• Why do people complain to schools?
• What must we have in place?
• Differences in government guidance for maintained schools, academies and independent schools
• Legal requirements and good practice (‘good reason’)
• What is the difference between concerns and complaints?
• Exclusions from ‘complaints’: exclusions, staff grievances, disciplinary procedures (all have separate policies and procedures)
• Who can raise a complaint?
• Understanding the reasons parents and community members express concerns
• Exploring the impact of complaints on school culture and community relations
• Complaints about the headteacher or governors/governing body

• Review of key legislation and guidelines governing school complaints
• The duty of schools to establish procedures for handling complaints
• The Department for Education (DfE) best practice guidance and model complaints policies
• The requirement to publish and publicise
• Incorporating guidelines into existing complaint procedures
• Exploring the role of Ofsted and other regulatory bodies
• Serial complaints and Duplicate: Differences
• Complaint ‘campaigns’

•  Best practices for acknowledging and responding to complaints – timeliness & stages
• Effective communication skills for handling difficult conversations – identifying persistent and vexatious complaints
• Strategies for de-escalation and remaining non-adversarial and impartial – the importance of timely responses
• Common mistakes to avoid when handling complaints
• Accurately documenting and logging complaints for future follow-ups

Practise your communication skills for responding to a complainant in the initial stage

• Addressing safeguarding issues
• Effective methods for collecting evidence (interviews, documentation review, etc.)
• Techniques for conducting fair and thorough investigations
• Who is suitable to investigate the complaint? Using external people e.g. a governor from another governing body
• Best practices for written responses
• Documenting findings and crafting an investigation report – recording meetings

• Providing realistic and fair resolutions: solutions and compromises – mediation
• Skills for effective communication and active listening: encouraging feedback and open dialogue
• Learning from complaints to improve school practices
• Ensuring accessibility and clarity for special cases
• Clarifying strategies for resolving informal vs. formal complaints
• The importance of follow-ups and continuing communication
• Setting boundaries and expectations for future communication

• Gathering feedback from complainants for procedural improvements
• Reporting issues to senior management for service enhancement
• Creating a culture of openness and responsiveness within the school
• Handling complaints that fall outside of established policy

• Identifying potential barriers in your school’s procedures and areas for improvement
• Key elements of an effective school complaints policy: simplicity, impartiality, confidentiality, etc
• Resources for ongoing development and support
• Training of staff to avoid and deal with complaints