Complaints Policy
The John Berne School’s Complaints Handling Policy
The John Berne School welcomes feedback from all members of the school community and takes all complaints or concerns that may be raised seriously. This Complaints Handling Policy is designed to assist you in understanding how to make a complaint.
What is a Complaint?
A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction made to The John Berne School, related to our services or operations, or the complaints handling process itself, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected.
Complaints and allegations of staff misconduct or reportable conduct are managed separately to other complaints. Refer to the section at the end of this policy – Complaints and Allegations of Staff Misconduct or Reportable Conduct for more information.
The John Berne School’s Commitment
The John Berne School is committed to handling complaints effectively and efficiently. To manage complaints effectively, we have established a Complaints Handling Program in line with both the international complaints handling standard (ISO 10002:2018 Quality management – Customer satisfaction – Guidelines for complaints handling in organizations), and the Australian/New Zealand complaints handling standard (AS/NZS 10002:2014 Guidelines for complaint management in organizations).
Our Complaints Handling Program includes the establishment of an online complaints management system which allows us to effectively capture, manage and report on complaints. Regular analysis of complaints received and the implementation of rectification action, where deficiencies are identified, are key to the School’s commitment. Our internal complaints handling process are available at no cost.
How Do I Make a Complaint?
We ask that, where appropriate, you first raise the matter directly with the relevant staff member. If that is not appropriate or the issue was not addressed to your satisfaction, please contact our Complaints Manager on 9560 9260 or at [email protected].
If you have been unable to resolve a matter informally, or simply wish to make a formal complaint you can do so by any of the following means:
- Sending an email to [email protected]
- Writing a letter to the School addressed to “The Complaints Manager”.
- Telephoning the School and asking to speak to your child’s Stage Co-ordinator.
Complaints and Allegations of Staff Misconduct or Reportable Conduct
Complaints and allegations of staff misconduct and/or reportable conduct are managed by the School in a different manner to other complaints. This is because the School has legal obligations to report certain staff conduct to external authorities. Staff misconduct is a broad term that could include breaches of professional boundaries, codes of conduct or standards of behaviour, whereas reportable conduct is a term defined in law and includes:
- any sexual offence or sexual misconduct, committed against, with or in the presence of a child (including child pornography offences, sexual touching or an offence involving child abuse material) including grooming behaviours
- any assault, ill-treatment or neglect of a child
- any behaviour that causes psychological harm to a child (whether or not, in any case, with the consent of the child).
If your complaint relates to alleged staff misconduct or reportable conduct please make your complaint to the Principal [email protected] or if this person is the subject of your complaint please notify the Stage Coordinator [email protected]
For more information about School’s complaints handling procedures regarding allegations of staff misconduct or reportable conduct, please refer to our Procedures for Handling Allegations of Staff Misconduct and Reportable Conduct document.