| Customer Care and Feedback Booklet |
| Customer Care Parent Feedback Booklet Graphs |
At Armadale Academy we want you to be confident that your children are safe, enjoy school and are achieving at their highest possible level. . Sometimes though you may feel that you have a concern that you wish to raise.
We want you to feel part of the school, to help us with your child’s education and we want to make sure that your child and you are treated fairly.
In Armadale we follow the West Lothian Council Complaints Guidelines, a copy of which is available from our School Office or by clicking here. In addition, we have our own comprehensive Complaints and Concerns Policy.
This states that if you feel you wish to contact us with a concern, either by phone, visit or letter, we will investigate your concern, and inform you by phone of our findings and actions within 2 working days, or by letter within 3 working days.
If you phone us, it is our stated objective that we answer your call within 3 rings, and if you write to us and include a contact phone number, to call within 48 hours, or reply to your letter within 1 week. We will monitor this Monthly, and will publish our findings on the website. You can also use the School Website to contact us directly, and we aim to respond to your email within 48 hours.
In addition to this, we would also like to hear from you if you wish to praise an initiative we are undertaking, or an individual pupil for their actions, as these are as valid for us as any other form of communication.
We will:
put you and your child first and work with you to support your child’s education. This includes dealing with any complaints you may have. |
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| deal with your complaint quickly and fairly | ||
| tell you what is happening with your complaint and we will do everything we can to help you. | ||
treat the information you give us in confidence. |
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explain our decision. |
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use complaints to review and improve the way we provide services. |
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ensure that if your complaint relates to your child’s education your child will not be affected if you make a complaint. |
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publish information on the kinds of complaints we receive, to let you know how we have dealt with them. |
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By visit, stating at the School Office the nature of your concern and where possible being directed to the relevant member of the staff.
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By phone on 01501 730601 stating the nature of your concern. The school receptionist will log your call and take a note of the main area of your complaint. She will then tell you which member of staff will either clarify matters for you there and then or investigate the issues you raise and get back to you within an agreed time-scale.
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By letter to: Graham Johnstone West Main Street Armadale EH48 3LY stating the nature of your concern and leaving your address or phone number so that we can contact you.
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By E-mail: armadale.ac@wled.org.uk stating the nature of your concern.
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Making a complaint
We will try to resolve your complaint when you first make contact with us.
Please stay calm
Try to stay calm and polite however angry or upset you may feel. You are more likely to explain your complaint clearly if you stay calm.
Our staff will do their best to settle your complaint without you needing to do anything else.
If we cannot resolve matters for you straightaway please make an appointment to meet with your child’s Head of House.
Putting your complaint in writing
If we cannot resolve the issue immediately to your satisfaction, it would be helpful at that point to put your complaint in writing. You can do this by filling in a complaint form. The complaints form can be downloaded by clicking here. Alternatively, complaints forms are available at reception.
A member of staff will be happy to assist if you need help in writing out your complaint or filling in the form. If you prefer, a friend or relative can fill in the form for you.
The Headteacher will write to you within three working days to let you know we have received your complaint and if necessary to arrange an appointment with you.
Arranging an appointment
Should you feel at this point that a face-to-face meeting is necessary please contact the school and arrange an appointment with a member of the school’s management team. If you feel you need support during such a meeting you are welcome to bring along a relation or friend. Please inform the school if this is you intention.
At this meeting we will:
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If your complaint needs more investigation and we cannot sort out the problem within three working days, we will contact you to keep you up to date with progress.
A summary of the complaints recieved by the Academy so far this year is available by clicking on Record of complaints/concerns
We will investigate your complaint / concern, and then contact you within the specified timescale to outline our findings and actions.
These depend on our findings, and have in the past involved special year group Assemblies where we discuss an issue to all involved. We have also included lessons in PSD where particular concerns have been addressed. Individual staff have spoken with Parents about issues, and staff have discussed concerns that have been raised. Should disciplinary action be required, we follow West Lothian and our own discipline policy recommendations.
Actions are dependent on circumstances and evidence collation. Details and feedback on action take during this academic year is available by clicking the link below.
Please contact us to let us know of your concerns. Hopefully this will not happen as well will do our best to explain why a particular course of action has been taken. This is clearly outlined in the Customer Care booklet outlining the complaints policy and procedures for Education and Cultural Services in West Lothian, available from the school, Council Information Offices, Local Libraries, West Lothian House and Lindsay House., available from the School Office or by clicking here.
If you are still unhappy with the results of our investigations or if your complaint is about the Head Teacher, then you can ask West Lothian Education Services Customer Care Unit to review your complaint.
Contact:-
| West Lothian Council | ||
| Education and Cultural Services | ||
| Customer Care Unit | ||
| Lindsay House | ||
| South Bridge Street | ||
| Bathgate | ||
| EH48 ITS | ||
Although we do our very best at all times, regrettably, we still receive a number of complaints / concerns every month. We are very open about these, because as a School we recognise that we are the major focal point of the Community, and as such we take our responsibilities to you very seriously. We publish figures for complaints / concerns we receive each month as we believe that being open and frank assists us in our future developments.
A summary of the complaints recieved by the Academy so far this year is available by clicking on Record of complaints/concerns
As stated, we in Armadale Academy endeavour to answer all phone calls in 3 rings or less.
If your complaint is complex and you feel you are not getting the issues resolved you can contact an independent person or organisation, for example:
Your local councillor
Your MSP or MP
A solicitor
Citizen’s Advice Bureau
If you continue to feel your case has not been properly handled you can submit a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman (See below).
As part of our ongoing commitment to self-evaluation and improvement we have decided to undertake a programme of contacting our "customers" to ascertain if they were satisfied with the actions taken by the school.
| We value your input and look forward to taking your suggestions further. | ||
| We will ask you 6 questions in a simple Yes/No format but allow the opportunity for a more extended answer if required. | ||
| We will contact up to 10 people each month who raised concerns with the School. |
For responses so far, click the link below.
If you remain unsatisfied with how your concern has been handled by the School and West Lothian Council, you have the right to refer it onwards to the Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman can be contacted at:
| The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman | ||
| Freepost EH641 | ||
| Edinburgh EH3 0BR | ||
| Phone - 0870 011 5378 | ||
| Fax - 0870 011 5379 | ||
| Email - enquiries@scottishombudsman.org.uk | ||
