on various school policies.

Has anyone faced a complaints committee?
What can I expect?
Will the headteacher be on the committee, given that I am complaining about them?

Any advice would be gratefully received.
Thank you.

There has to be an agreed complaints process for each school. Whilst they do vary a bit in general if you have complained to the Chair of Governors about the headteacher then the complaint will then be dealt with usually by a committee of governors.

The head teacher will not be on that panel, nor should anybody who has a conflict of interest, which should mean no staff governors or a governor who either knows you well or has a child in the same year group.

The normal process is that the panel will ask you to put in writing your complaint, if you have not already done so, and then you will go to a meeting with the panel. Some schools have both parties there so that they can hopefully resolve the issue, some will hold separate meetings. Ask the school for a copy of their complaints procedure and see exactly what this says. If it is not clear ask to have an explanation of the process. You should also be allowed to take a "friend" with you for moral support, but not to do all the talking.

Thank you very much for your response. I'm relieved to hear about "no conflict of interest".

I have been asked to put my complaint in writing for the 3rd time. It's very hard to follow the Governors remit of "setting and monitoring policy, standards and strategic direction" and not include "decisions about individual children".

The complaints policy I have been given is in draft form, as is the G&T policy which forms part of the complaint. Is this an issue in any way?

Thanks again for your input.

Had anyone got any experience of going before a Complaint's Committee? Thanks.

bumping..

If you are complaining about the lack of or incorrect implementation of a policy that's only in draft then I should think yes, the status of the policy would be relevant. But it will depend on the precise nature of the complaint.

I sit on our school's complaints committee, but fortunately, we have not yet had to meet. It's a shame your issue can't be sorted beforehand.