Complaints about schools
Many parents and children are content with their school, and most experience a happy school life - but sometimes problems do arise. This fact sheet is aimed primarily at parents and young people who are experiencing problems about school-related matters.
The LGO currently considers complaints about:
- school transport services (Fact sheet E7)
- special educational needs (Fact sheet E6)
- school admissions (Fact sheet E2)
- permanent exclusions from a school (Fact sheet E1)
The information below explains how to complain about other school issues
What can I do if I am concerned about my child's school?
- Let the school know about your concerns as soon as possible. Many complaints can be resolved quickly and informally. All schools are required to have a complaints policy which you can ask for. It will set out how you can go about getting your concerns addressed. This will usually involve raising the issue with the headteacher followed by a complaint to the school governors if you remain dissatisfied.
What can I do if I am not happy with the school’s and governing body’s responses?
Maintained schools
- Local authorities are responsible for education in their area, and may be able to offer guidance and advice about state funded schools. These include community schools, foundation schools, voluntary aided and voluntary controlled schools (but not academies). Your council’s website will contain information about the number and type of schools in its area. If you are not sure if your school is state funded visit www.edubase.gov.uk.
- If your complaint is unresolved and you feel that the school has behaved unreasonably about your concerns, there are two channels you can take depending on where the school is. For most schools you can write to the Secretary of State for Education:
The Secretary of State
Department for Education
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
London SW1P 3BT
Telephone: 0370 000 2288
www.education.gov.uk
- If your school is a state school in one of the 14 local authority areas listed below, you can complain to the LGO. This is because these are taking part in a project where the Ombudsman’s power to investigate complaints is being extended to consider parent and pupil complaints about state schools. The Secretary of State will not consider complaints about schools in the project areas The 14 areas involved are:
| Barking and Dagenham |
Hillingdon |
| Cambridgeshire |
Kent |
| Medway |
Kensington and Chelsea |
| Sefton |
Lincolnshire |
| Bristol |
Portsmouth |
| Dorset |
Sheffield |
| Hammersmith and Fulham |
Wolverhampton |
- To complain to the Ombudsman phone our Advice Team on 0300 061 0614 or 0845 602 1983 (8.30am to 5.00pm, Mondays to Fridays). You will be able to discuss your complaint with one of our advisers. You can text us on 0762 480 4299.
- You can complete an online complaint form.
- We will accept complaints directly from young people. If you are a school or college student and want to complain to us, you can call our Advice Team yourself. You will be passed to a specialist investigator who will discuss your complaint with you, and let you know whether we can consider it.
Issues we can look at (in the project areas)
- For schools in the project areas, we can look into anything that is the responsibility of the headteacher and governors, such as:
- bullying
- unfair treatment by staff
- behaviour and discipline
- pupil safety
- poor communication with a parent
- temporaty exclusion
- extra-curricular activities, and
- school uniform.
- Our aim is to resolve issues in a way that leaves the school and the parents able to continue to work together for the good of the children involved.
Academies
- Academies operate independently of local authorities, and we cannot currently look at complaints about them. If you have a complaint about an academy that you have been unable to resolve you should contact the Young People’s Learning Agency.
Independent schools
- If your complaint is about an independent or boarding school you should follow its complaints procedure through the governing body. If you are still dissatisfied after this, you can pursue matters relating to your contract with the school through the courts. If your complaint is that the school is not complying with legal regulations governing independent schools, you can contact Department for Education public enquiries on 0370 000 2288 from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, or at registrationenquiries@education.gsi.gov.uk. The Department is happy to take information from you, but will not investigate individual complaints, only look at regulatory issues.
Ofsted
- As well as inspecting schools and monitoring how they perform, Ofsted also considers complaints if they affect the school as a whole. For example:
- the school is not providing a good enough education
- the pupils are not achieving as much as they should, or their different needs are not being met
- the school is not well led and managed, or is wasting money
- the pupils’ personal development and wellbeing are being neglected.
- You can contact Ofsted by calling its hotdesk from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday on 08456 404045 or by email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.
- Staff on its helpdesk will discuss your concerns with you and advise you whether or not to put your complaint in writing. To make a formal complaint you can write to:
Enquiries
National Business Unit
Ofsted
Royal Exchange Buildings
St Ann’s Square
Manchester
M2 7LA
Examples of some complaints we have considered
Mrs B complained that the school was not meeting her daughter’s educational needs. She said that staff responded to her attempts to find out what was going on with rudeness and hostility. Eventually the relationship broke down to the extent that she was banned from the school. The school said that Mrs B was confrontational and threatening to staff.
When we investigated, we found that the school’s procedures on communicating with parents needed updating. Its provision for children with Special Educational Needs, including Mrs B’s daughter was good, but it was not communicating this well. We also found that it needed to revise its complaints procedures so that parents knew what to do if they were unhappy about any aspect of their children’s education. Additionally, the school had acted improperly in not giving Mrs B the opportunity to have her ban reviewed.
We arranged a round table meeting with Mrs B and the school where an agreed means for Mrs B to raise any concerns was put in place, and agreement reached on how she was to get her daughter to school, when the ban would be reviewed, and how the school would keep her better informed about her daughter’s progress and support. The school accepted the need for the governors to review its complaints procedures and communication strategy.
Mr Y complained that his son was being bullied at school and that the school was doing nothing to support his son or stop the bullying. He said he had complained to the school, but that his complaint was not taken seriously.
When we considered this complaint, we found that there was some bullying at the school, and that Mr Y’s son had been picked on by boys who were supposed to be his friends. The worst of the bullying had taken place in town, at the weekend, and the school was unable to deal with this. It had acted swiftly, however, on the incidents in school. It had clear records showing the action taken, including informing Mr Y. But it had not permanently excluded the boys involved, and this was the outcome that Mr Y wanted.
We found no fault with the actions of the school. Its bullying and discipline policies were robust, and had been adhered to. The governors had considered Mr Y’s complaint carefully, but backed the actions of the headteacher in following the school’s policies, under which permanent exclusion was not the appropriate action to take.
Other sources of information
- Advisory Centre for Education (ACE) www.ace-ed.org.uk or ring their freephone advice line on 0808 800 5793 (Monday to Friday 10.00 - 5.00)
Our fact sheets give some general information about the most common type of complaints we receive but they cannot cover every situation. If you are not sure whether we can look into your complaint, please phone 0300 061 0614.
The Local Government Ombudsmen provide a free, independent and impartial service. We consider complaints about the administrative actions of councils and some other authorities. We cannot question what a council has done simply because someone does not agree with it. If we find something has gone wrong, such as poor service, service failure, delay or bad advice and that a person has suffered as a result the Ombudsmen aim to get it put right by recommending a suitable remedy.
Date Updated: 29/09/11