Since 1 September 2003 governing bodies (GBs) of all schools and nursery schools in England have been required, under Section 29 of the Education Act 2002 to have in place a procedure to deal with all complaints relating to their school and to any community facilities or services that the school provides. This does not limit complainants to parents or carers of pupils registered at a school. A complainant could be a member of the wider community or representing an ex-pupil. The law also requires the procedure to be publicised.
The majority of issues raised by parents, the community or pupils, are concerns rather than complaints. The Hellenic School of St. Peter & Paul Bristol 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. However,we ask all complainants to follow the school’s formal complaints procedure whenever submitting a complaint.
The following details outline the stages that can be used to resolve complaints. The Hellenic School of St. Peter & Paul Bristol Policy has three stages. In summary they are as follows: –
Concerns can be raised with the school at any time and will often generate an immediate response, which will resolve the concern. The school requests that parents make their first contact with their child’s class teacher. On some occasions the concern raised may require investigation, or discussion with others, in which case you 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. However, if you are not satisfied with the result at stage 1, please write to or call the school within 10 school working days. The school will then look at your complaint at the next stage.
The Head teacher may delegate the task of collating the information to another staff member but not the decision on the action to be taken. The Head teacher will arrange for the complaint to be acknowledged promptly and a meeting may be convened to discuss the matter further, in the presence of another member of staff, relevant to the situation, or the school advisor/trustee.
Following the investigation, the Head teacher will aim to provide a response as quickly as possible. If you are not satisfied with the result at stage 2 please write to or call the school within 10 school working days of getting our response. The school will then look at your complaint at the next stage.
If the matter has not been resolved at Stage 2 or the complaint is about the Head teacher, then you will need to write to the school advisor/trustee or the chairman of the church committee c/o the school. The school advisor/trustee or the chairman of the church committee will acknowledge receipt of the complaint and a meeting may be convened to discuss the matter further.
Following an investigation, the school advisor/trustee or the chairman of the church committee will aim to provide a response as soon as possible.
The aim of Stage 3 is to impartially resolve the complaint and to achieve reconciliation between the school and the complainant.
All complains will be responded to by either email or letter.
Andri Nicolaou
Child Protection Designated Lead