Dealing with Parental Complaints

Starter: Family Fortunes What is the most frequent complaint received by: Head of Faculty? Head of Year? Headteacher?

Training Outcomes By the end of this session you will: Have an awareness of the different complaints that are most common in school Understand the complaints process and how it matches the current organisation Consider how you could deal with different complaints

Task 1: The Complaints Process Card sort: In what order are complaints dealt with? Who deals with each stage of the process? What are the time scales?

Task 2: Who Should Deal with the Following Complaints? My child’s English book has not been marked this term. My child has had no homework for the last month. My child is being persistently bullied. The teacher called my child an idiot in class yesterday. My child watched an inappropriate DVD in class. (It is not from the scheme of work and is challenging, but is not deemed as inappropriate.) My son has long hair and was called a girl by a supply teacher. My child’s maths teacher is frequently absent. My child sat an assessment last week and scored higher marks than many children in the set above, but they have not been moved. My son was beaten up in school yesterday and nothing was done about it. Other girls from my daughter’s year are harassing her on Facebook.

Task 3: Written Complaints Step 1 Take one of the complaints and write an email, making the complaint as though you were a parent.

Task 3: Written Complaints Step 2 Write a reply to the emailed complaint.

Task 3: Written Complaints Step 3 How effective is the reply? How could you make it better?

Task 4a: Dealing with Phone Calls Brainstorm the tactics and strategies you can use when dealing with a difficult phone call.

Task 4b: Dealing with Verbal Complaints Role play a complaint conversation. What feedback would you give?

Plenary What are the key points from the session?