school say my son has to be in after his accident

How long will he not be going out? The longer he leaves it the harder it will probably be. Wallowing at home isn't going to help. As others have said it's probably going to take ages for his teeth to be sorted.

I had to go to client meeting on a Monday morning after walking into a door at the weekend making a mess of my nose and getting 2 black eyes. I looked a right state, and it was a bit elephant in the room as no-one mentioned it! I was so embarrassed but far better to carry on and I couldn't not work until everything had healed

The evidence doesn’t support there being no impact on achievement.

https://www.health.org.uk/evidence-hub/education/relationship-between-school-absences-and-attainment

Funnily enough, snow sports were often the reason at my school, as it serves the biggest Scottish ski resort.

The school are being unreasonable, he's clearly injured and recovering from that. They need to back off. His attendance should be going down as Illness, which doesn't count against attendance. I'd be fighting them on this.

If it's true that they are planning to make an example of him in assembly, I'd be making a formal complaint should they do so. That is disgraceful.

He's obviously not ok right now.

I hope you gave his father a dressing down over his failure as a parent over the helmet.

How will you manhandle him in the car?

Gently, he needs to be in school. It’ll be months before he’s all recovered and he’ll miss too much school if he’s off that long. The fact that it’s an academy is irrelevant. Children who miss a lot of school get poorer exam results - there’s a really clear link between attendance and attainment. That’s why school want him in.

Also, consider that the longer he’s off, the harder it’ll be to get him in. Better to rip off the plaster now. Is there anyone who can temporarily help in the morning to get him in?

I'm not surprised. DS secondary school wouldn't even agree to an hour off for an orthodontic appointment with a 7 month wait. They said if we took him out they would refer us for a fine. It's an afternoon appointment so he needs permission to leave.

Their words and tone actually frightened me somewhat. I can't afford an £80 fine! He has 99% attendance.

FWIW bruising on the face is very painful & causes very horrible headaches. I was signed off from work with similar injuries after a bike accident as I struggled to speak and had horrific migraines. I also had a broken wrist

God yeah, I was involved in a skiing accident and ended up going in to school with a full length cast on my leg and plenty of bruising. I managed to break my arm a year later and managed to go back to school just fine.

And as to those saying would you be in work, the answer is yes, I dont take time off if I’m well enough to be in work, in fact my dh drove me to work when i wasn’t fit to drive due to a medical condition

He should go to school, and yes, of course he should wear a helmet

BUT:. a helmet would NOT have prevented injury to his wrist or teeth, so it isn't the example the school (and others) think it is 🤷

Yes he needs to be in school if he’s capable of being there and not at an appointment. It will take months to sort out his teeth as they will need bruising to subside first. School is important

Unfortunately attendance is all the school cares about. My sister's child had a broken ankle, was on crutches for weeks but had to be back in school immediately and parents were chased almost daily when child just couldn't face day after day on crutches (in the first week after).

You will need to encourage your son to go back to school (with school support) or else you are likely to be fined.

Going against the grain I think he should be at home a little longer until the bruising on his face goes down. When I broke my wrist I couldn’t write with a pen for 6 weeks and I was slow on a keyboard, but I wasn’t really in a lot of pain. When I had three teeth out I was in pain for about 10 days. I did have to go out and about with missing teeth for a while and go to work. He can listen in school but he won’t be able to do much written work. I would give him the rest of the week. I think schools have lost perspective over attendance. All another week off will affect is their attendance figures, it won’t have an adverse affect on your son in the long term. I would just tell them that you’re keeping him off until he has been reviewed in the fracture clinic and the bruising to his face has improved. I agree with the previous poster, tell them to fuck off.

Tell them to fuck off. Would you go to work if you’d just had your face smashed up like that? My son had a similar scooter accident at the same age and he needed maxilla facial and plastic surgery including a GA and he had another couple of days off to recover.

It sounds like you need to try to engage him a bit more on what the problem is. You don't know whether it's embarrassment, shock, pain or what.

Adults I know who have broken bones (wrist, etc) have been signed off for six weeks.

Most of us would not have a choice. Certainly my GP would not give me a cert for that.

That's why it's unauthorised then - he's refusing to go. You need to nip this in the bud before it becomes permanent.

The accident happened in half term (OP says "last week") so a minimum of 3 days ago.

Same day - yes, could still be in "shock" (I'm using that word in a layman sense, as he's clearly not in medical shock) but not 3+ days later.

Also it usually takes a good while for replacement teeth to get properly fixed. So he might as well get used to it, because he's not going to be able to skip all of life while that happens.

The process could take between 5-8 months for a full cosmetic fix, maybe longer depending on how he heals.

If he was an adult who had sustained similar type of injuries, would he be signed off work still?

I would get a dr note for another week and work on getting him to a place to return to school the following week.

I'd tell him he can be off until Monday and then he's going back. School won't fine you it's all bluster, if they try it you presumably have photos you can show, or a medical report, so long as it covers a couple of days and any further days this side of easter are medical I'm sure he's fine.

Na, he needs to go in. He's not going because of 'looks' and he needs to continue to receive the output of his not wearing a helmet.

And yes, I've broken my wrist too, I can still see the scars from the 4 pins that were put in during surgery. But pain medication can largely sort any pain he's having. It's not about pain, it's about embarrassment for him.

Depends how bad the pain is.

i broke my ankle and the pain relent was nowhere near adequate. I was in a lot of pain.

if he’s hit his head has he been checked out for concussion or head injury?

I’d want to be very sure he is ok before forcing him into school.

He is probably still in shock , in pain and shaken up. It would take most people a while to process an accident/ injuries like that. The school doesn't seem to give a toss about him, only their attendance figures. Has anyone actually talked to him properly about what happened?