How to complain about a school in England

The stages at a glance

1. 01Stage 1: Informal (class teacher / headteacher)

   Response: typically around 10 days

   Raise the concern with the class teacher first, or the headteacher if it is about a member of staff. Most school policies expect this informal stage before a formal complaint, and many issues end here. Put the concern in writing (email is fine) even at this stage, so there is a record of what you raised and when.

2. 02Stage 2: Formal complaint to the governing body

   Response: typically around 15 days

   If the informal stage does not resolve it, submit a formal written complaint following the school's procedure, usually to the headteacher, or to the chair of governors if the complaint is about the headteacher. Many procedures include a hearing before a panel of governors who have had no prior involvement. Set out the facts in date order, what has already been tried, and what outcome you are seeking.

3. 03Stage 3: Escalation to the Department for Education

   Once the school's own procedure is exhausted, you can escalate to the Department for Education. This now covers academies too, since the Education and Skills Funding Agency's responsibilities moved into the DfE. The DfE will not normally re-judge the substance of your complaint; it checks whether the school followed its own published procedure and the law. That is why keeping a clean record of each stage matters so much.

Timescales are set by each school's own policy, and are usually counted in school days rather than working days. Check the policy and adjust your expectations around term dates.

Complaints that follow a different route

Some school disputes have their own statutory process and should not go through the general complaints procedure:

• Exclusions: the governing board must review certain exclusions, and permanent exclusions can go to an independent review panel.
• Admissions: refused places are challenged through an independent admission appeals panel, not a complaint.
• Special educational needs: disagreements about EHC needs assessments and plans go to the SEND Tribunal.
• Whole-school safeguarding or standards concerns: Ofsted considers concerns about a school as a whole, but does not investigate individual parental complaints.

What to keep as evidence

Schools respond to specifics. A complaint that says “on 14 May I emailed the headteacher and received no reply within the 10 school days your policy promises” is far harder to dismiss than a general expression of unhappiness.

• A copy of the school's complaints policy as it stood when you complained (policies change).
• Every letter and email, and dated notes of phone calls and meetings, including who was present and what was agreed.
• The school's responses at each stage, with the dates they arrived compared to the policy's promised timescales.
• Anything that shows the impact on your child, such as missed provision, attendance records, or medical and professional letters.

Common questions