Complaints

Policy Statement

Queen’s Online School is committed to providing excellent service to our students, parents, and guardians. To continually improve the quality of our school, we aim to listen and respond to feedback provided by the members of our school community. This policy does not pertain to complaints brought by staff members and grievance procedures should be followed in the event of staff complaints.

This policy will ensure that feedback and complaints are handled fairly and comprehensively. We will aim to:

Handle complaints and feedback promptly, politely, respectfully, and confidentially
Respond to complaints appropriately, with explanations and/or apologies where appropriate
Learn from feedback and complaints and use them to improve the overall quality of the service provided by our school
An informal approach is appropriate when it can be achieved. If, however, concerns cannot be satisfactorily resolved informally, the formal complaints procedure should be followed.

Parents and Guardians can bring their concerns to the attention of the Deputy headteacher who can be contacted by emailing enquiries@queensonlineschool.com.

Unless it is explicitly stated that a complaint is being made, communications that express dissatisfaction with a process within the school will be accepted as feedback. The contents of the feedback will be investigated and addressed internally, and any learnings from later reflection will be used to further improve our school.

Stage 1: Complaint Heard by Relevant Team

If a parent or guardian wishes to raise a complaint, they must make it in writing and can either post it to Queen’s Online School, Cambridge Online Education, Cambridge House, Camboro Business Park, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB3 0QH, United Kingdom or email enquiries@queensonlineschool.com
Complaints must be made within 30 days of the event. Complaints after this period will not be considered
The relevant team will review the details of the complaint
The team responding to the complaint will investigate the contents of the complaint and respond to the parent or Guardians within 10 working days
If no further communication is received from the complainant within 10 working days of receiving the school’s response, it is assumed that the complaint has been resolved and should end

Education Investigation Procedure

In the event that a complaint involves an incident in a lesson, support session, or extra-curricular club, or an aspect of the teaching and learning within the school, the School Leadership Team (SLT) will investigate this complaint in the procedure outlined below.

Any complaint involving an incident during a lesson must include the date and time of the lesson so the recording can be investigated.

• The person handling the complaint will ensure that a written acknowledgement is provided to the complainant within 5 working days of receiving a complaint
• Depending on the nature of the complaint, the school leadership team (SLT) may investigate the lesson recording, the class page, and/or the relevant pupil records
• Refer to whole-school policies to determine if the complaint can be upheld
• If the complaint cannot be upheld the school leadership team (SLT) will contact the complainant to inform them of the specific reasons for the decision and no further action will follow.
• If the complaint does contravene school policy and is upheld, further investigation will be undertaken including discussions with teachers, the gathering of additional contextual information, and evidence from parents/guardians.
• Following the investigation, the Headteacher will offer an appropriate and final statement/compensation to the complainant.