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?

i work in an educational setting and am shocked his injury was completely missed, it seems neglectful of their responsibilities. I’m not sure how I would feel about entrusting my child in the care of a teacher/TA who is oblivious to safety and well-being

a school should automatically contact a parent during the school day if a child seems in pain post accident (broken bone or not). The school has locas parentis while the child is there, however they must er on the side of caution and enable parents to seek medical attention for the child in school time if the need arises. Parents have ultimate responsibility for their children 24/7 of course, above and beyond the schools limited remit. The school has certainly been neglectful.

How is your son today OP? X

You need to be speaking with the head, not the bloody secretary!

What are the Council going to do? I think you mean Local Authority. They will probably just refer you back to school (unless, of course, they have received many similar complaints about the school and in these circumstances you will be directed to Safeguarding team.) If this is not the case, you need to follow school procedure for raising a complaint. All schools will have a policy to follow, usually posted on their website. For most schools 1st step is to speak to dc class teacher to get their version of events and ask why you weren’t contacted. If you are not happy with this response, write to headteacher, outlining your complaint. If after meeting with head, you still are not happy, write to Chair of Governors again outlining complaint.

You have got to be joking!! Of course the school should have dealt with it and not left the child in pain all day! By reporting it they might actually take notice if it happens to another child and let the parents know!

I do hope your son makes a speedy recovery. It sounds to me that school were negligent in dealing with your sons accident. I’m a TA & first aid slips are given for absolutely everything & if it’s severe then a phone call home, too.
Breaks are hard because we don’t have X-ray eyes, but somebody should have been checking him over & keeping an eye on him…it’s not hard to spot when a child is in pain or discomfort. I would at least want an apology. I would also suggest they review their first aid practice. Do they actually have first aid trained staff?

my school calls if one of my kids blinks weird. Not calling to at least inform you of the fall is extremely odd.

Huge sympathy, to your son & you. This happened to my daughter, age 9, when a new 'pastoral' worker in her attendance-obsessed wisdom hid my daughter from me when I dropped her lunch box off only minutes after she'd tripped in the playground & sustained a greenstick fracture. Alder Hey were furious when she was brought in by me - equally angry -- after carrying her clearly swollen & agonising wrist around all day. (She was a quiet one, not a melodramatic type; there was no reason to neglect her except cruelty & tunnel-vision regarding the register)
Said 'pastoral ' had the brass neck to phone me the next day while daughter was still in hospital, demanding I bring her in to school that day, asap she was discharged.
I laughed & subsequently visited the headmistress while my daughter, now in a cast up to her shoulder, went for treats with Dad.
The 'pastoral' was, "moved on". Its a disgusting breach of the duty of care: ensure you make clear to school they've failed your child, & lost your trust. See if you can pinpoint who exactly took responsibility for treating him so callously.
Hoping his recovery is whole & your family keeps moving forward. School system is often brutal, may they show your son more care henceforth.

When my youngest was about 12 years old, she fell awkwardly and landed on the side of her foot. It instantly swelled and went black and blue. She was helped to the school nurse by 3 friends, 2 at her sides and 1 opening doors. She couldn't put her foot down because of the pain. The nurse just said " give it an hour or so and it will be fine", she didn't even bother to actually look at it. My dd was in so much pain she started crying in class, her teacher helped her go back to the nurse, who just made her sit down for 5 minutes and then sent her back to class. As soon as she got home, I could see she was in agony. I made her take her sock and shoe off and instantly knew she had broken bones. We went straight to the hospital and they found she had fractured 2 of the bones in her foot. Stupidly I didn't make a complaint about it at the school, because I was working there at the time, and was reluctant to cause trouble. I'm kicking myself now, I really wish I could go back and complain to the headteacher about it!

I had similar when my daughter was in year 6. She tripped over a football and was given a wet paper towel. She told me when I picked her and to be honest we didn’t do anything about it straight away. Gave her calpol and sat her quiet. When it was still hurting the next morning we took her to A&E and she had fractured her wrist. Felt terrible. When she returned to school we had to go and see the deputy head for a risk assessment & to fill out a form because it had happened at school.
wishing your son a speedy recovery x

Oh OP your poor boy! I can’t imagine how much pain he must have been in! Any adult with eyes would have seen a child in pain, even a child spotted it. I hope they can give you more clarity x

You could potentially sue, if I were you I’d ask this question on a solicitor forum. You could be able to sue if there was additional damage resulting from the delay as well
as criminal neglect involved in mishandling his injury.

Surely anyone with an inkling could see he wasn’t himself - new school or no new sch. I’d complain big time - on the positive, sounds like he has made a good friend !
hope he heals well x

DS is doing ok, in pain but fairly ok considering, he is worried about going back to school though.

I have a meeting with the headteacher Friday so will let you know how that goes.

My sister works in a legal role (unsure specifics) and she said I’d have grounds to sue due to the length of time it was left causing further damage they effectively caused harm. I’m not interested in this route, it won’t change what happened or how DS feels and I’m well aware schools are already struggling with funds as it is, as long as they school admit fault, find what went wrong and fix the issue so another child doesn’t suffer similar I will be content.

Planning taking DS friend to the cinema next week if he feels up to it to say thank you for being such a wonderful friend

That’s a lovely idea OP x

Inviting the friend is such a nice idea!

I hope your ds will be more comfortable soon. What a crap end of the year for him! Esp seen it didn’t start well either 😢

You should follow up on the legal route. It could cause him issues when he’s older. He should be compensated for future pain/ issues such as arthritis that he may now get.

❤️

Ex teacher here. I would be livid too. If I was a staff member who’d been in consistent contact with your child today I’d be mortified and so sorry for your child. It should be flagged up so that the school can modify or implement a policy to ensure a child doesn’t sit in pain all day unchecked.

I had an incident similar, but school did ring me, they called me to say my dd had a head bump and that she was quite upset and it had required a plaster and 'a little first aid' I was two minutes from the school so said I'd call in. Walked in reception to my child covered in blood, all down her uniform and a member of staff frantically cleaning blood off the floor, her eyebrow was literally hanging into her eye from the 3" gash in it, below the plaster they'd used to try and hold it together, her eye was swollen shut and she was sobbing into a bucket of sick.
They knew I wasn't impressed. She stayed in the local children's unit overnight, had 15 or so internal stitches and her eyebrow glued. A&E there wrote a strongly worded letter to the head about wound management and infection risk, not to mention that she'd obviously got a serious concussion. And this was all before 10am so she'd have sat there for 5.5 hours in a state.

The injuries you describe are awful.
A really bad break.
It is hard to believe he was ignored for hours crying in such pain and to be told that there will be consequences by the medical team.
I am not someone who sues but sometimes it takes the possibility of it to inact change.
Your poor son.
I had a very clean break years ago, no surgery, just a cast and I was surprised at the level of pain.
Your poor son.
I would be so upset and concerned at the complete lack of kindness to a child that must have been in agony.

As a starting point in your meeting I’d be asking for accounts from all staff who came in to contact with your son that day, a copy of their accident and injury policy and contact numbers for the governors.

Hope your son recovers quickly.
My oldest son broke his wrist in pe. Supply teacher wasn't very interested.
He sat through the rest of the school day, 5 hours, unable to write. He didn't eat lunch because he couldn't open his bag.
It must have been so obvious.
Very frustrating.
He thought it wasn't broken so didn't want to make a fuss, but he is a child.

Haven't RTFT but it certainly sounds like they were pretty useless. If DS's friend says he was in pain at lunchtime then someone should have known.

Just adding some info - weirdly my DCs have three times broken a wrist and the symptoms each time were so different. First time DD fell off off a step and immediately cried in agony, we knew something was wrong. Second time same DD fell over ice skating and carried on to do mini golf, said the ice maybe froze the pain but didn't cry until she got off the school coach. DS fell over in the kitchen and seemed OK. Next morning he was doing schoolwork (Covid at home) and I said 'are you OK'? Clearly he wasn't and we drove miles to find a MIU - and yep - another broken wrist! They all present differently, but you'd hope a school would recognise the basics......