Please read here for information regarding our complaints process and how you can share your own comments or positive feedback with us.

Compliments or Comments

We are always striving to provide the very best schooling experience for our tamariki and when we get things right, we are always thrilled to receive positive feedback so we welcome you to share any directly with a particular teacher, the principal or the Board of Trustees if you wish to.

We believe that home and school need to work in partnership to provide the best teaching and learning programmes possible so we also highly value our school communities ideas and suggestions.  Please feel free to share your ideas, suggestions or comments directly with staff and/or BoT in person, via an email, letter or a phone call.

Complaints or Concerns

It goes without saying that sometimes, despite our best efforts, we don't always get things right.  Working in a school is a complex job and on the odd, rare occasion, mistakes may happen or events take place that may have caused concern. On our Southbridge School SchoolDocs site we have a policy that provides staff members, parents/caregivers, and the wider school community with clear guidelines for raising and resolving concerns and complaints.

We encourage open communication and prefer that you come to us to talk through any issues rather than discussing them in the community.

We have procedures in place to ensure that complaints and concerns are handled appropriately. Our procedures enable us to:

• maintain a safe environment for our students and staff
• treat all people fairly, transparently, and with dignity and respect
• resolve matters of concern early, if possible
• respond to feedback and concerns constructively
• deal with complaints fairly, effectively, and in a timely manner
• take into account individual circumstances
• maintain confidentiality
• preserve and enhance school and community relationships
• monitor and record complaints and concerns about student safety and well-being.

Most concerns can be resolved informally through discussions with the people concerned. See Guidelines for Raising Concerns. The school also has a procedure for making a formal complaint if informal discussion doesn't resolve the issue.

For complaints concerning harassment, see Harassment. For allegations of theft or fraud, see Theft and Fraud Prevention. School employees needing to make a protected disclosure, see Protected Disclosure.  Please understand that we also have a legal obligation to protect the privacy of students and staff at all times.

We will be able to manage your concerns and complaints more effectively if you raise them with us promptly.  

Complaints about events that occurred more than three months earlier, do not involve you or your children, or which have been made anonymously, will not usually be formally investigated.