Contacting the School

We want questions and concerns to be dealt with by the person who is best placed to help. In most cases, this will be your child’s Tutor, Head of Year or the relevant member of teaching or support staff, depending upon the nature of your enquiry.

Where an issue cannot be resolved at this level, or its seriousness requires it, it can be passed to the appropriate Subject Leader, Head of Year or member of the Leadership Team. This structure helps ensure that concerns are dealt with by colleagues who know the student, understand the circumstances and are in the best position to respond. 

The Headteacher has overall responsibility for the school, but this does not mean that every individual concern is most appropriately dealt with by the Headteacher personally.

Like all well-organised schools, Hayfield has clear structures of responsibility. Our teachers, Tutors, Subject Leaders, Heads of Year and other leaders have particular areas of responsibility and are often much closer to the circumstances surrounding an individual issue.

Starting with the person best placed to help usually means that a concern can be understood and addressed more effectively. Where an issue needs to be escalated, our procedures allow for this to happen at the appropriate stage. 

We will always try to ensure that your enquiry reaches the right person. However, a school is a busy working environment and many colleagues spend much of their day teaching lessons, supporting students or attending pre-arranged meetings.

This means that the person you need may not be available when you telephone. Our Reception team can take appropriate details so that your enquiry can be passed on and the relevant colleague can respond when they are available.

Our Complaints Policy recognises that it will not always be possible to speak immediately to the appropriate person because of teaching and management commitments.

We aim to respond as promptly as we reasonably can. Our Complaints Policy states that concerns will usually be acknowledged within 48 hours, unless there are exceptional circumstances, and that the school will aim to resolve an informal concern by telephone or face-to-face meeting within two school days, although circumstances such as school holidays may affect this.

Please remember that these timescales refer to school days rather than weekends, holidays or periods when the school is closed.

You are welcome to contact the school with a concern, but we cannot guarantee that the colleague you wish to see will be available without a pre-arranged appointment.

Teaching and other professional commitments mean that prior notice will normally be required for a meeting. If you contact Reception, we can ensure that your enquiry is passed to the appropriate person.

Most issues can be addressed without becoming formal complaints. Our policy distinguishes between a concern, where someone is seeking reassurance about an issue that is causing worry or doubt, and a complaint, which is an expression of dissatisfaction about something the school has done or not done.

We encourage concerns to be raised at an early stage because this gives us the best opportunity to understand what has happened and, wherever possible, resolve matters informally.

If an issue cannot be resolved informally, our Complaints Policy sets out a formal process. A formal complaint is made in writing using the school’s complaint form and will be investigated by the appropriate person. If a complainant remains dissatisfied following the formal stage, the policy also provides an appeal process.

The Complaints Policy contains separate arrangements for this. A complaint concerning the Headteacher should be made in writing to the Chair of Trustees and is dealt with through the process set out in the policy.

We will explain how we have responded to your concern as fully as we appropriately can. There may, however, be occasions when confidentiality means that we cannot share particular information about another individual. For example, where a complaint results in a staff disciplinary process, our policy makes clear that the details and outcome of those proceedings remain confidential.

The school’s Safeguarding page identifies the appropriate members of the Safeguarding Team and provides information about how concerns should be reported.