School complaint- are Parent Partnership any good?

[Justunbelievable]

Hi, I know this probably varies from area to area but wondered if anyone has any experience of this. Long story but have had loads of issues with ds's school not providing all support shown on the statement. Also have had an exclusion which could have been totally avoided if the correct support had been in place so am fuming at the moment. Have written numerous complaint letters in the past but now written a formal one to governors. It is a long letter with lots of issues raised and I wondered how they would be able to answer it in writing tbh.Have now been invited to attend meeting so that they can discuss our concerns. Usually HT speaks to us about things so nothing gets recorded but this time I want a response from then in writing. Have considered requesting someone from PP there to take minutes so at least something is written down. would this be a good idea or not? Any advice appreciated.

I've used PPartnership to help with my appeal, she came with me and was 100% great. Just having some back up on my side was invaluable.

PS worth noting she didn't have any power nor could she DO much but the support and help with things like letter writing and organsing was worth it.

I found PP good. Came to meetings with me when I needed her, helped me submit my SA.

She's def on my side and not schools.......

Some schools are even scared of PP (in a kind of scared of Ofsted way) and listen to them......

Good for moral support and a witness to what's said also.

I've found them good here, the lady comes to meetings takes minutes and if she's not sure of something school have waffled she'll ask for clarification and ask for time frames etc.

Just - in similar position. I find the problem with the school or PP taking minutes is that they are brief and limited, in that they don't contain the main points of all that is said, which can be as important as the outcomes. I have had a friend come and take notes before which was extremely helpful, but they are not formal.

I have asked for a minute taker to be present at our meeting, along with an independent witness and PP as an observer. The minute taker is being sourced from the LA, they have a bank of clerks. If it is full/formal minutes you want it could be worth asking for similar; especially if you're not going to get a written response to your letter.

The cynic in me says without full minutes, you could find yourself making another complaint in the future, only to be told it was dealt with at the meeting.

I'd suggest asking for copies of their policies such as attendance/truancy/behaviour, aims and ethos, curriculum, disability discrimination, try and link your complaints to the various policies.

I found PP good for support and used them to read over the letters I wrote. They were also witnesses at the meetings held.

However, they had did not have the power to do anything.

I had problems with school not implementing provisions. I complained to the governors, LA etc. However, because the provisions in the statement were not sufficiently quantified and specified I could not take legal action. When I threatened to complain the the Local Government Ombudsman, the LA and the school got together and offered me put in place something which stopped me from lodging my complaint. However, it meant that ds lost 2 terms when we were negotiating.

My point is, if you find that they are not providing all the support on the statement, it might be more useful to stop negotiating and threaten to take legal action or complain to the LGO.

The problem we have is that it's his last year there so only a few weeks left! I have stated that we require a written response and asked if minutes will be taken. Also contacted PP and waiting for a reply. Feel school will try dragging it out as long as possible to avoid having to do much. I have now discovered that they have breached their own policy so not sure what I can do about that.

My PP was great she wrote letters ,rang complaining on my behalf came everywhere with me and took notes and having had experience trying to do that myself alone i found with her there they didnt mess me about they actually took notice i hear from other MNrs some are not quite so good but having someone with you through the whole process is so helpful and unlike everyone else she actually used to ring me back fast if i had a query.
having said that this governments just cut there funding so they are down on staff dont know if that will be the same where you are.