St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

Complaints Procedure

Mission Statement

Inspired by Christ, Working Together, Achieving Our Best

Here at St Joseph's, we strive to work together with parents to ensure our children have a safe and happy time at school. This relationship with the community is based on mutual respect and a willingness to listen to each other. With this in mind, should you ever feel the need to make a complaint, you should follow the complaints procedure below.

Most complaints can be easily resolved and should be, in the first instance, referred to your child's class teacher. This is an informal stage and in all instances should be the first stage of any complaint.

There are two complaints procedures which apply at St Josephs’. In many respects they are similar but they are used in different circumstances. Below you will find a brief description of both procedures but in the event you feel you need to make a complaint, and to ensure your complaint is handled swiftly and correctly, please refer to the full complaints procedure at the bottom of the page.

The two procedures are:

Complaints about Curriculum

Section 409 of the Education Act  1996  provides  that  a  local  education  authority shall, with the approval of the Secretary of State, make arrangements for the consideration of any complaint in respect of the curriculum.

This procedure has three possible stages, which must begin with the informal stage:

• Informal: most concerns are easily resolved informally by discussion with your child's class teacher at the school; more difficult or complex concerns may take more than one discussion or be dealt with by a senior member of staff.

• Formal complaint to the governing body: If, after careful attempts, a resolution is not achieved, a formal complaint can be made to the Governing Body.

• Formal complaint to the local authority: If either party believes that the Governing Body has not dealt with the complaint properly or that the outcome is unreasonable, it can be referred to a Local Authority Adjudication Panel.

SEND Complaints

If your complaint is linked to SEND provision, then please see the section 'Arrangements for SEND complaints' within the SEND Policy which can be found via the following link.

• https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/stjosephs-stanford/UploadedDocument/2a69fce2b4f54c60a34a84e7d2fb9eb5/send-policy-final-2017-ainslie-kennedy-1.pdf

All other complaints

Section 29 of the Education act 2002 provides that the governing body of a maintained school must establish a procedure for handling all other complaints with which they are required to deal.

The procedure has four possible stages; formal and informal and all complaints must begin with the informal stage:

• Informal concern heard by staff member: Most concerns are easily resolved informally by discussion with your child's class teacher at the school; more difficult or complex concerns may be dealt with by a Phase leader and may take more than one discussion.
• Formal complaint heard by Headteacher: If, after careful attempts, a resolution is not achieved, a formal complaint can be made to the Headteacher using the school’s complaint form. The Headteacher or a senior member of staff will carry out an investigation and the Headteacher will inform the complainant of the outcome in writing.
• Formal complaint heard by Chair of Governors: where a complainant is dissatisfied with the result of the investigation carried out on behalf of, or by, the Headteacher, or the complaint involves the Headteacher, the complaint must be sent to the Chair of Governors and a copy sent to the Headteacher using the school’s complaint form. The Chair of Governors will consider the complaint and carry out any necessary investigations before providing a written response to the complainant.
• Formal complaint heard by Governing Body’s Complaints Appeal Panel: The complainant needs to write to the clerk of the Governing Body giving details of the complaint using the school’s complaint form, requesting that it is heard by an appeal panel. If the Chair has been involved in any previous stages, they will not be permitted to sit on the appeal panel convened by the clerk.