Making a complaint about a school

There are different ways to complain about a school in Newcastle depending on whether your child:

• attends a state school (maintained and academy/free school)
• attends an independent school
• has special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)

Schools may not consider complaints about behaviour that happens outside the school’s hours or premises.

Making a complaint

Follow the school’s complaints procedure, every school in England must have one. The school complaints procedure should be published on their website. It will tell you the steps to follow and what kind of complaints the school will deal with, such as bullying or bad behaviour.

After you’ve followed the school’s complaint process

If you’ve followed the school's complaints procedure and are unhappy with the outcome, you can complain to the Department for Education (DfE).

Complain about how a whole school is run

You can complain to Ofsted if you think a school is not run properly. You must have already followed the school’s complaints procedure.  You should get a response within 30 working days which will tell you if Ofsted will investigate or not, and why.

Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND)

If you want to complain about a school’s SEND support, you should do it while your child is still registered at the school.  This includes complaints that the school has not provided the support required by your child’s SEND statement or education, health and care (EHC) plan.

For information on how to challenge the decision made about your child’s EHC plan please go to the SEND Local Offer page.