Section 29 of the Education Act 2002 requires all governing bodies to have in place a school’s complaints procedure. The procedure must be publicised to parents and the procedure must be readily available to anyone requesting a copy.

At OLOL, we hope that our families never have cause to make complaints but as a service provider, there may be occasions where a parent or third party with an interest in the school is unhappy with the provision made by school and this may result in a complaint.  As often as possible the school will work with you to resolve a complaint at the earliest stage using a variety of communication methods. Almost all problems can be resolved informally between the school and family. The school will take ownership for any issues that we could have handled differently or better.

The resolution may not always be what you want to hear as we run the school for the education and formation of over 230 children and so we have policies and procedures that suit such a large and diverse community. Your concern may not be something we are willing to change for a host of logistical/strategic/disciplinary etc. reasons, but the school will always be fair and balanced and will investigate any concerns thoroughly before feeding back to you.

This complaints procedure is to be used by those persons who have a complaint relating to the school and no other alternative process exists for addressing that complaint. People raising concerns should try to do so informally in the first instance to allow the school time to work with you on your concern. All concerns will be listened to and taken seriously. At any stage the concern can be escalated (by either side) into the formal process outlined in our policy.

Some complaints will not be managed using this process due to the nature of that complaint, examples of these might be

• Complaints about the statementing process for children with special educational needs
• Issues relating to members of staff including disciplinary grievances and re-organisation proposals
• Matters likely to require a Child Protection Investigation (which may likely fall under the purview of the Local Authority and/or Police)
• Admissions
• Exclusions
• Whistleblowing
• Complaints about services provided by other providers who may use school premises or facilities (who will have their own complaints procedures) these service providers should have their individual complaints procedures which should be followed
• Criminal activity complaints (may be referred directly to the Police)
• Data Protection concerns will be referred to the ICO after initial school investigations to gather information
• Complaints against a member of the governing body (referred to the Chair of Governors directly)

OFSTED considers complaints from parents if it relates to the school as a whole (rather than individuals as there is a complaint process in place for that) but will expect parents to attempt to resolve any concerns with the school in the first instance:

• Issues with the quality of education
• Issues to do with children’s wellbeing and safety

If you wish to complain about SEND provision, this should also be done directly with the school in the first instance to allow us an opportunity to investigate and discuss this with you. The SENDCo, Mrs Lynch will help you if you have any concerns. You can also make a formal complaint using the school process.

Duplicate Complaints

Once a complaint is closed, we will not reopen the same complaint from another member of the family if it is about the same subject. We will always ask if there are new aspects, we had not considered in the original complaint to ensure we are being fair and transparent.

Vexatious Complaints (unreasonable, serial or persistent)

We are here to work with all of our families to ensure the best outcomes for their children. In that shared spirit, we hope that families will behave responsibly and respectfully. Our staff will not put up with unacceptable behaviour and will take action to prevent harm (in any form) coming to staff.

Complaints may be regarded as unreasonable if:

• The complainant does not make the complaint and their hoped for outcomes clear
• The complainant does not engage with informal methods of resolving the concern
• The complainant refuses to cooperate with the investigation
• The complainant refuses to accept that some aspects of their complaint may not be dealt with (for a variety of reasons)
• The complainant attempts to undermine the process of the policy
• The complainant demands that their own timeframes are adhered to
• The complainant introduces lots of unrelated questions or points to create difficultly in investigating
• The complainant makes unjustified allegations about staff managing concerns or attempts to have them replaced
• The complainant changes the basis of their complaint during the process
• The complainant repeatedly issues the same complaint
• The complainant refuses to accept the investigation findings
• The complainant seeks unrealistic outcomes
• The complainant makes excessive demands on the school’s time

A complaint may also be considered unreasonable if the person making the complaint does so either face-to-face, by telephone or in writing or electronically

• Maliciously
• Aggressively
• Using threats, intimidation or violence
• Using abusive, offensive or discriminatory language
• Knowing the complaint to be false
• Using falsified information
• Publishing unacceptable information in a variety of media such as in social media websites