Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Saved Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Flip

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Primary education

dd hurt herself at school

13 replies

MyOneAndOnly · 02/12/2009 22:37

Hello, This may or may not be the correct place to post my question but in a way it has something to do with the school...
This evening when I came home from work, I noticed something like a 1,5 inches long scratch ( or a shallow cut), at the corner of dd's left eye. She is 4.5 yrs old and just started reception class beginning of November. So she still tiny.
She told me she hurt herself with a KNIFE at school at dinner hall. Apparently she was trying to cut the meat on her plate and on her own sentence: the knife wobbled in her hands and she scratched the corner of her eye with the knife! The corner of her eye! It is so close to her eye, actually the sctratch starts from the exact corner of her eye. Looks horrible, red and long!
It is a freak accident probably. I do not blame the school staff for the actual accident, but my problem is, apparently it went unnoticed all afternoon whereas as soon as I saw her face, I noticed. I mean, it was immpossible not to notice the long red mark, she is so pale and fair.
What is the procedure for such things, I want to complain that it went unnoticed for hours and also want to ask them to put this on accident book or something.
Any ideas? Many thanks...

OP posts:

Report

edam · 02/12/2009 22:40

Oh dear, no wonder you are upset. I'd have a quiet word with the teacher and ask why no-one told you or apparently even noticed. At ds's school he comes out most days with a form saying he bumped his head - they seem to dish them out even for the most minor collision.

But I wouldn't panic too much, she's fine, it's just one of those things.

Report

MyOneAndOnly · 02/12/2009 22:47

Thanks edam. I shall write a note to her teacher in the morning and send it in an envelope with dd. I will talk to the teacher in the afternoon when I go to collect her.

OP posts:

Report

mrz · 03/12/2009 07:49

I would want to know HOW she got the mark ...sorry but the knife story doesn't sound plausible. Cutting meat presumably on a plate on a table wouldn't put her eye near a knife

Report

SofiaAmes · 03/12/2009 07:52

I am surprised that 4.5 year olds have knives that are sharp enough to cut meat and eyes. There is something wrong with the story and clearly something wrong with the level of supervision at the school.

Report

cory · 03/12/2009 08:13

If the teacher just saw a scratch and your dd didn't say anything about the knife, then I'm not surprised it didn't go in the accident book. She might have scratched herself with her fingernails for all they knew, which would hardly warrant a mention in the book or any particular treatment (unless she was absolitely dripping blood). And I agree the story sounds slightly fishy.

The reason every bump on the head gets recorded is that symptoms of concussion can develop many hours later, so parents need to know in case a child gets very ill later in the evening. They don't record every graze or scratch, because they are unlikely to develop into anything equally dangerous.

Report

MyOneAndOnly · 03/12/2009 12:35

I asked and asked her again, also thought it would have been done with the finger nail but she is adamant it happened in dinner hall and she did it when the knife got wobbly and then knife fell onto the floor... I cannot imagine myself. She normally does not come up with such stories, never before.. I do believe her.

I thought it may have been another child did by accident it or another sharp object somehow caused it. Nop! She says it was herself, with a knife!

Her own teacher is always off on Wednesdays therefore on Wednesdays the class is supervised by the SEN teacher alongside the TA. Perhaps that was how she was missed .
Anyway, this morning dropping her off, I quickly told her regular teacher and she will ask the dinner ladies. When I collect her from school this afternoon, I'll get their version too, which will probably be: "we have never seen anything".

I didn't know they had sharp knives given for dinner either. Even if it is plastic one, still is capable of cutting the skin, obviously.

OP posts:

Report

mrz · 03/12/2009 17:34

I could believe another child scratched her face with their knife but to do it to yourself seems odd ... sorry not doubting your daughter's honesty but she could be covering for a friend.

Report

pantomimecow · 03/12/2009 18:46

Or she might not remember herself !! If it didn't hurt much then she would not necessarily remember what caused it.DD did something similar a few weeks back at home scratching her face on the zip of her pinafore.

Report

Feenie · 03/12/2009 18:54

SofiaAmes "I am surprised that 4.5 year olds have knives that are sharp enough to cut meat and eyes. There is something wrong with the story and clearly something wrong with the level of supervision at the school"

eally? How, then, do you suggest Reception children cut their food, exactly?

Or would you want their food cut for them at this age?

And just what level of supervision would you expect while they're cutting up their food?

Good grief.

Report

Feenie · 03/12/2009 18:55

Really

Report

mrz · 03/12/2009 20:08

I'm actually shocked by parents thinking children shouldn't have knives (not plastic ) to eat lunch ... what do they use at home? My children had real cutlery long before school age.

Report

Insider333 · 03/12/2009 23:34

So sad that a 4.5 year should be in school at all! Someone should have noticed the wound and informed you about it. Teachers are expected to notice the physical well being of the children in their care. I am a teacher.

Report

MyOneAndOnly · 04/12/2009 00:51

Ok, the update on the situation: just as I expected, teacher talked to the dinner ladies and none of them saw anything. So nothing will be done. Matter closed. Her words against ....? In the meantime her "wound" is healing with the application of Bepanthene.
Perhaps she really had a problem with the knife slipping out of her hand at the table and later on she acquired the scratch from something else which is more innocent than a knife, but because she didn't notice any specific pain with that innocent thing - whatever it may be, zip or else - she attributed the scratch to the knife!

She would not cover for someone else if someone else did it to her. I am 100% sure of that.
Thanks everyone...