How to make a complaint about local authority (LA) maintained and academy schools
- An LA maintained school is administered by local government (Cornwall Council)
- An an academy is directly under the control of central government
Both types of school are state funded. You can find out if your child's school is LA maintained or an academy from their website.
Step 1
Contact the school to discuss the problem first – most problems can be solved this way
- It is best to raise concerns / complaints at the earliest opportunity with appropriate school staff
- For special educational needs (SEN) this can include the SENCO (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator). Every school has one of one of these
NB If your concern relates to a statutory assessment of SEN, called an education, health and care needs assessment, you may wish to contact Cornwall SENDIASS. They are an independent free service for families that can provide support and advice on a wide range of SEN matters
- Tel: 01326 331633
- Website: https://cornwallsendiass.org.uk
You can also contact our Statutory SEN Service at: statutorySEN@cornwall.gov.uk
Step 2
If it is not possible to address the problem informally, follow all the steps in the school’s complaints policy
The complaints policy is available from your child's school. You can ask the School Office for a copy, it should also be published on the school's website.
Step 3
If you feel that a school’s complaints policy has not been followed correctly by the school, then you can contact:
- For LA maintained schools you could contact the Department for Education (DfE)
- For academy schools you should contact the Education Standards and Funding Agency (ESFA).
The ESFA will only consider the complaint if the complainant can provide evidence that the school or multi academy trust:
- does not have a complaints procedure
- did not provide a copy of its complaints procedure when requested
- does not have a procedure that complies with statutory regulations
- has not followed its published complaints procedure
- has not allowed its complaints procedure to be
For special educational needs you can contact us after following the steps in your child's school complaints policy.
If you have used all the stages in a school’s complaints policy and are not satisfied with the outcome you can contact us via our feedback team.
Further information on different types of complaint can be found via the links below: