---

Complaints Policy

---

To download this policy, please Click Here

Introduction

There may be an occasion when you need to tell us that something has gone wrong. If this is the case, please follow the below procedures.

Complaints about Admissions, Child Protection, Exclusions, Staff Grievances, Safeguarding and Whistleblowing are dealt with under a separate process to these procedures.

If you have a serious concern about the safety or welfare of your child or another student it should be dealt with under our Child Protection procedures; in such circumstances, please contact Miss Grace Sheridan (Designated Safeguarding Lead), or Mr Simon Trehearn (Principal). You should take any serious concerns about the behaviour of a staff member directly to the Principal, Mr Simon Trehearn; examples of serious concerns include those involving violence, anything of a sexual nature or persistent bullying or humiliation.

All other complaints, including those that may point to poor practice by a member of staff, will be dealt with through this Complaints Procedure. There are two sections to this procedure; Informal Complaints Procedure and Formal Complaints Procedure.

Complaint campaigns will be managed on a case by case basis by The Academy.

Duplicate Complaints - If after closing a complaint at the end of the procedure a duplicate complaint is received, e.g. from a spouse, partner or other family member, about the same subject, the new complainant will be informed that the Academy has already considered that complaint and the local process is complete. Should there be any new aspects to the complaint then these will be investigated separately in accordance with this procedure.

Serial or Persistent Complaints - If all stages of the complaints procedure have been followed and the complainant remains dissatisfied and tries to re-open the same issue, they will be informed that the procedure has been completed and that the matter is now closed. If the complainant contacts the Academy again on the same issue, the correspondence may then be viewed as ‘serial’ or ‘persistent’ and the Academy can choose not to respond.

Section A – Informal Complaints Procedure

Most concerns can be dealt with by liaising with your child’s Tutor or other appropriate staff in the Academy; please contact the relevant member of staff directly via email (all email addresses can be found on our website https://lanfranc.org.uk/our-staff/ ) or by calling the main switchboard and asking for the relevant staff member to contact you. Your call or email will be acknowledged by the next working day. Please make sure you outline your concern fully and then allow the member of staff an opportunity to address the issue and, if necessary, put it right.

Should this Informal Complaints Procedure not resolve a matter, you should then use our Formal Complaints Procedure.

Section B – Formal Complaints Procedure

Within the Academy we take complaints very seriously, and we have a four-stage Formal Complaints Procedure to ensure they are handled properly. You must ensure that the process outlined below is followed and each stage exhausted before moving to the next.

(If your complaint is about a Vice Principal of the Academy, you should send it in the first instance to the Principal of The Archbishop Lanfranc Academy, Mr Simon Trehearn. STrehearn@lanfranc.org.uk)

(If your complaint is about the Principal of the Academy, you should send it in the first instance to the Chair of Governing Body, an individual governor or the whole Local Governing Body at The Archbishop Lanfranc Academy (https://lanfranc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Member-and-Governor-Information-April-2022.pdf ), you should send it in the first instance to Alan Buckland, Chair of Governors, abuckland@lanfranc.org.uk

As this complaints procedure is not a legal process, it is not intended that any party has legal representation. Such representation will only be allowed in exceptional circumstances and with prior agreement of either the Principal, the Stage 3 investigator or the Complaint Panel, dependent on the stage.

Stage 1

You should put your complaint in writing to a Vice Principal, Mr Richard Ellis or Mr Jon Atkinson. Complaints must be made within three months of the event. Complaints after this period will only be considered in exceptional circumstances. Within two school days of receipt of your complaint, the Vice Principal will inform you of the action to be taken to investigate your complaint, the expected time it will take to do so and commit to providing a written response at the end of the investigation.

Following the investigation and written response from the Vice Principal, if no further communication is received from you within five school days, then it is deemed the complaint has been resolved and is ended.

Stage 2

Within five school days of receipt of the written response from the Vice Principal in response to Stage 1, should you feel the actions taken by the Vice Principal under Stage 1 of this procedure have not resulted in a full investigation of the cause of the original complaint, or if the evidence suggests the Vice Principal has come to an incorrect judgement, you can begin Stage 2 of this procedure. To enter Stage 2, you must outline to the Principal in writing and within five school days of the written response to Stage 1 the reasons why you feel the Vice Principal has not carried out a full investigation of the original complaint or has come to an incorrect judgement and what further investigations you feel need to be conducted (the form at the end of this policy can you used to help structure your information). The Principal will reply within five school days of receipt of the Stage 2 complaint outlining either:

• Why he feels the cause of the original complaint has been fully investigated by the Vice Principal under Stage 1 of the Complaints Procedure and that there is no further investigation that can be carried out;
or
• the action to be taken to investigate your Stage 2 complaint, the expected time it will take to do so and commit to providing a written response at the end of the investigation. This written response will outline whether the complaint is upheld and therefore suggest a resolution, or rejected.

Following any final written response from the Principal to conclude Stage 2 of this procedure, if no further communication is received from you within five school days, then it is deemed the complaint has been resolved and is ended.

Stage 3

If you still feel that the issue has not been fully investigated, or feel that the evidence suggests the Principal has come to an incorrect judgement, or you are unhappy with a proposed resolution, you will need to complete the stage 3 complaint form (below) to Alan Buckland, Chair of Governors abuckland@lanfranc.org.uk within five school days of receipt of the written response from the Principal. Provided the complaint is within the remit of the Governors, a Complaints Panel will be arranged and will meet within twenty school days of receipt of the Stage 3 complaint and you will be invited to attend and can be accompanied if you may wish. The Academy Secretary will inform you when supporting documents, relevant to the complaint, must be submitted, so that these can be shared with both parties at least 5 days prior to the panel hearing.

The panel will consist of 3 people who have not been directly involved in the matter detailed in the complaint and one member of the panel will be a person who is independent of the Academy but may be a Governor or a Director within the Trust.

The panel will listen to your complaint or your reasons for rejecting an offered resolution, as well as hearing from the Principal the reasons for his decision at the end of Stage 2 of the Complaints Procedure. The panel can then either dismiss the complaint, or uphold the complaint, in full or in part, and may make findings and recommendations. You will be given a date by which a decision will be taken and you and the person complained about will be notified of the outcome in writing. The letter should be in your preferred language.

As with all formal complaints a copy of the letter, supporting documentation, which will include the outcome and any resolutions/findings/recommendations, will be in a confidential file held at the Academy and be available for inspection by the Principal and Secretary of State or any inspection body under section 109 of the 2008 Act.

This is the final stage of the academy-based complaints procedure.

Stage 4

If you are dissatisfied with the handling or the outcome you have the right to refer the case to the Department for Education. Further details are available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education/about/complaints-procedure#complain-about-a-school-or-an-academy

Contact details are:

The school is an academy and is therefore governed by The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (as amended) (“the Regulations”), Schedule, part 7. In the case of any variance between the procedure outlined in this Complaints Policy and the Regulations, the procedure outlined in the Regulations will apply

---

To download the Stage 2 and above complaint form, please Click Here

To download this policy, please Click Here