Fixing school problems
Are you having problems at school?
This page gives you some people you can contact to try to resolve your problems.
Fixing school problems I don’t like what my school is doing, what can I do? How can I take a complaint about my school further?
Are you having problems at school?
This page gives you some people you can contact to try to resolve your problems.
If you don’t like a rule at the school, you should contact the student representative on the Board.
If you think that your school is treating you unfairly, the easiest and most effective way to deal with the problem is to talk to a dean at the school about it. Otherwise, you can also make an appointment with your school principal/deputy principal to discuss your concerns or write a formal letter of complaint.
If you don’t feel comfortable talking to the principal, or if the principal is the cause of your concerns, or you haven’t received a satisfactory response from your principal, you can try contacting your school’s Board of Trustees directly.
Sometimes, even after you’ve complained to the school, you may feel your complaint isn’t dealt with satisfactorily. If that is so, you can also try:
Ministry of Education – about general problems you are having with schools.
Education Review Office – about problems that are affecting groups of students. For example, if the school is not addressing a serious bullying problem, or the school is not teaching the curriculum properly.
Human Rights Commission – about discrimination.
Ombudsman – about the school following a wrong process, but they can only make recommendations.
High Court – for judicial review cases, but this can be extremely expensive.
If you have an issue that you haven’t been able to sort out by talking to the school first, call YouthLaw.