If you feel that your child’s needs are not sufficiently met by their school or there are any other problems, it’s always best to try and resolve the issues with the school informally first. You could arrange a meeting with the school’s special needs co-ordinator (SENCO), your child’s class teacher or the head of year to discuss the problems and find possible solutions.  

Written complaints

If you are not satisfied with the outcome from the informal discussions you may wish to make a written complaint. This could be, for example, if:

• you feel your child is being discriminated against by the school

• your child is not being included in activities

• your child has been unlawfully excluded

• your child is being bullied

Complaints procedures

All schools are required to have a complaints procedure in place, which should be published on their website. This should set out who you can write to, how many stages there are in the complaints procedure and how long it will take to receive a response.

If your child has an education health and care plan (EHCP), but is not getting the support set out in the plan, you can complain directly to your local authority, rather than the school.

Read more advice on dealing with school disputes by clicking on the links below.