As far as I understand, first you should complain to the school. They are required to publish a complaints procedure, though this school apparently doesn’t feel they need to publish it on the web (perhaps they only hand out leaflets to parents).
If the school doesn’t react, you take it up with Watford Borough. Try until they reply.
Next step is to complain to Hertfordshire County Council. Note that when contacted by The Sun they claimed "It is normal procedure to check the contents of a letter.” Sounds alarming if that’s the policy for the whole county.
If the council sees no need to react, try the Local Government Ombudsman. Don’t contact LGO first, you must go through the other steps and wait for replies before proceeding. However, the LGO’s oversight of schools is limited, I’m not sure if this is the kind of stuff that falls within their purview. But if it’s county policy I’m sure they’d like to hear about that.
Probably better to go for the Department of Education instead (but you must go through the school/council steps first).
And/or contact the post office (which unfortunately doesn’t seem to have any online forms for reading other’s correspondence). If it’s county policy they’d be rather alarmed.
I’d do it myself but I’m a bloody furriner so not sure what standing I have.This seems like an open and shut case, unless the school claims the agreement form spells out kids agree to have their mail opened and read. I still don’t think that would fly, so complain away Brits.
P.S. bit hard to believe kids today would write letters unless the teachers told them to. Nice racket there, telling them to write letters and then as a matter of policy read the letters for anything naughty.
