School didn’t call me about a broken bone

[Tigerbreadbum]

DS (8) fell at school this morning around 10am, witnessed by a teacher and TA. Was in a lot of pain, couldn’t wiggle fingers let alone write. They don’t contact me at all. We are in an and e and it’s broken and he may need surgery. I’m fuming he’s been in agony all day with no pain relief, and potentially made it worse.

what on earth do I say to school? I’m absolutely livid. He only started there in January due to physical violence from classmates at his old school. We were both so happy with the new school and now I’m fucking furious! Is there someone I should be informing, council maybe?

Report yourself to Ofsted.

Seriously this is such a ridiculous response from a teacher I don't even know where to start.

This is a massive failing and safe guarding concern.

Why is it whenever teachers or schools are mentioned on MN they are seen as untouchable. Always placed on a ridiculous pedestal?

What an absolutly ridiculous response.
OP has every right to be furious and to direct that anger and have it taken seriously

This.

I Intrust the care of my son to them and they failed to meet his physical and emotional needs. He deserved better than to be left crying, in pain, unable to go about his day, all whilst having an injury requiring somewhat urgent surgery.

I don’t want him or another child to have a remotely similar incident again.

they definitely don’t do accident forms for anything other than heads. We got an email about it recently. A few weeks ago he took a football to the face just before the end of the day and had a nose bleed and no accident form then (but they did tell me at pick up!)

I agree it's hard to know what's serious. Generally most schools err on the side of caution.
I had a lad break his arm during an after school basketball club. He seemed slightly in pain after a fall but after a 5 min rest wanted to continue playing. He finished the club and went home. I mentioned the fall to mum on collection but said he'd continued to play. Over night the arm swelled up and a trip to a and e revealed the break.
Another time I had one where parents collected but decided I was too zealous so didn't get it checked out. Next morning, still couldn't weight bear, swelling etc, then went to a and e and it was broken.
It certainly seems strange you weren't told by the teacher. Did they have a cover teacher? Was someone else in charge of the children leaving? I'm just wondering if the message got lost some how.

I hope your poor DS feels better soon

This happened in my school, the nurse got reprimanded and sent on a training course. I’m shocked at the people saying but to say anything, this time it’s a broken bone, next time it could be worse. No, I wouldn’t go in ranting and raving but I would definitely complain to stop it happening again. Accident forms should be filled in nearly every time (bar paper cuts and the like), not only for head injuries.

Ah, sorry to hear that OP. I don’t have any advice in regards to the school but I hope DS will be okay

I hope your son is okay @Tigerbreadbum

I’m shocked with the school, was he seen by a first aider at all? As a teacher , if I witnessed a child fall and then knew they were in so much pain to complete any work then I wouldn’t be ignoring it or even forgetting about it. I would phone the school office and ask for them to phone the parent. I know things are busy in the classroom and things can happen quickly but this happened first thing and he’s been in pain all day.

I would email the school and highlight how serious the injury is. I would explain that due to surgery you will not be able to be in contact with the school tomorrow but you want to follow up with them on Wednesday. This will allow the school a bit of time to find out why you were not informed and for you to look after your child.

This happened to dd when she was around 8 too - first aider decided she was just making a fuss, she cried for a couple of hours before they called me - just before home-time. They were mortified that her arm was broken. I didn’t do anything - I don’t think I needed to - they were all very apologetic and dd was a bit smug in an I told you so kind of way. 😂

The amount of people defending the teachers is ridiculous. Can't say a bad word against them on here it seems. OP has every right to be angry at them and let them know it.

This is neglect in my opinion.

What's he broken?

Hope he's ok

Emails head " DS has broken his xxx and is having xxx surgery tomorrow. I am very concerned I wasn't notified about this.

This incident and process needs an investigation and review.

Can you explain why I was not notified and how this fits with your policy. Can you explain why DS was left all day with a broken bone?

Can you assure me that you will retrain all staff how to deal with suspected fractures and review your policy. Either the policy is not fit for purpose or staff are not following it.

Obviously he will not be in school for at least a week. I will be contactable by email. I look forward prompt response.

OP that's awful I'm so sorry.

Definitely go straight to the head for answers somethings gone wrong somewhere

Oh your poor DS.

Obviously a ball has been massively dropped here. As a teacher, missing something like this is something I really worry about - in a busy day I know it’s possible, particularly in a stoic child (or conversely one who makes a fuss about everything) but it sounds like school missed a lot of opportunities today.

My response would depend on how they respond now, once they know there’s a break that they missed. If they use it as an opportunity to reflect on their policies and adapt / improve things so that this is less likely to happen again, I’d feel a lot better than if they minimise it or don’t seem to take it seriously.

i hope the surgery goes ok tomorrow & your ds recovers quickly.

This is awful - I wouldn't want to send him back.

Definitely complain.

How is ds now?

This is unacceptable and I would also be cross. I used to teach year 6 and they were having an induction/activity afternoon at the high school. One boy had a football come at his arm. He was upset but could move it about quite well. He kept saying how much it hurt though. He was supposed to be walking home after school and the high school teacher seemed to think he’d be fine but I phoned his mum to come and get him. I actually really didn’t think it would be broken. He stopped crying quickly and he could move the arm well but I always played it safe and I’m so glad I did because it was broken and in a cast for weeks. School should have informed you what had happened and they absolutely should have filled out an accident form.

This was the first thing that came up when I googled. The school have screwed up
here, I think.
https://www.safetyfirstaid.co.uk/reporting-accidents-in-schools/

That is completely unacceptable. Your poor son. All it would have taken was one phone call to you. his teacher saw he couldn't write.

It's outrageous that she didn't notify you.

I find this really odd. I’ve been a primary teacher for a long time, and never once have I not sent a clearly injured child up to the office to get checked out, precisely because I am not first aid trained and therefore don’t trust my own judgement. Either there has been a failing of communication or something else is going on.

Is your DS often dramatic? I only ask because I taught a child a few years ago who caused us to call
home four times in one term because she led us to believe that injuries were worse than they were. Sadly, she did break her wrist at after school club, but her parents refused to come and get her early again as they’d already had four unnecessary trips to minor injuries.

Regardless of dramatics, I’d still always send a child to be checked out by a first aider, but it really is much harder to tell on children who overreact as a matter of course.

I would be upset too, I can't believe they left him all day and didn't even speak to you about it! I must admit I don't understand the logic with schools at times. I love my daughter's school but was quite shocked they didn't contact me when she literally fell on her chin. It was pretty horrific and she could have fractured her jaw but no contact just an incident form. YET bizarrely on another occasion they phoned me about a splinter??!! Just doesn't make sense to me.

I’d be inwardly fuming too OP. I’d hope that if a child continued crying through the day after an accident like that, they'd call the parent. Outwardly I’d be very factual. Tell them about the broken bone and what he and his friend said. Ask them for a copy of the incident form, ask for the procedure that was followed and that you’d like a meeting with the safeguarding lead to discuss how this situation could have been avoided.

I posted here ten years ago when this happened to ds2 and had my arse absolutely handed to me! However, I still stand by the fact they should have taken his pain seriously (he was given a wet paper towel 🙄) and called me if they were unsure.
I’m so sorry this happened to your ds and I hope you get some satisfactory answers from the school.

I just don’t understand it because any time my son had a bad fall in the playground, they sent him to the medical room and the nurse called me. He waited there until I picked him up. And these were minor scrapes compared to a broken bone.

No incident forms aprt form head injuries? This is ridiculous. A spinal injury would be very serious. No communication about a broken arm? This needs to be reported. They need to revisit their policy

I suspect that, if he told someone about it, that it has been recorded in school even if not witnessed. Not all injuries mean a slip at home time - that's often just for injuries about the neck in many schools.

Did you dc tell the teachers that he was in pain?

Obviously it sounds dreadful but to important to know what actually happened at school when it happened and during the afternoon first.

Sadly some injuries can be missed in a busy classroom if the child doesn't say anything. We had a child with a broken collar bone missed as the child didn't say he'd fallen (it wasn't seen by a teacher), and didn't complain about any pain, his parents also missed until the following day.