At St Francis Special School, all staff are dedicated to giving all children the best possible education and caring properly for their health, safety and welfare at all times. We are committed to working closely with parents and believe that school and parents must work together in partnership, each carrying out our own particular responsibilities to help pupils gain the most from their time in school.

If you feel that something is not going quite as you would like it to, that we are doing something that you are unhappy with, or not doing something that you feel we should, please tell us about it.

Please arrange to discuss any concerns with your child’s class teacher, or with the particular teacher concerned. We hope that most problems can be sorted out this way.

If, after speaking to your child’s teacher, you do not feel that your complaint has been properly dealt with, or if your concern is about the conduct of a particular teacher, then you should discuss the matter with the Head teacher, in almost all cases we can sort things out satisfactorily in this way.

If you feel the concern has not been resolved, you should make a formal written complaint to the Head teacher, unless the complaint is about the conduct of the Head teacher. You should then receive a written response

If your complaint is about the conduct of the Head teacher, or if you are dissatisfied with the Head teacher’s response to your formal complaint letter, then you will need to contact the governors.

You should send written details of your complaint, with any correspondence and evidence to support your complaint, to Amanda Smith, the Clerk to the Governors at the school address. If, for some reason, you do not feel able to do so, you should contact the Clerk, via the school, who will record your complaint as a statement for you to sign.

The governors will investigate your complaint and write to advise you of the outcome.

The decision of the governors is normally final; however, if you are dissatisfied with the governors’ response, you can take your complaint to a final stage, to an external body. You can contact the Local Government Ombudsman on 0300 0610614 or 0845 6021983, or by email advice@lgo.org.uk or see their website at www.lgo.org.uk/schools