Moranbah East State School is committed to open, respectful, and positive communication with parents and carers, as a vital part of supporting your child's learning, wellbeing and development. To strengthen partnerships with families, the school continues to celebrate student achievements, share learning progress, respond promptly to important concerns, provide regular school updates, and invite your feedback and involvement.
As a parent or carer of a student at Moranbah East State School, from time to time you may feel the need to question the services or actions of the Department of Education (the department) or its staff, including decisions made or actions taken in a school and/or by the local regional office.
Moranbah East State School have a clear communication process that all parents/carers are requested to follow, ensuring your needs can be met by the right person as quickly as possible, to address any concerns/complaints that may arise:
Early resolution: the best place to raise any concerns is at the point where the problem or issue arose. This is usually directed to your child’s classroom teacher as your first point of reference. You can make an appointment at the school to discuss your complaint, or make your complaint in writing or over the phone. Your child’s teacher will either be able to resolve the situation or further address it with the leadership team of the school. If you believe the outcome to be unreasonable, you can them speak to the leadership team at the school. The Principal or his/her designated official (Deputy Principal) will be able to address the complaint with you. You can do this by either in writing, over the phone or making an appointment with the leadership team representative. Email: principal@mornabaheastss.eq.edu.au or telephoning 07 49413333.
Internal review: if, after taking the early resolution steps with your child’s classroom teacher and school’s leadership team, you have further questions or steps you would like to take with the concern/complaint if you believe the outcome to be unreasonable, you are then able to contact regional office to conduct a review. You need to submit a Request for internal review form within 20 days of receiving the complaint outcome.
External review: if you are dissatisfied after the internal review, you can contact a review authority, such as the Queensland Ombudsman or Queensland Human Rights Commission, and request an external review.
To ensure your concerns are addressed promptly, make sure your child’s school has details on the best way to contact you. Be mindful that school staff might not be able to respond to your request immediately, but that doesn’t mean you’re not important to them. Allow staff to have boundaries around their communication and give them reasonable time to respond. When communicating with staff, in writing or in person, be polite. School staff deserve to be treated with respect because they, just like you, want the best outcomes for your child. Be considerate of how you’re speaking and the impact it can have on the staff member. Be open to new ideas and be prepared that you might need to compromise to reach an agreement. You and your child’s school have different kinds of expertise when it comes to raising a child, and that expertise can be much more powerful when combined.
Some matters need to be handled in a different way to school matters and will be referred to other areas in the department. These include:
• issues about harm, or risk of harm, to a student attending a state school, which must be managed in accordance with the Student protection procedure.
• complaints about corrupt conduct, public interest disclosures, or certain decisions made under legislation, which will be dealt with as outlined in the Complaints and grievances management policy.
You can make an anonymous complaint; however, if you do not identify the school, or if you advise that you do not wish the school to be contacted, it may limit how your complaint can be assessed and resolved. If no contact information is provided, the complaint will still be addressed but the department cannot reply to you.
What are my responsibilities if I make a complaint?
You have a right to make a complaint, however, you also have responsibilities as a complainant to:
• be respectful and understand that unreasonable conduct will not be tolerated by school, regional or departmental staff.
• clearly outline what the problem is and what you are concerns about so that steps can be negotiated with the school
• provide all relevant information when making a customer complaint and inform the department of any changes impacting on your complaint
• understand that if the complaint is complex, it can take time to assess, manage and resolve.
What happens after I make my complaint?
If your complaint is not resolved during your initial contact, we will aim to resolve your complaint as soon as we can and within 30 days, wherever possible. Please be aware that school holidays and weekends will impact timeframes for resolving a complaint.
Once your customer complaint has been resolved, you will be contacted and informed of the outcome of your complaint, any recommendations, and any review options available to you.
For information privacy reasons, the department is unable to provide you with information about other people involved in your complaint, such as staff, other school community members, or students who are not under your care.