Complaints

COMPLAINTS

Chigwell School is a busy place and within the space of a working week, let alone a school term, a huge number of school activities take place and many pupils are involved in many activities. A great deal is achieved with cheerful cooperation from all sides, but we do recognise that conflicts of interest, misunderstandings and disagreements will occasionally occur between pupils, parents and teachers – although such occasions are rare. Under these circumstances we undertake to deal with issues promptly and fairly – informally in the first instance. If parents do have a complaint, they can expect it to be treated by the School in accordance with our complaints procedure. Parents of children in one of the School’s reception classes who have concerns about how the School meets the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage have additional recourse to the Independent Schools Inspectorate www.isi.net and Ofsted www.gov.uk

Separate procedures apply in the event that a child protection issue arises. Any concern about the safety of a child should be notified immediately to the person believed to be best placed to take urgent action and should be confirmed in writing to the Headmaster.

In some schools issues have arisen where parents have expressed frustration and have even been critical of the school and staff on social networking sites. Clearly it would rarely be appropriate to act in this way and elsewhere, in a minority of cases, legal action has resulted. If parents have concerns or would simply like to discuss issues, it is far better to contact the School or to use the complaints process.

Full details of the complaints procedure can be found on the School’s website.