Make an education complaint

We aim to help all those who wish to make a comment or complaint at the point where that service is provided.

Please talk to the person who has provided you with the service, as they may be able to help you there and then. You can talk to us either in person or via the telephone.

You may wish to make your comment or complaint anonymously. If you did this we will treat that comment or complaint as seriously as any other.

Telephone us on 0114 273 4567, then select 4.

At any time you can make a comment or complaint in writing. To do this you can write in and send it to the individual section or member of staff at Pinstone Street, Sheffield S1 2HH.

A comment or complaint can be made by either yourself or someone acting on your behalf. If you need help in completing the form downloadable on the right, a member of staff will assist you.

You can call into First Point which is based in the city centre and staff there will be able to assist you.

If you are not happy with the full response you receive, you can ask for your comment or complaint to be looked at again. This will be by a senior member of staff.

Most concerns and complaints can be sorted out quickly by speaking with your child's class teacher. All staff will make every effort to resolve your problem informally.

They will make sure that they understand what you feel went wrong, and they will explain their own actions to you. They will ask what you would like the school to do to put things right.

Of course, this does not mean that in every case they will come round to your point of view but it will help both you and the school to understand both sides of the question. It may also help to prevent a similar problem arising again.

If you are dissatisfied with the teacher's response you can make a complaint to the Head Teacher. This could be made in writing or by making an appointment to discuss the problem.

You may find it helpful at this stage to have a copy of the full statement of the School Complaints Procedure as this explains in detail what procedures are followed. This is available from the School.

The Head Teacher will ask to meet you for a discussion of the problem. You may take a friend or someone else with you if you wish. They will conduct a full investigation of the complaint and may interview any members of staff or pupils involved. You will then receive a written response to your complaint which you may wish to discuss with them.

If you are still not satisfied, you may wish to contact the Chair of Governors and request that they look again at your complaint and the Head Teacher's response. The Chair of Governors will seek to clarify your concerns and undertake their own independent investigation. You will then receive a written response to your complaint.

Should you remain dissatisfied with the response from the Chair of Governors, you can ask for your complaint to be referred to a Governing Body Complaints Review Panel.

This will comprise a group of 3 governors from the school who, as far as is possible, have no previous knowledge of the problem and who will therefore be able to give it fresh assessment.

You will be invited to attend a meeting and speak to the Panel in person. The full School Complaints procedure (available from the school) explains how these meetings operate.

Sheffield SEN and Disability Information Advice and Support (SSENDIAS) provide impartial, confidential information, advice and support to parents or carers of children with special educational needs on all matters relating to their child’s education.

Complaints about school are almost always settled within school. You may feel you have an unresolved complaint and have suffered injustice as a result of the actions of a school or its governing body and have exhausted the school’s complaints procedure. If your complaint is about an academy and you feel it has not been resolved satisfactorily by the academy’s governors or trustees, you can also make your complaint to the School Complaints Team, who will refer it to the Education Funding Agency. However, you must make your complaint in writing in the first instance to the Department for Education

Most concerns and complaints can be sorted out quickly by speaking with your child's nursery staff.

All staff will make every effort to resolve your problem informally. They will make sure that they understand what you feel went wrong, and they will explain their own actions to you.

They will ask what you would like the centre or school to do to put things right. Of course, this does not mean that in every case they will come round to your point of view but it will help both you and the centre or school to understand both sides of the question. It may also help to prevent a similar problem arising again.

If you are dissatisfied with the staff's response you can make a complaint to the Centre Manager or Head Teacher.

This could be made in writing or by making an appointment to discuss the problem. You may find it helpful at this stage to have a copy of the full statement of the centre or school Complaints Procedure as this explains in detail what procedures are followed. This is available from the centre or school office.

The Centre Manager or Head Teacher will ask to meet you for a discussion of the problem. You may take a friend or someone else with you if you wish.

They will conduct a full investigation of the complaint and may interview any members of staff or pupils involved. You will then receive a written response to your complaint, which you may wish to discuss with them.

If you are still not satisfied, you may wish to contact our Senior Manager who will then invite you to a meeting, which the Centre Manager or Head Teacher may also attend.

The centre or school Complaints Procedure statement explains how these meetings operate.

If you are still not satisfied, you may refer your complaint to the Head of our Young Children's Service.

Complaints about centre or school problems are almost always settled within the centre or school, but in exceptional cases it may be possible to refer the problem to an outside body such as the Advice and Conciliation Service.

This is independent of the centre or school. Again refer to the centre or school Complaints Policy.