Parents and Carers

Responding to Parents’ Concerns

What are our aims?

Skipton Girls’ High School aims to establish and promote a close relationship with all parents, in the interests of their children. We recognise that children will feel more secure when they receive consistent messages from both home and school. Parents’ views about our School are welcomed, including the expression of any concerns. At the same time we undertake to inform parents as soon as possible about any issues of concern to the School so that we can gain co-operation in resolving them.

What do we do to avoid concerns arising?

At Skipton Girls’ High School we work closely with parents in order to keep them informed of all aspects of school life. We have:

• Information to parents on Transition, Curriculum, Home learning
• our student-parent-school agreement
• parents’ evenings
• a full written report once a year for parents about their child
• attitude to learning and grade reports at least twice a year for parents about their child
• an Annual Report for parents from the Governing Body followed by an Annual Meeting for parents with Governors
• our half-termly newsletter
• SGHS Parents in Partnership - a parents focus group which meets half termly
• communication between home and school in students’ planners
• school website (www.sghs.org.uk) with information for parents about all school activities

All Governors’ Policies and procedures, including this one, are permanently available. Furthermore, we ensure that all members of staff joining the School, both teaching and Associate staff, are aware of our policy and the procedure to be followed.

How do we respond to a concern raised by a parent?

We aim to offer a first-class service at all times with the following response times:

• During term-time the school switchboard is staffed between 8.00 am – 5.00 pm and telephone calls should be returned within 24 hours. During school holidays answerphone messages are checked regularly.
• Letters, faxes and e-mails should receive a reply within 48 hours.
• Requests for information should be dispatched within 3 working days. If this is not possible, an interim response should be made within 3 working days, and you should be informed when you can expect the information requested.
• Visitors to School with an appointment should be attended to within 15 minutes of their appointment time. Visitors without an appointment should be seen within 30 minutes if the appropriate person is available, or offered an appointment at a mutually convenient time.
• If you have a complaint, please contact your child’s personal tutor in the first instance. It is always best to make an appointment, to ensure the teacher is available and sufficient time and attention can be given. Experience has shown that most difficulties can be resolved satisfactorily at this stage.
• If this is not the case, contact the Head of Academy's PA and ask for an appointment with Mr Turner to discuss the matter or alternatively put your concern in writing to her. We should acknowledge your complaint within 48 hours. An interim report should follow within 5 working days, together with an indication of when you can expect to receive the final report. You will receive an apology, if appropriate, and we will use any complaints to help us improve.
• If you are still dissatisfied, you can appeal to the Governing Body, by writing to the Chair of Governors, c/o the School address. Any formal complaint presented to a panel of Governors will be reported, in outline, to the next meeting of the Governing Body.

We are committed to responding to any parental concern as quickly and as sensitively as possible in order to resolve the issue promptly and before it develops into a serious complaint.

How can we continue to improve our practice?

We keep a record of complaints so that we are informed about:

• the nature of complaints;
• the point at which the complaint was resolved;
• the measures adopted to resolve the complaints.

The Head of Academy and senior staff review this record on a regular basis to enable consideration to be given to any underlying issues which need to be addressed by the School and the Governors.