Parents and schools share the same goal, supporting children’s education.
Sometimes questions or concerns arise, and most school complaints don’t start as complaints. They start as confusion, worry or a feeling of not being heard.
In collaboration with the DfE, Ofsted and 13 education bodies, guidance has been developed and published by Parentkind to help parents:
- understand whether they’re raising feedback, a concern or a formal complaint
- contact the right person at the right time
- communicate clearly, calmly and effectively
- follow the school’s process without getting stuck or ignored
- avoid common mistakes that make situations worse, not better
Relationships between parents and schools last for several years, so ensuring mutual trust and respect is essential to making them work in the best interests of your child.
The guidance sets out a five-step process (summary below) to help parents raise concerns respectfully and at the appropriate level, from classroom issues to whole-school matters.
Families are urged to reflect on whether an issue is feedback, a concern or a formal complaint, and discourages aggressive behaviour, personal accusations, unnecessary escalation and the use of AI to generate complaints.
Five steps to making a school complaint
1. What kind of issue is it?
Complaints come in different shapes and sizes as sometimes you want to share your voice with the school, sometimes you have a worry about an important issue, or sometimes you are dissatisfied with the school's actions or lack of action.
The best first step is to identify what kind of issue it is, to make sure you can get the quickest action with your school.
2. Who in the school do I go to?
Often issues can be best resolved by the person closest to your child, such as their teacher/form tutor.
If the issue is wider that just one lesson, or can't be resolved by the teacher, raise it with a middle or senior leader.
Whole school issues should be raised with the headteacher.
But remember to always check your school’s complaint policy.
3. How to raise a complaint
Concerns are best resolved in discussion with your school, and complaints are best resolved when documented with your school.
Ensure that you follow one level at a time, keep a record and be clear on what you are looking for from the school by focussing on solutions.
4. When to expect a response
Different schools have different policies for handling complaints, and you can trust that they are following their policy as they look into your complaint.
You should check the school's policy for timescales, ask for a written acknowledgement, but be aware that complaint resolution times will vary.
5. Where to escalate a complaint
Once you have fully followed your school’s complaint procedure, you may still feel you need action from your school and there are a few ways that may apply to you.
It’s best to check who it should be escalated with to get it resolved quickly. Contacting several people at once is very likely to result is slowing things down.
Is it for your school’s governing body or trustees?
To be considered if you are unhappy with the school’s response.
Schools will normally have an escalation process that allows parents to seek a further review of their complaint by a panel which may involve governors or trustees who have not been previously involved in the complaint.
Is it for the Department for Education (DfE)?
To be considered if you are unhappy with the way your complaint has been handled or the school is preventing you from following the complaints process.
In some circumstances, DfE can consider if the school has followed relevant statutory guidance and education law.
Go to the DfE complaints webpage
Is it for Ofsted?
Ofsted do not resolve disputes between parents and schools.
They may keep your complaint on file for their next inspection but don’t always provide a response to parents.
Go to the Ofsted complaints webpage
Is it for the Local Authority?
If the local authority receives a complaint about a school, the complainant will be advised to approach the school directly, unless it falls into one of the categories below, for which there are separate statutory procedures.
- Admissions to schools - These will be dealt with by the School Admission Team for admissions issues, or appeals issues.
- Statutory assessments of Special Educational Needs - These will be dealt with by the SEND team for SEND appeals.
- Child Protection/Safeguarding – These will be dealt with by the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (for concerns about the safety and welfare of a child) or Local Authority Designated Officer (where the concerns relate to the conduct or behaviour of a member of staff or volunteer).
Is it for your MP or local Councillor?
An MP or local Councillor can support school complaints by raising issues on behalf of constituents, but before contacting a representative, you should formally complete the school’s complaints procedure.
Complaints can go wrong, as tensions can run high when you’re concerned about your child, but some approaches make matters worse.
- Sharing your complaint on social media can be harmful to those involved and will not lead to a quicker resolution.
- Other parents may share your views, but your complaint should be specific to you and your child.
- Making it personal to individual school staff members can take things too far, keep it to challenging school policy.
- Abusive and aggressive behaviour will never be tolerated by a school and can lead to consequences for you.
- AI doesn’t always get it right when citing laws and can make a complaint more complex than necessary.
- Having a good relationship with your school is important and it benefits all to move on after complaints are resolved.
In extreme circumstances, there can be consequences for parents where there is bullying and harassing behaviour towards the school.
If parents use abusive language, are threatening or use intimidation, the school could do one of the following.
- Pause complaints - Typically the first step is for the school to pause the complaints process until the unacceptable behaviour stops, and the school can resume the process.
- Issue a verbal or written warning - This sets clear expectations for future conduct and the school may issue a communications plan to reduce risk of confrontation.
- Ban parents from school grounds - In persistent or extreme cases of abusive behaviour, a school may take action by placing a ban on parents. The ban is usually issued in writing by the headteacher, though in some cases the local authority, academy trust or governing body may write one instead. Parents will have the right to appeal.
The outcome of a formal complaint is often a resolution, where parents and the school have worked together to listen and take action to support the child’s education.