I would appreciate advice from anyone with experience in UK school governance, teaching, clerking, or complaints procedures.
This relates to a bullying complaint about my daughter (she was bullied continuously and safeguarding did not prevent it) at a maintained primary school. I am now at Stage 2, and there will be a formal hearing next week. Present will be three governors (the panel), the headteacher (who is attending as the school representative but is also part of my complaint), and the governor who carried out the Stage 1 investigation (he will be questioned because of issues in his report).
I was given access to a shared OneDrive/Outlook folder. This folder contains all the evidence for the hearing, including my documents, the school’s documents, and the hearing pack. I do not use Outlook, but this is the system they have given me, and I’ve been able to access it without issue.
I have now learned that there is a second evidence folder located on GovernorHub. I do not have access to it. The people who do have access are the three governors on the panel, the clerk, the headteacher, and the Stage 1 investigator. The clerk has told me that this second GovernorHub folder contains identical documents and that it was set up for convenience because the governors and the headteacher already use GovernorHub.
This explanation does not make much sense to me. Everyone at the school already uses OneDrive and Outlook, so using the OneDrive folder I have access to would already be easy and convenient for staff. Yet, instead of using the same folder as me, they are using an additional folder on a governor workspace that I am not allowed to see.
I am finding this hard to trust because the school has a history of poor information handling. For example, I have submitted multiple SARs to discover how bullying was being handled, and twice the school told me that nothing further existed. A later SAR suddenly produced 22 pages of omitted documentation about my daughter including repeated contact from my family and me reporting issues and asking for help/follow up. In the Stage 1 investigation, the governor who acted as investigator contradicted staff statements and evidence in a way that seemed to protect the school. Now I have discovered that he and the headteacher have been using a separate GovernorHub workspace alongside the panel.
Even if the documents are genuinely identical in both locations, it means the panel and the school staff involved in the complaint share a workspace I cannot access, while I only work from the OneDrive folder. This raises questions for me about transparency and fairness.
My questions are: 1. Is it normal or appropriate for a school to use two separate evidence locations in a Stage 2 complaint, where the panel and the school staff have access to both but the complainant only has access to one? 2. Is it standard practice for evidence to be stored on GovernorHub, given that it is a governor workspace and the complainant cannot see it? 3. Would it normally be expected that all parties use the same shared evidence folder in a complaints process?
I am not trying to accuse anyone of wrongdoing. I am simply trying to understand whether this arrangement is standard practice or whether it is unusual and potentially problematic.
Any advice from teachers, governors, clerks, headteachers, or anyone knowledgeable about school complaints would be very welcome.
Thank you.
Edit: to make it clear. My daughter was the one who was bullied. She is not a bully. The bullying she experienced was targeted, repeated, and escalated in physical cal violence and mental stress. The school did nothing to protect her and even left her isolated with her bully several times which resulted in further trauma. I have already done everything I can with teachers, parents, and escalating up through the governors through an investigation and a panel. My daughter has been removed from the school and has lots of support. She’s in a safe place. My questions are specifically around why the school investigation panel, which is supposed to be independent, has a shared private drive with the member of staff who is the subject of my complaint.
Edit 2: I am aware of the extra drive and who has access to it because this information has been communicated to me by the clerk. I’m not looking for access to the drive. I’m questioning the impartiality of the complaint process and a panel who is sharing/working with evidence in a folder containing information. This folder has been shared with the subject of my complaint. This does not seem impartial to me. This raises the potential that information is being shared in a way that biases the panel, something that is counter to the complaints process and guidelines set by the department of education.
Edit 3: to the people that have replied to comments or PMd me with good advice, thank you. It’s difficult for any parent to watch their child go through this, and it’s especially more difficult when the school has a history of problematic behaviour/discourse around bullying issues. To the people who can’t discern that the subject of this thread is not what will be discussed at the hearing panel, but that it is instead a discussion around a process that seem to be unclear and potentially biased, I don’t know what you’re after. Clearly I’m not going to the panel about the issue/s discussed below, and I’ve expressed clearly that I have no intention of pursuing this outside the thread.