Governing bodies of all maintained schools have a legal obligation to have in place a procedure to deal with complaints relating to the school. The law also requires for the procedure to be publicised.

Local authorities (LA's) are already required to set up a procedure for dealing with certain types of complaints - for example complaints about the curriculum or collective worship in a school.

Most concerns that parents have can be discussed with the relevant teacher. In a primary school this is likely to be the class teacher, in a secondary school this would normally be the head of year.

If the teacher cannot help with your concern or you are dissatisfied with the response, you should then approach the headteacher. Depending on what the complaint is about it is best to try an informal way of resolving any problems. You should be able arrange a meeting with the headteacher through the school office or you may wish to make a written complaint to the headteacher.

If your complaint is not resolved at this stage you should then approach the governing body of the school. Governing bodies are required to have a complaints procedure. The governing body may need to convene a meeting to discuss the issue. You will be invited to the meeting. As governors are voluntary and unpaid, it may take time to set up the meeting.

If at this stage you are still not satisfied with the way the school has dealt with the complaint, you can contact the Education Access Team. We offer a specialist mediation service which can be used to help bring the parties together with a view to the resolution of the complaint and/or to agree a away forward in establishing a future relationship between the parent and the school.