If a reception child deliberately kicked another child in class and broke that child’s leg, and that child needed surgery what would you expect to happen at school ?

[Lardlizard]

For the child that got injured and the child that did it

And the incident was witnessed by the teacher

Mediation - teacher in charge of safeguarding/senco and/or class teacher sits children down to discuss what happened and for the kicker to apologise

This I just don't understand, for several reasons:

1. Why should a child who had been badly hurt be forced into close proximity with the person who has hurt them?
2. Why would a child (or anyone for that matter) want to talk to someone who injured them so badly they needed surgery?
3. Why should an injured child be expected (implicitly or explicitly) to accept an apology when they may not want to?

Mediation and restorative justice only work when all parties are engaging in the process of their own free will, with the capacity to understand the goals and possible outcomes. At YR a child is in no way equipped (or likely empowered) enough to say 'this isn't working for me' and walk away.

All of which assumes the OP is true

My DD was deliberately slammed in the face with LEGO by a class mate when 4 years old. It split her lip. I was livid and DD was traumatized.

When I posted on here for advice and insights of what would be expected from the school, I was told that they were just children and it was to be expected.

I know a split lip isn't as severe as a broken leg, but I'm interested to see how different the responses are on this thread.

Has the child got a history of being violent? I think this affects the outcome I would expect.

Interesting that the OP hasn't returned.

Suspension whilst matter is investigated.

This. Impossible to say what should happen next until there's more info.

i'm only here for the drip feed

Me too. And the popcorn.

I would expect school's behaviour policy to be followed. I would not expect the dramatic and unusual nature of the outcome to influence school's response to the incident itself.

This. It must have been incredibly unlucky for the child's leg to be broken - even if the child in question really meant to hurt the other child. In terms of the reaction to the incident people are downright stupid if they expect an exclusion or suspension to solve the problem. I'm surprised anyone is silly enough to even suggest it. It would achieve nothing for a 4 year old.

If the 4 year old is unusually violent (many 4 year olds lash out when frustrated and it could have just been very unfortunate that on this occasion the consequences were so severe) then firstly the other children would need to be physically protected from them (perhaps a 1-1 for the child in question). Secondly the reasons for the child's behaviour would need to be investigated and they should have intensive intervention to tackle it. There would definitely be a cause for the behaviour either SEN, home life, trauma etc and it needs sorting while they're still 4 years old as it will only get worse otherwise.

As for the victim they would need to be reassured that the incident is being taken very seriously and that they will be made to feel physically safe when they return to school. Depending on how they coping they may well need some intervention themselves to feel confident returning to the class room.

A Y1 child tried to strangle my DS (reception) with a skipping rope. To the extent that there were rope burns on his neck. I expected (and was told) that school procedures would be followed.

Yes, it was less serious but DS1 was robustly ok with the situation and said that he understood it was a mistake (teacher said that DS1 had been playing with his friends and this boy had wanted to join in and thrown the rope round DS1’s neck and hauled in an attempt to do so) and the other boy has never approached him again.

I accept, in the absence of more information, that this was a one off and that small children do stupid things without understanding the consequences. That is why they are below the age of criminal responsibility.

Suspension followed by expulsion. I suspect it wouldn't happen though and will depend on factors such as if the child as SEN.

We have a less severe but similar issue in my daughters reception class, one child hitting, biting, scratching, pushing, using things as weapons etc, my daughter has severe starches down her face as have several others, it's several times a week, it's difficult.

My son has also been "that child" he has Autism and the school just felt he needed to be treated the same as everyone else, which resulted in massive meltdowns. If he broke someone's bone then I would fully expect him to have been expelled. As it goes we moved schools and school have been amazing and he's never put a toe out of line here, never reacted violently, but I would expect serious incidents to be met with serious consequences.

Odd and rather unbelievable OP.

yes far more information needed

As to the question lead to expulsion - no I would not expect that at all.

Suspension followed by expulsion

Not allowed by law. If a school decides to suspend, it can't convert it into a permanent exclusion unless new facts come to light.

It sounds like the bully kicked a child with significant health issues if the leg broke from a single kick. If I was the bully’s mum I’d go crazy at them. If I was the unwell child’s mum I would want answers as to why this happened but ultimately understand that these things can and do happen.

So no drip- no no reply from OP........slow news day for the DM?

What any investigation should handle is any failure of the adults involved to control this situation