Complaints and Compliments Policy
Policy Number / 014006.3Created / September 2014
Lasted Review Date / September 2015 January 2016, September 2017 by Arabella Hardy
Next Review / September 2018
Owner-Name / Arabella Hardy
Owner- Job Title / Head of School
Acorn Park School strives to operate to the highest standards. We welcome feedback from individuals and organisations that we work with, including pupils, parents and carers and from our neighbours in the local community. Such feedback is invaluable in helping us to evaluate and improve our work.
From our experience, the majority of issues raised by parents, the community or students are likely to be concerns rather than complaints. The school is committed to taking concerns seriously, at the earliest stage, in the hope of keeping the number of formal complaints to a minimum and without needing formal procedures. The requirement to have a complaints procedure need not in any way undermine efforts to resolve the concern informally. In most cases the class teacher or the individual delivering the service in the home or school, will have the initial contact. All staff should be helpful and were appropriate resolve issues on the spot, including apologising where necessary
Acorn Park School has a single Complaints Policy The overall objectives of the Complaints Policy are to:
· encourage resolution of problems by informal means wherever possible
· be simple to understand and use
· be impartial
· be non-adversarial
· ensure that complaints are dealt with consistently, fairly and within clear timeframes
· ensure that a full and fair investigation by an independent person where necessary
· respect confidentiality
· address all points at issue and provide effective response and appropriate redress
· ensure that feedback is monitored and used to improve our services
It is the responsibility of all Acorn Park staff to record verbal or written compliments in the Central Record of Compliments kept by the administrator. The Leadership Team are responsible for ensuring that staff named within a compliment are informed and thanked. Feedback on compliments will be shared with the Acorn Team from time to time and positive comments may be used in marketing and publicity materials.
Four school-based stages are likely to be sufficient:
· Stage 1 (informal): complaint heard by staff member (though not the subject of the
complaint);
· Stage 2 (formal): complaint heard by Head of school;
· Stage 3 (formal): complaint heard by Principal
· Stage 4 (formal): complaint heard by Acorn Care and Educations Assistant Director
of Education.
Stage 1 (informal): complaint heard by staff member (though not the subject of the complaint);
Concerns can be raised with the school at any time by note, telephone or face to face with a member of staff and will often generate an immediate response, which will resolve the concern. On some occasions the concern raised may require investigation, or discussion with others, in which case parents will receive an informal but informed response within a day or two. The vast majority of concerns will be satisfactorily dealt with in this way.
Stage 2 (formal): complaint heard by Head Teacher
If parents or carers are not satisfied with the response they should write formally to the Headteacher. The Headteacher will investigate the complaint further and respond in writing within five working days.
Stage 3 (formal): complaint heard by Principal
If parents or carers are not satisfied with the response they should write formally to the Principal. If the complaint is against the Headteacher the complaint should be addressed to the Principal by sending it for her attention to the school address. The Principal will investigate and respond within five working days.
Stage 4 (formal): complaint heard by Acorn Care and Education Assistant Director of Education or designate complaints appeal.
If the parents or carers are still not satisfied with the response from the principal or the complaint is regarding the principal they should inform the Assistant Director of Education for Acorn Care and Education, Graham Mckewan, who will arrange a panel to hear the complaint. The panel will comprise three people not directly involved in the matters detailed in the complaint. One member of the panel will be independent of the running and management of the school. The date of the panel meeting will be arranged to take account of the convenience of the parents or carers as well as the school and will take place within a time limit of fifteen working days.
1. Parents or carers will be invited to bring with them another person or persons to support them at the panel hearing if they wish.
2. The panel will hear the complaint and will hear the outcome of the school’s investigations and its response to these. The panel will then make findings and recommendations which will be communicated in writing within five working days to the Principal, the Head teacher, the parent or carer and, where appropriate, the person complained about. The information may also be communicated to OFSTED and the school’s proprietors.
3. A written record of all complaints and their resolution will be kept showing at which stage they were resolved. The records will be available for inspection on the school premises by the Head Teacher and Acorn Care and Education. These records and any correspondence and statements relating to a complaint will remain confidential except where the Secretary of State or a body conducting an inspection under section 162a of the Education Act 2002 requests access to the records.
4. Any recommendations arising from the complaints process will be fed back to the school’s leadership team and lead to a review and evaluation of current practice and processes.
5. Complaints received anonymously will be recorded and considered, but action may be limited if further information is required to ensure a full and fair investigation.
The procedures below will be followed in the event of a pupil making a complaint against a member of staff, a fellow pupil or any other person or situation in school.
Pupils may wish to talk to an adult they trust about a situation relating to school. Pupils are reminded that, although they may speak to any member of staff, there may be occasions where information will have to be referred to other agencies.
Within school pupils may talk to:
· Head of school
· Middle leadership team
· Curriculum leads
· Teachers
· HLTA’s
· LSAs
· Any other member of staff
A pupil may merely need a trusted adult to talk a situation through with and may not be making a formal complaint. However, any actual complaints made by pupils will be recorded by the member of staff in the Complaints Log. The school response to the complaint will also be recorded. If the complaint is serious the pupil’s parents / carers will be informed of both the complaint and the outcome. Some complaints will be referred to other agencies or to the Local Authority. If necessary a meeting will be called to discuss the issues further.
Whilst conducting a complaint the investigator will:
· Establish what has happened and who was involved
· Clarify the nature of the complaint
· Meet or contact the complainant
· Clarify what the complainant feels would put things right
· Conduct interviews of those involved allowed them to be accompanied
· Conduct the interview with an open mind
· Keep notes or minutes of the meeting
There are many ways to resolve a complaint. It may be sufficient to acknowledge that the complaint is valid in full or part. In addition we may find it appropriate to offer
· An apology
· An explanation
· An admission that the situation could have been handled differently or better
· An assurance that the event complained of will not recur
· An explanation of the steps that have been taken to ensure that it will not happen again
· A review of policies
We may ask complainants to state what action they feel may resolve the situation at any stage. An admission that the school could have handled the situation better is not the same as an admission of negligence.
Every effort will be made to follow our policy and this should limit and mitigate protracted complaints. However, there will be occasions when the complainant remains dissatisfied. If the complainant tries to reopen the same issue, the assistant director of education for Acorn Care and Education is able to inform them in writing that the procedure has been exhausted and that the matter is now closed. If the complainant writes again on the same issue, then the correspondence may be recognised as vexatious and there will be no obligation on the part of the school to respond. It is important to note however that, should a complainant raise an entirely new, separate complaint, it must be responded to in accordance with the complaints procedure. It is not the complainant who is vexatious; it is the correspondence.