Note: pages 2 to 4 of the form are about consenting to Ofsted sharing the information you provide on pages 6 to 8 where you tell us about your complaint. You can still submit the form even if you do not consent.
You should consider whether it is appropriate for you to raise your concerns formally with the school before submitting this complaint to Ofsted. If, however, you do wish to submit this complaint now then you should be aware that Ofsted may need to contact the school/provider to progress your complaint.
What Ofsted may do with your complaint
Ofsted will review the details of your complaint to identify if there are any wider concerns about the school it may wish to consider further. The possible outcomes of this review process are:
- no immediate action, except to suggest the most appropriate alternative complaints route to you
- refer a summary of your complaint to another statutory agency where their powers would ensure a better outcome for the pupils
- carry out an Ofsted assessment of your complaint, if it raises wider concerns about a school, that may require Ofsted to inspect the school.
Ofsted will provide you with a response following receipt of your concerns.
Personal data
Ofsted will first ask you for some of your personal details. We need this information:
- to follow up your concerns with the school, as you have told us you have raised your concerns with the school
- to provide you with a response for your complaint
- in case we need to pass your concerns and your identity to another agency, so they can consider whether to take action.
Sharing your details
Ofsted will use the data, including the personal data you submit, to handle your complaint. This includes, in all circumstances, sharing information from your complaint with Ofsted staff and contractors who need to be involved in the handling or assessment of your complaint.
In addition, the Ofsted Complaints about Schools team may have to share details of your complaint more widely with:
- other Ofsted teams, such as legal advisors, where this is required and/or appropriate
- your local authority children's services where your complaint raises concerns about the welfare of individual children or vulnerable adults. This is explained in the Ofsted safeguarding policy
- other public authorities, including the Department for Education, the Education and Skills Funding Agency and the Standards and Testing Agency
- the school you have complained about.
Identifying you to the school
Ofsted will not usually share your identity with the school, or other authorities, unless you have given consent for us to do so.
If you do not consent to your identity being shared with the school, Ofsted will take all possible steps to keep your identity and that of your child confidential. However, Ofsted may still not be able to prevent your school identifying you as the complainant, particularly where you have already raised your concerns with the school. It can also be more helpful for inspectors who contact or inspect the school if school leaders know which case is being discussed, as leaders can respond more fully.
Referrals to the local authority
The local authority is your council.
If you provide information to Ofsted that causes us concerns, for example, about the safety and welfare of individual children or vulnerable adults we may consider it necessary to make a safeguarding referral to the local authority. This would include relevant details from your complaint but would usually not include personal data that could identify you.
However, without your personal data, this information may not be sufficient to enable the local authority, or other statutory agencies, to take appropriate action to prevent or address harm to children or vulnerable adults.
While we will always share a summary of your concerns, if we identify safeguarding issues and there are concerns about the safety and welfare of individual children or vulnerable adults, we would also ask for your consent to share the remainder of your complaint, including your identity, with the local authority. This will enable the local authority to consider your concerns fully and take appropriate action.
Referrals to other agencies
Ofsted may refer the information we receive from you to other agencies (for example the Department for Education or the Education and Skills Funding Agency) when they are the appropriate agency to take action on the information.
Ofsted would not usually share your personal data with those agencies. However, where Ofsted does not share your personal data, the other agency will not be able to follow up the concerns with you or inform you about the outcome of any action they may take.
Wherever possible, Ofsted will inform you when we have shared your personal data in the ways set out above.
Ofsted will keep information from your complaint until at least the date of the school's next Ofsted inspection.
Ofsted has limited legal powers to consider complaints about schools. Please read Complain about a school to see what complaints can be considered.
Please provide an email or postal address on page 6 so that Ofsted can respond to you directly about your concerns.
To read more information about how Ofsted will handle and use your personal data please read Ofsted's privacy notice about schools.
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