Chair of governors

[Tillymint08]

Hi, advice and information appreciated.
I recently contacted chair of governors about the Headteacher lieing about his reason for not issuing statutory reports last year (secondary school). The lie was blatant and I had supporting documentation to prove it. The governors response arrived on School headed notepaper and did not directly address the questions I posed. It also referred ro my child by her legal name as opposed to the name she is known by (information that only the school has and I did not use this name in my letter). How can I confirm that the letter was written by the governor and not by the Head himself? Although it may seem a little far fetched, the element of trust is no longer there and other than directly contacting the governor, I have no way of knowing that the response I received is authentic and legitimate.
Thanks in advance for any responses

I think you need to follow the schol's complaints procedure properly - there will be several stages (usually the third stage is review by the Chair of Governors).

There should be contact information for the Governors on the school website.

Is the letter signed by the Chair ?

Hi thanks for your response. The signature was a photocopied one and the contact information was through the school only I.e you email letter and they forward it for you.

In fairness the schools I have worked at do printed signatures so that in itself may not be an issue, but you should be able to find contact information for the Governors on the website or school brochures.

Had you followed me the complaints procedure - ie complained to head and then when you weren’t satisfied your complaint had been dealt with then passed it on to governors ?

There should be a dedicated email address for the chair of governors.

I would fully expect the chair of governors to discuss the complaint with the school before responding, and to request any relevant evidence/paperwork from the head. I'm guessing that this is why they used the legal name.

I am assuming that you have followed the complaints procedure to the letter?

If the complaint is about the head as your OP suggests, then the next stage of the process would be the chair of govs, and there may be a third stage of a panel of govs reviewing the decision - but you need the school complaints procedure to check this (it should be on the website, or ask for a copy if you can't see it).

Using an electronic signature wouldn't concern me especially at the moment when chairs can't easily visit schools. Neither would the letter coming on school letterhead or using the legal name - as said above, you would expect the chair to have asked the school for more information as part of the investigation.

You need to follow the complaints procedure for the school. If it is the usual process then you have in effect made a complaint which is about the headteacher for which you have had a reply from the chair of governors, after they investigated your complaint.
The next step is to confirm in writing that you are unhappy with the response given and that you wish to take it to the next level, which should be a referral to a panel of 3 governors. That is the correct way to handle the situation. Given that the panel have to get somebody to reconsider the complaint, it should very quickly be apparent if your concern that it was the headteacher who responded to you has any validity.
Any possible referral to Ofsted, the LA or the DfE will have no validity until you have followed the internal school procedure. All three organisations will simply refer you back to the school's complaint procedure until you have been through that full procedure.

I'm a Vice Chair. The Chair is likely to have discussed your letter with the Head before replying.

I'm Vice Chair (being prepared for Chair role) of an academy.

The clerk to the governors will have produced the letter, as written or dictated by the Chair of Governors. Clerk is usually (though not always) an admin member of staff at the school, hense the headed paper and knowledge if your child.

Chair will (obviously!) have discussed issue with the Head. Otherwise how do you intend the issue to be resolved?!

I would guess the first port of call for a complaint such that you mention would be to contact The Head with your concern, requesting a reasonable explanation. Have you done this in a formal way?

Agree. Just write back and say you are not satisfied with the response and you wish it to be considered at the next level.

Refer to the published policy on the school website

The paper and the use of your child's official name don't signify anything. The chair would need to speak to the head and possibly look at school records in order to investigate the validity or otherwise of your complaint. They would use the name on the school role.
The response would be typed by the clerk to governors and obviously the chair is not going to give out their personal contact details. They will have a school email address that is often monitored by the clerk.
The chair of governors is a role associated with the school so I think it would be usual to use school headed paper. They are not in some way independent of the school. They are the governors of the school but they would still be concerned to know if the head was doing wrong.

Given that schools were allowed to amend the information provided last year and that staff availability impacted on what they could provide.... what is your complaint and what resolution are you expecting from the school?