Where do parents turn when their child’s school lets them down?

I’m usually supportive of schools and their teachers and their heads. Most parents are. But sometimes they do things that simply have to be called out.

The enforcement of ludicrous and petty rules, particularly when it comes to uniform, on the grounds of “ethos”, would be a prime example.

The latest incident to cause scandal this week was a bona fide genre classic. It was also potentially dangerous.

Carrie-Anne and David Vickers, respectively the mother and stepfather of 12-year-old Ruby Reid, went public after Ruby was scolded at the gates and received a break-time detention because of a uniform violation at the Rivers Academy in West London.

Her crime? Failing to wear a sweater under her school blazer. On one of the hottest days of the year in which the mercury rose above 28C. Home/hybrid workers wore T-shirts. Those in workplaces went for the coolest clothes their (often air-conditioned) workplaces allowed. I can’t see many – any? – employers requiring sweaters on a shirtsleeves day. Can you?

“At Rivers Academy, we believe that our uniform provides a sense of belonging and self-worth, which are central to our guiding principles. Our students take pride in their appearance and we hope that by instilling these values, we are preparing them for the professional expectations of the world of work,” said a spokesperson for the school.

Here’s what should have been said: “On this occasion, we got it wrong. We would like to apologise to Ruby and her family. In future we will take steps to ensure this doesn’t happen.”

Those steps should include an email alerting parents that sweaters could be dispensed with on hot days (the school said it did ease the policy later in the day, which apparently explained why teachers were seen in weather-appropriate clothing).

All this raised a question: where does a fuming family go when a school acts in a manner that is stupid and (as the parents in this case noted) potentially dangerous? Recall that the Met Office had issued a weather warning. Somone might care to ask the biology teacher about dehydration.

Withdrawing a child isn’t a good option. You can’t switch schools like you can switch supermarkets when they give you static. Your child’s education would be disrupted and their friendship groups broken, not to mention the difficulty presented by finding a fresh place at another school.

Complain, you say?

This can be an effective strategy – even if it can take an interminable length of time. I still have a complaint open against what my local hospital describes as type 1 diabetic care after four months. But in two more months, I can approach the NHS watchdog. If complaints about local government aren’t resolved, they can similarly be forwarded to the local government ombudsman. Bank messing you around? Insurer won’t pay a valid claim? There’s the financial services ombudsman.

What about schools that behave badly?

When I perused the complaints policy of the Rivers Academy, I found it ran to 12 pages and, in my view, lacked substance. It said they will try to resolve the issue informally in the first incidence. If that fails, it can become a first-stage complaint, and then a second-stage complaint. While the complainant can ultimately find themselves before a three-member panel, none of whom are supposed to be involved with the complaint itself, only one of them is “independent”. The other two will be connected to the academy.

As I read through this stuff, I found myself wondering: would I be confident that anything would change if I pursued this process? I’m not sure I would.

Rivers is governed through its membership of the Aspiration Academy Trust. The governing body currently lists the slots for parent governors as vacant for both the primary and secondary part of its West London region. Nor are these academy governing bodies as close to schools as they are at local authority (LA) controlled equivalents.

There were three of us parent governors for just one small school when I served at my children’s primary. I would always raise issues affecting parents when I was alerted to them. The governing body worked well. An incident like the one above? All but unthinkable.

Ruby’s parents could always, I suppose, ring Ofsted’s bell, but that’s not an organisation anyone has a lot of faith in these days. The other potential outlet is escalating the issue to the Department for Education. I know. Don’t make me laugh. The woman at the top of that august body – Gillian Keegan – barely survived dropping an f-bomb during a hot mic whinge after an interview about crumbling concrete.

So, a schools ombudsman? Is that really what we need given everything else going on in education right now? Seems a stretch.

But there is a notable lack of accountability in the academy system favoured by both main parties. Parents’ voices are being squeezed out. This makes stupid stuff more likely to happen.

Some academy heads and bosses (often on strikingly high salaries) could use a break time detention or two. A quiet classroom isn’t the worst place in the world to do a little thinking. Ministers and officials should join them.

This sort of incident is distressing for parents. It is distressing for children. It shouldn’t happen in the first place. It ought to lead to an apology. If it doesn’t, if it is dealt with badly, parents need somewhere to go other than the media. It isn’t at all clear that they have that.