New Bishop Cotton School believes that our school provides a good education for all our children and that the head teacher and other staff work very hard to build highly positive relationships with all parents. However, there may on occasion be times when parents are unhappy with an aspect of our school.
We hope that these may usually be fully resolved in consultation with the child's class teacher, but should this not be the case, the following complaints policy, as required by law, explains the exact procedures we systematically follow in such cases.
Our school aims to be completely fair, open, and honest when dealing with any complaint. We give careful consideration to all complaints and deal with them as swiftly as possible. We aim to resolve any complaint through healthy dialogue and mutual understanding and, in all cases, we emphatically put the interests of the child above all other issues. We provide sufficient opportunities for any complaint to be fully discussed and then efficiently resolved.
If a parent is concerned about anything to do with the school life of their child, they should, in the first instance, calmly discuss the matter with the child's class teacher. Most matters of concern can be swiftly dealt with at an early stage in this way.
The member of staff concerned will do their absolute best to resolve it by discussing the matter with all parties concerned. The situation will be treated with sensitivity, since all teachers work very hard to ensure that each child is happy at school, and is making good progress; they always want to know if there is a problem so that they can take immediate action before the problem becomes more serious.
Where a parent feels that a situation has not been resolved through contact with the class teacher, or where the parent does not feel comfortable approaching the class teacher, or where their concern is of a sufficiently serious nature, they should directly contact the Public Relations Officer (PRO).
The PRO takes such complaints extremely seriously and will meticulously investigate each case thoroughly, objectively and impartially, responding both in person and in writing to the complainant. Most complaints are normally resolved at this stage.
Where the complaint specifically concerns the Headteacher, this should be made in writing to the Administrator, who will then officially refer the complaint to the Chair of Governors.
If a complaint remains unresolved following steps 1 and 2 above, a formal complaint may be made to the Governing Body. This complaint must be made in writing, stating the exact nature of the complaint and how the school has handled it so far. The parent should send this written complaint securely to the Chair of Governors.
If an informal complaint is made to a governor, they will immediately refer the complainant to the New Bishop Cotton School Complaints Policy so that the relevant procedures may be properly followed. Governors must not act unilaterally on an individual complaint outside the formal procedure or be involved at the early stages in case they are needed to sit on a panel at a later stage of the procedure.
Where a formal complaint is received, this will be considered by a panel of the Governing Body within three weeks of receipt. A meeting will be arranged to discuss the complaint and the complainant will be formally invited to attend. The school will give the complainant at least three days' notice of the meeting. Individual complaints will not be heard by the whole Governing Body at any stage, to avoid compromising the impartiality of any panel set up for a disciplinary hearing.
After hearing all the evidence, the governors consider their decision and officially inform the parent about it in writing. The governors do all they can at this stage to resolve the complaint to the parent's absolute satisfaction. For further information about how the Governing Body selects committees to hear and deal with complaints, please consult the administration. The governors continuously monitor the complaints procedure in order to ensure that all complaints are handled properly. The administrator securely logs all complaints received by the school and formally records how they were resolved. Governors examine this log on an annual basis.