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?

@Longma
You're quite right, I was being ridiculously judgy there. It is notoriously hard to spot some fractures.

But still, a child crying in pain all day...then again there are probably 20 odd children at any given moment with some sort of injury, minor or otherwise 😂

I take back what I said 😊

This child is only 8. He's a new pupil. He was in obvious pain, crying all day unable to use limb for work or play. Left to be supported by another 8 y/o. No call home & no mention of injury on collection. No excuses will suffice.
OP, I do hope the surgery goes well.
I'd send school a brief email re condition & ask for a full explanation.
How they respond will inform you whether you can have confidence keeping him there & avoid a further move. Poor lad. You both need a hug!

I’m normally a real supporting the school is supporting your child person but this is a really bad failing from them. Yes parents and doctors struggle to tell if something is a break but this child displayed many traits of serious injury and should have been looked at. I cannot tell you the amount of times we had to go to hospital from childcare/school calling ambulances for our children certainly 5/6 but they were always right to do so even when my daughter had sneezed out the stone up her nose before the ambulance arrived at the hospital. I cannot believe the school didn’t even call parents in these circumstances. @Tigerbreadbum i hope your son’s surgery goes well and definitely pursue this with the school. The no accident forms without head injury is very wrong too as far as I know.

This happened to me when I was a child, though I didn’t make a fuss so the teacher probably didn’t realise how bad it was. I walked on the break all day.
I hope your son is ok x

They should have first aid records, not just for head injuries. At our school we have our own personal note book, and also a main first aid book for each stage. If it were me, I'd have made a note of pain/injury but noted something like no marks and what the movement he had (ie could move wrist, fingers). I have to say it's sometimes hard to detect it's a break. One time I was convinced I was dealing with a break, two long term members of staff on reception took over and were adamant it wasn't - it was. On another occasion, I thought it wasn't and it was.

Are any of you medically trained beyond being first aid trained?! How can anyone say they are 'adamant' it's not a break? 😂 Do any of you work in A&E at weekends?

Don’t go in fuming at them. It will get you nowhere and they’ll label you as crazy.

In my experience, it’s better to put things in writing. You get a better response and you can keep a trail of it if you need to take it further.

While it’s not possible to know if your DC had a broken bone at the time, it should have been noticed he was in pain, the incident should have been logged and they should have told you about it.

I would send an email to the head.
You can always go higher if you don’t get a satisfactory response.

Just to add, maybe give them a call about it first, say you’re not happy and will be emailing them.

Agree and send the email before you speak to them so they have it in writing.

Yestererday X fell at x o clock.

He just his X hand significantly. X was done.

The remainder of the day he continued to be in pain and couldn't write. His friend X sat with him at break time as he was in too much play.

He carried his bags out at the end of the day.

I wasn't informed at the time or after school in person or by an accident form of the injury.

I went to X hospital at X time.

And x Ray informed Drs of a significant break requiring surgery which will be performed today.

Please investigate and get back to me in writing how this happened and any changes to policy moving forward to ensure it doesn't happen again.

It’s 2 places in his arm.

Even if it was “just a finger” he shouldn’t been left in pain.

he’s just gone down to theatre so hopefully it will be straightforward

I can imagine how upset you are but I would approach the school first without going in all guns blazing. They will have not deliberately left your DC in any pain.
I had a similar experience with one of my DC, not as serious as surgery but enough for a hospital trip. When I spoke to school they were equally as upset as me and the headmaster agreed I should have been called. He then implemented a new system for the school that avoided this happening again. Lessons can be learned without causing upset.
Hope you little one is ok.

I'm sorry but her child broke a bone and no one seemingly did anything about it? I would be furious and expect answers of how this happened and how they are going to prevent it happening again.

Hope your ds is ok.
He’s obviously your priority just now but you can have a plan in your head as to how to deal with the school once he’s back home.

This is a really good template for a letter.

@Tigerbreadbum I'm late to the party here but this is shocking. If his arm was broken in 2 places, he was obviously in pain and they could see he couldn't use it, why an earth did they not call? Definitely take take this further. A well thought out calm but rational email to the school is probably the best way to go.

My ds(high school age though) broke his collarbone at school recently. Playing with friends and fell awkward. They were on the phone to me to come down. They didnt know it was broken at time but due to the amount of pain he was in and how he held it, there was def a chance there was damage. It is better to be safe than sorry and schools have called for a lot less.

If school rang home every time a child said they couldn’t write because their hand/finger/arm/head hurt, the country would grind to a halt. No one would be at work as they would be in A&E with their kids waiting for an X-ray. Not that the hospital would be functioning because half the staff would be picking up their children from school. The school obviously would have rung if they knew it was broken. They made a mistake. Parents do get quite annoyed if they are asked to come in unnecessarily and it isn’t always east make the right judgement.

My children always complain that if they feel ill or hurt at school they don't get listened too. Injury - told yo get a wet paper towel. Illness have a drink if water. It has really.impacted eldest school anxiety as they don't feel safe or comfortable.

I always believed school would contact me if any concerns. But many years ago eldest wasn't well but head convinced me to send into school and they would call if didn't perk up/wasn't well. I was waiting on call all day assumed that child must have felt better only at pick up to have class teacher tell me 'xxx been so ill today, I have been so worried about them.' The illness was quite severe and we had regular checkups with her consultant (pre existing and known condition) and the GP for months afterwards.

In my role I visit many school groups and I have seen first hand clearly unwell children just sat in class and it being unnoticed by staff

Don't be silly. This was a child who had had a fall, who was crying with pain on and off all day, who couldn't move his fingers. Of course they should have rung home. They don't have to know the bone is broken, but they must have known this was potentially serious.

I’ve had loads of children who’ve told me they can’t write simply because they have a paper cut but this is massively different. The child fell in the morning and was witnessed by the teacher. If a child told me they still couldn’t write over an hour later then I’d panic I’d left them in pain for too long!

The parent has every right to be upset for her child, it’s not just a broken arm, it’s an arm that needs surgery and perhaps longer to heal.
The parent has every right to find out if her child was provided with first aid- if they were not then why? If they were then how did the first aider miss this? This is a school fault in which someone needs a bit more training and I say this as a teacher with many years experience. I don’t send every child to the office for help but you know when a child may be ‘at it’ based on how well you know the children, what’s normal for them and for the main fact that a teacher witnessed this accident.

It happened to me as a child.

There was apparently an investigation but I don't know the outcome. I was taken out of the school and then we moved.

My DS managed to get stabbed at school (blunt knife but with force, not deep but has left a scar, however an inch or further over could have been much worse) and it wasn't mentioned until home time but we get almost daily updates of minor head bumps.

Its bloody weird how schools justify these things.

I had to double check if it was me writing this, but I realised it was more like 12 years ago when exactly the same thing happened to DS down to the wet paper towel. I was more bothered about the failure to contact me so I could decide if my child needed medical attention.

School could not have been less interested. I’m not sure what all the posters wanting the OP to “take it to the top” actually think a school is going to do. At the time I spoke to DS’s tutor, HOY and head teacher and made my feelings very clear. They still weren’t bothered beyond a feeble “sorry you’re upset” and a note on his record that I had to be contacted if he injured himself, but even that was apparently an unreasonable request.

They've shown a remarkable lack of concern for a child in pain. I wouldn't be happy about that either OP. I hope the surgery goes well and he feels better soon.

First off I hope your DS is on the mend.

Next, I think you need to find this friend and thank him very much as he is coming across as genuinely caring "I've tried to help him" ❤ I mean really...it's just so sweet and kind.

As for the school, they clearly need to update their safety policies. They are operating 'In Loco Parentis' while your kid(s) are with them so they need to be providing equal levels of care. They can't restrict their policy to only head injuries - because if someone was doing a contact sport during PE and they had a compound or hairline fracture of a bone, they wouldn't do anything (from my understanding of what you've written) simply because it's not a head injury. That is how I would tackle the school. Get them to do better and be better!

You've got to don your full body armour now because I think you'll be in for a long battle on this one.

I am pretty sure that it is reportable under H&S laws in any case if a child has to visit hospital due to an accident at school so they will have to investigate.