Complaints Procedure

Raising Concerns, Reviewing Issues, Protecting Learners, and Improving the Academy

Thoth.School provides a complaints procedure so learners, parents, guardians, staff, partners, and stakeholders have a clear route for raising concerns about learning, conduct, safety, accessibility, privacy, technology access, communication, or public information.

Purpose of This Procedure

The purpose of this procedure is to support fair, respectful, and organized handling of complaints and concerns connected to Thoth.School. Complaints may help identify problems, improve communication, protect learners, strengthen policies, and improve the online learning experience.

This procedure is intended for learners, parents, guardians, instructors, staff, partners, reviewers, and other stakeholders who need to understand how concerns may be raised and reviewed.

What This Procedure Covers

Complaints or concerns may relate to matters such as:

course information, learning expectations, assignments, feedback, or learner support;
communication with learners, parents, guardians, instructors, staff, or support personnel;
online conduct, bullying, harassment, eSafety, or inappropriate communication;
safeguarding, child protection, learner wellbeing, or school-age learner boundaries;
privacy, data protection, account access, platform activity, or record handling;
technology access, platform usability, login issues, or learning-tool problems;
accessibility, inclusion, language support, or reasonable support requests;
academic integrity, AI use, assessment concerns, or fairness of review;
provider-status wording, external examination clarity, or public representation concerns;
general service quality, policy clarity, or operational improvement issues.

Urgent Safeguarding or Safety Concerns

Complaints involving immediate risk of serious harm, abuse, exploitation, self-harm, violence, urgent learner-safety threats, or serious safeguarding concerns should not wait for ordinary complaints handling.

Thoth.School is not an emergency service. If there is an immediate risk of serious harm, learners, parents, guardians, or staff should contact the appropriate local emergency, child protection, law enforcement, or safeguarding authority for their location. Thoth.School should also be informed through the appropriate route when the concern relates to platform activity, course communication, learner participation, or academy-controlled learning spaces.

Who May Raise a Complaint

A complaint may be raised by a learner, parent, guardian, instructor, staff member, partner, reviewer, or stakeholder affected by or concerned about Thoth.School activity.

For school-age learners, parents or guardians may raise concerns on the learner’s behalf. Learners should also be encouraged to speak with a parent, guardian, trusted adult, instructor, or support contact if they feel unsafe, confused, uncomfortable, or unfairly treated.

Informal Resolution Where Appropriate

Some concerns may be resolved informally through clarification, correction, support, or communication with the relevant person. Examples may include confusion about instructions, missing information, technology-access problems, or questions about course expectations.

Informal handling is appropriate only where the concern is low-risk and can be resolved fairly without delaying safeguarding, privacy, serious conduct, or learner-protection action.

Formal Complaint Submission

If a concern cannot be resolved informally, or if the concern is serious, the complainant should submit a clear complaint through the available contact or complaints route.

A useful complaint should include:

the complainant’s name and contact information;
the learner’s name, if the complaint concerns a learner;
the course, page, activity, communication, or issue involved;
the date and time of the issue, where known;
a clear description of what happened;
any screenshots, messages, files, or evidence where appropriate;
the impact of the issue;
the outcome or remedy requested, if any;
whether the matter involves safeguarding, privacy, urgent safety, or learner wellbeing.

Acknowledgment and Initial Review

Thoth.School will aim to acknowledge complaints within a reasonable time and conduct an initial review to understand the nature, seriousness, urgency, and appropriate handling route.

Some complaints may be redirected to a more specific process, such as safeguarding review, privacy review, academic integrity review, technology support, accessibility support, or provider clarification.

Complaint Review Process

The review process may include examining relevant records, course pages, communications, submissions, platform activity, policy requirements, technology information, or provider-status wording. Thoth.School may also seek information from relevant staff, instructors, learners, parents, guardians, or support personnel where appropriate.

The review should be proportionate to the seriousness and complexity of the complaint. Minor issues may be resolved quickly, while safeguarding, privacy, conduct, academic integrity, or complex operational concerns may require more detailed review.

Response and Outcome

After review, Thoth.School may provide a response explaining the outcome or next steps where appropriate. Possible outcomes may include clarification, correction of information, additional support, review of a course page, technology assistance, communication guidance, conduct action, safeguarding escalation, privacy review, policy update, or no further action if the complaint is not substantiated.

The level of detail shared in a response may be limited by privacy, safeguarding, confidentiality, staff/learner rights, legal obligations, or operational sensitivity.

Escalation and Review

If the complainant believes the concern has not been handled appropriately, they may request further review. A further review should explain why the complainant believes the first response was incomplete, unfair, inaccurate, or insufficient.

Escalation does not guarantee a different outcome, but it provides a route for reconsideration where there is a reasonable basis to review the handling or decision.

Safeguarding Escalation

Safeguarding concerns may require immediate escalation to the named safeguarding accountability holder, appropriate leadership, parent/guardian contact, external authority, or other responsible person depending on the nature and urgency of the concern.

Safeguarding records should be handled carefully, shared only with those who need to know, and retained according to learner-protection, recordkeeping, and operational needs.

Privacy and Confidentiality

Complaints may include private, sensitive, or personal information. Thoth.School will aim to handle such information carefully and share it only with those who need it for review, support, safeguarding, escalation, or operational action.

Confidentiality cannot be promised absolutely where learner safety, safeguarding escalation, serious misconduct, legal responsibility, or urgent protection needs require appropriate sharing.

Protection from Retaliation

Learners, parents, guardians, staff, or stakeholders should be able to raise genuine concerns without being punished for doing so in good faith.

Retaliation, intimidation, harassment, or unfair treatment because someone raised a complaint or safeguarding concern is not acceptable and may itself become a conduct or safeguarding issue.

False, Malicious, or Abusive Complaints

Thoth.School will aim to take genuine concerns seriously. However, complaints that are knowingly false, malicious, abusive, threatening, discriminatory, or intended to harass may be reviewed under the relevant conduct or communication rules.

A complaint being unsubstantiated does not automatically mean it was malicious. The distinction depends on the available evidence, context, and intent.

Complaints About External Providers

If a complaint relates to an external academic, examination, certification, cloud, AI, cybersecurity, technology, or digital-skills provider, the relevant provider may have its own complaint, appeal, registration, examination, or support procedure.

Thoth.School can review concerns about its own public information, course guidance, learner support, communication, or pathway explanation. It cannot control external provider decisions, examination rules, certification outcomes, approval processes, or provider-operated systems.

Records and Data Retention

Complaints, supporting evidence, communications, review notes, outcomes, and improvement actions may be retained for legitimate educational, safeguarding, quality, operational, legal, provider-related, or administrative purposes.

Complaint records should be handled according to the Privacy & Data Protection and Data Retention pages.

Continuous Improvement

Complaints and concerns may identify areas for improvement. Thoth.School may use complaint themes, feedback, review outcomes, and lessons learned to improve course pages, policies, communication, safeguarding, technology support, accessibility, learner support, and public information.

The complaints procedure itself may be reviewed as the academy grows, learner numbers increase, courses mature, and external provider relationships are formally established.

Commitment to Fair Complaint Handling

Thoth.School is committed to handling complaints respectfully, proportionately, and with attention to learner safety, fairness, privacy, and continuous improvement.

Raising concerns responsibly helps strengthen the academy and supports a safer, clearer, and more effective online learning environment.