Complaints to an educational setting

To complain to an educational setting the parent/carer or young person needs to follow the place of learnings complaints procedure as detailed on their website. Each place of learning may have a different complaints procedure.

If it's not on their website, the parent/carer or young person can request it directly from the main office.

If the parent/carer or young person has gone through the whole complaints procedure as per the place of learnings policy and they feel they still haven't had a suitable response, then they can escalate it further:

·       The parent/carer can complain to the Department for Education (DfE), the complaint should set out the facts and explain why the school or college’s formal complaint procedure failed to resolve matters. The parent/carer or young person should explain why the school or college’s actions are unreasonable or unlawful, they should also provide evidence, including copies of any letters or emails which show what has happened. This can be done via this portal: https://customerhelpportal.education.gov.uk/

·       If the DfE doesn’t resolve the complaint the parent/carer or young person can complain to Ofsted. Ofsted cannot respond to or resolve individual complaints, but a parent/carer or young person can still tell Ofsted about a problem with a school. They can use the information provided to decide when to inspect and what areas to focus the inspection on.

If your complaint is about an allegation of abuse at the educational setting you can contact LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer) the link is below:

Local Authority Designated Officer - Norfolk County Council

However, if the matter is urgent and serious, and cannot be resolved by making a complaint the parent/carer or young person can get advice from a solicitor on a process called judicial review. This process can look at decisions made by public bodies to decide whether they were made in a lawful, fair and reasonable manner. Not all schools and colleges are public bodies, so its important check if the child or young person’s setting is.