Decision report 201100205

Summary
Mr C has a daughter who started primary three of school in August 2010. Mr C was concerned that his daughter's handwriting had deteriorated and sought a meeting with the head teacher. He was not happy with the outcome of that meeting and three other incidents involving his daughter's class teacher. He decided to remove his child from that primary school at the same time as making a complaint.

He complained to us after completing the council's complaints procedure. He was informed that we were precluded by paragraph 10 of Schedule 4 of the SPSO Act 2002 from looking into the giving of instruction or conduct, curriculum and discipline in any educational establishment under the management of an education authority. We considered three complaints from Mr C about the handling of his complaint by Education Services, and upheld one complaint about a delay in escalating the complaint.

Recommendations
We recommended that the council:
• ensure that the director of children and families apologise for the delay by that service in processing the second stage complaint; and
• note and act on the shortcomings identified in relation to the delay, to avoid a future recurrence.