to be utterly fuming -advice needed please

[musicmadness]

Hi all. I'm posting this on behalf of my aunt.

A couple of weeks ago my cousin (age 7, year 3) suffered a freak accident in p.e. she fell off a bench they were balancing along and has 4 compressed spinal fractures. She now has to stay in a brace for at least 3 months (could quite possibly be longer) and the doctor said it is very lucky that she was not older as she could have been paralysed if she was older when the spine is less flexible.

It has been accepted that this was a freak accident and the school had no real way to prevent it happening and my aunt was not angry with them at this point.

as there is absolutely no point in my cousin going back to school for the last few days (she is on pain medication and can't move around well) my aunt went into the school to collect any information about next year and any work that she had missed that they wanted her to complete.

While she was there the head came to talk to my aunt about my cousin. in the course of this conversation the head said that she did not think that the injury had happened at school and that my aunt must have sent her in already injured! my aunt is utterly furious about this, the poor girl couldn't even stand up straight after the accident so it would have been obvious if there had been a problem before and there wasn't.

I think the head is just trying to cover her backside in case my aunt trys to sue the school, which she wasn't even thinking about anyway! but the heads attitude was aweful and my aunt was really upset about the head basically suggesting that she hadn't noticed her daughter was severely injured!

Sorry this is long but my aunt really wants to know what she should do about this. She wants to complain about the head but isn't sure who to complain to, or even if this is normal behaviour after an injury at school? what would anyone here suggest? thanks.

It was more than a misguided remark, it was an accusation against the child's mother.

Quite. What a strange thing to post BA.

I don't see the need to take it any further tbh

I think you're missing the point BarmyArmy, no one is suggesting the school is at fault for the accident but the headteacher is claiming that music's aunt failed to notice her daughter had 4 spinal fractures! I would definitely complain, hope your cousin recovers soon

To be honest I almost agree with compo.

I don't think you need to take it any higher.

I think that if your Aunt writes a letter to the head and cc's the Goveners and explains that she accepts it was a freak accident but is offended by the heads inappropriate and untrue remark, a response will need to be made to your Aunt.

If she truly wishes to not take it further she could even state this in the letter.

Personally given that (tho the head may not have intended to imply this particular aspect of it) your Aunt is neglectful of her daughters injuries, if it were me I would want a paper trail to demonstrate that I wholely disagree with the statement made and that I didn't send my daughter to school with injuries.

Hopefully, she'll get a response saying that the head never intended to imply that or of course you'll be in court quicker than you can say "the defendant". Sorry! Only joking with that last bit.

thanks all.

my aunts going to report to the governers that while she knows that what happened was an accident and that the school was not at fault, she finds the heads attitude that she is basically an unfit mother totally unacceptable and wants an apology.

As for any comments about getting money or whatever, stop being so ridiculous and insulting! I/my aunt would hardly have called it a freak accident if she was going to try to sue! All she wants is for the head (female incase anyone was wondering) to apologise for saying my aunt would have sent her child into school with spinal injuries.

I'm assuming those who are saying to leave it would be happy for their childs teachers/head to tell them that they wouldn't notice there child was seriously injured

I would be worried that their record keeping may not be up to scratch. So I would report it (LA and governors). If only to give them the heads up to check on this before OFSTED descend. So actually the aunt would be doing a favour to the school.

Barmy I am a little surprised by your attitude, you don't think anyone should ever make a complaint? It isn't as if anyone was thinking of suing (although if they did I'm sure the ambulance chasers would make money). If no one complains then things can get worse.

I admit the Head is probably stressed, especially with the end of term, but she does need to learn diplomacy skills. And maybe not to have a blame culture in her school.

YANBU - there is no need for litigation (didn't seem to me that the OP was suggesting this anyway) but a complaint about the way the headteacher handled the situation is completely justified. As for the bureaucratic load on teachers ... using that logic it'd never be OK for parent to raise a complaint. As this complaint would involve the head and one teacher at most and occur just before the summer break I would imagine the disruption it would cause would be minimal.

Regarding the comments about being hysterical, and 'calm down' etc, It's her back we are talking about, not sprained ankle or cut finger! I'm not one to keep running to the school about every little thing, I generally have the attitude of "let the teachers get on with it", but this is a child's back, which if not propperly traet will give her problems later on in her life.

treated

This is really off.

When a child is injured at school there should be an entry made in the school injury book, and in most schools an injury form is given to the parent stating injury sustained and treatement applied. I often get these as DD falls over a lot.

In this case, obviously an ambulance would have been called, but still, an entry should have been made in the accident book.

Is the head implying this has not been done as they think the injury was sustained at home?

I would follow up the injury book side of it and make sure there is a form and also ask the head to apologise for suggesting the aunt sent a severely injured child to school (which is neglect, not a nice thing to imply and also entirely unprofessional of the teacher).

Also, if the Head thinks the girl was injured when she arrived at school-did she try to send her home/have her fetched or seek treatment for her?

When my dd2 was in year 2 she slipped in the playground one lunchtime and hurt her wrist. Despite being in tears most of the afternoon the teacher said nothing at the end of the day. As she had calmed down by hometime we didn't realise anything was really wrong until the next day when we took her to hospital and of course it was a green twig fracture. The head teacher had not entered it in the accident book and was most reluctant to until we made it quite clear we were not looking to sue. Her attitude was most defensive, accidents happen but a bit of compassion and care would have been appreciated.

I would not complain as such, but would send a formal letter to the head, copied to the Chair of Governors, that says 'Further to our conversation following the unfortunate accident in PE, I would like to put on record that my dd was not showing any signs of injury or pain, prior to the accident, and had not had any other accidents within the preceding days that could have caused injury.

I am sure the school has acted in the best practice in dealing with the accident, but I was concerned by your perception that the fall was not the cause of her injury.

I am confident that the incident was simply 'one of those things', and that the school will have followed all relevant reporting procedures.

Please pass on my thanks to the staff for looking after * after the accident.

Yours

Yes - make sure it was in the accident book.

I would go to a solicitor and at least start legal proceedings.I would be very very uncomfortable and concerned by what the head seems to d be insinuating.I don't mean to frighten you but you really need to cover your arse on this one.

Well - if she arrived that badly injured and they let her do P.E. there is something wrong with them too! Stupid, stupid thing to say.