Complaints

Any person who has a legitimate interest in the school may make a complaint. This will include pupils on roll at the school irrespective of their age, although normally a complaint from a pupil would come through a parent. Where a person is not able to make a complaint himself or herself, a friend or other family member may do so on their behalf, but that person does not become the complainant. Complaints from legal representatives will not be accepted.

In order to make a complaint, we require you to have attempted to solve the issue informally through the first stage of our process. This involves speaking to a class teacher or the member of staff involved to try to resolve the complaint. You may approach a member of the Senior Leadership Team if your informal complaint remains unresolved after that conversation.

If you feel that your informal complaint has not been resolved, you may begin to proceed through our formal complaints process.

We have a comprehensive, open, transparent, fair and timely complaints process through which:

• something that may have gone wrong can be identified, acknowledged and, where necessary, put right;

• an apology may be made where appropriate;

• the school can, where appropriate, learn from the process, making it less likely that a similar complaint will be brought in the future.

The school has accepted the view of the Department for Education that a complainant should normally be expected to lodge their complaint within 90 calendar days of the event being complained about. The 90 day limit has been established because investigation is more difficult after a period of time: memories may not be as clear as they would have been earlier, records may not be as readily available and witnesses may not be employed at the school.

A delay in making a complaint may also disadvantage any person who is the subject of it, making it more challenging for them to defend themselves for the same reasons.