Raising a concern

Working in partnership with Melbourn Primary School

Raising a suggestion, concern or complaint

We work hard to maintain good relationships with our parents and the local community.  Sometimes people can see ways we could improve things, and helpful suggestions are valuable.  Sometimes people want to raise a concern or even complain formally about issues relating to a matter at the school.

It is the responsibility of schools to manage their own complaints and the Local Authority has no over-riding role other than to give advice.

Every school must have a Complaints Policy and ours is available on the link below.  If you require a hard copy, please ask at the school office.

If you have a concern or complaint; in the first instance, please contact your child’s class teacher.  If you feel your complaint has not been addressed or still have concerns, please contact the school office and they will arrange for you to meet with your child’s year group team leader.  Finally, if you remain unhappy with the action taken or the results please contact the school office to arrange an appointment with the Deputy Headteacher or the Headteacher.

Many concerns can be dealt with informally, however the school will treat the issues you raise seriously and deal with them.

Every effort will always be made to resolve your problem informally, including the possibility of a conciliation meeting.

If you remain dissatisfied, then you have the opportunity to make a formal complaint through the Governing Body’s Complaints Procedure. The Local Authority can give you advice on Tel: 01223 706399.

At the end of the School Complaints Procedure, should you remain concerned that the Governors have acted or are proposing to act unreasonably, or that the Governors have failed to discharged their duties under legislation, the final course of action available to you is to write to the School Complaints Unit, Department of Education, 2nd Floor Piccaddilly Gate, Store Street, Manchester, M1 2WD to ask for your case to be reviewed.

If, at any point, you have exhausted the complaints procedure, if attempt to reopen the same complaint, you will be informed in writing that the procedure has been exhausted and the matter is now closed.

Parents’ expectations of the school

Parents/carers/members of the public who raise either informal or formal issues or complaints with the school can expect the school to:

• Regularly communicate to parents/carers in writing
  (i) how and when problems can be raised with the school
  (ii) the existence of the School’s complaints procedure and
  (iii) the existence of the Persistent Complaints/Harassment Policy
• Respond within a reasonable time
• Be available for consultation within reasonable time limits bearing in mind the needs of the pupils/students within the school and the nature of the complaint
• Respond with courtesy and respect
• Attempt to resolve problems using reasonable means in line with the school’s complaints procedure, other policies and practice and in line with guidance and advice from Cambridgeshire County Council
• Keep complainants informed of progress towards a resolution of the issues raised
• The school’s expectations of parents/carers/members of the public
   

The school expects parents/carers/members of the public who wish to raise problems with the school to:

• Treat all school staff with courtesy and respect
• Respect the needs and well-being of pupils and staff within the school
• Avoid any use, or threatened use, of violence to people or property
• Avoid any aggression or verbal abuse
• Recongnise the time constraints under which members of staff in schools work and allow the school a reasonable time to respond
• Recognise that resolving a specific problem can sometimes take some time
• (in the case of a complaint) follow the school’s complaints procedure

Persistent complaints

The school has adopted a persistent complaints policy to deal with the rare cases where a complainant’s behaviour is unreasonable or might be considered to be harassment.  The policy is available on the link below.  If you require a hard copy, please ask at the school office.

A persistent complainant is a parent/carer or member of the public who complains about issues, either formally or informally, or frequently raises issues that the complainant considers to be within the remit of the School and whose behaviour is unreasonable.  Such behaviour may be characterised by:

• Actions which are obsessive, persistent, harassing, prolific, repetitious and/or
• Prolific correspondence or excessive e-mail or telephone contact about a concern or complaint
• An insistence upon pursuing unmeritorious complaints and/or unrealistic or unreasonable outcomes
• An insistence upon pursuing meritorious complaints in an unreasonable manner

Harassment is the unreasonable pursuit of such actions as in (a) to (d) above in such a way that they

• Appear to be targeted over a significant period of time on one or more members of school staff and/or
• Cause ongoing distress to individual members(s) of school staff and/or
• Have a significant adverse effect on the whole/parts of the school community and/or
• Are pursued aggressively.
   

Legitimate new complaints, if not pursued in harassing or unreasonable way, will still be considered even if the person making them is, or has been subject to the Harassment/Persistent complaints policy.