Compliments, Concerns & Complaints
Compliments
These are always welcome and very encouraging to teachers and staff. Holland Park encourages feedback or opinions from pupils and parents. In practice this dialogue is continuous, sometimes directly and also indirectly. It may not always be possible to act immediately but pupils and the school always benefit so please don’t hold back.
Concerns
It is natural that parents may, occasionally, be concerned about an aspect of their child’s education or welfare at school. This could include issues concerning the school’s approach to aspects of the curriculum, homework, behavioural problems or any other issue.
At Holland Park, we welcome enquiries from parents about any matter. Teachers and staff will explain the school practices, policies, and how they affect the pupils. The vast majority of concerns will be handled by the class teacher or by the head of phase if this is more helpful.
The usual format is to speak to the child’s class teacher in the first instance, or to contact the school office to arrange an appointment to discuss your concern with whoever you wish. At all times the staff will help to resolve a problem. If occasionally parents feel they must state their concern formally, this too is not a problem. The Trust has defined procedures for handling complaints so don’t be embarrassed if you feel an issue warrants more attention.
Complaints
The procedure is again to speak to the child’s class teacher in the first instance, or contact the school office to arrange an appointment to discuss your complaint with whoever you wish. The Complaints Policy (See below) will detail this process – just ask if you would like advice on this. It would be unusual to deviate from these procedures but the school always retains discretion in these matters.
Unacceptable Behaviour
Holland Park Primary School expects parents/carers/members of the public who wish to raise a complaint to:
- Treat all staff with courtesy and respect.
- Respect the needs and wellbeing of pupils and staff.
- Avoid any use, or threatened use, of violence to people or property.
- Avoid any aggression or verbal abuse.
- Recognise the time constraints under which members of staff in schools work and allow the school a reasonable time to respond.
- Recognise that resolving a specific problem can sometimes take time.
If the above is not adhered to the school may refuse to investigate until the above behavior is evident.
