To take legal action against school?

[SingleNow]

My 4yr old ds has had yet another accident at nursery. This time he has taken a chunk out of his thumb, it is quite bad and although it was bleeding a fair amount could not be stitched as there was nothing to stitch together.

He had just gone back to school last Monday after 2 weeks off after falling head first onto a wood flower bed and having a bump from his hair line to the bridge of his nose.

This accident/incident with his thumb I feel is one too many in a short space of time.
It was his fault partly as he put his thumb in the metal plate on the door frame and walked as he walked the plate sliced a chunk off his thumb. My point is that there shouldn't have been anything as sharp as that near 3 and 4 yr olds and also the fact that staff all say the same thing. " we don't know what happened" now whilst I agree that they cannot watch every child due to the amount of pupils (26) there are 3 members of staff and it is always the same they never know how DS gets hurt.

So I have decided to take legal action AIBU???

Sorry op but accidents do happen.

Theglass, as I am well aware.

Already said I have calmed down and am starting by meeting with the school.

I let our 4 yr olds use knives in school proper kitchen ones .. They are of course supervised ... We also allow them o use a saw and hammer in the make it area...

Never saw your post ... No need to snap ..

I didn't snap!

The door is too sharp, that needs sorting and the best way is not legal action. As a warning my DS is accident prone and it got a LOT worse at school.

Pink, thanks for the heads up. I'll just boom a private room at a&e now then

aww, sorry for your boy! maybe |DONT sue but hope you can get your worries addressed

YABU
Down which road are you wishing to legally go? Negligence? You won't get far, any good solicitor will tell you straight away. In the circs you have described, you don't have a leg to stand on.
Sounds like you just have an accident prone little boy. You'd do better with what a previous poster advised about going through the correct channels all the way to OFSTED if necessary.
Also agree that if you are hoping for financial compensation, in the long run your child, and others, could suffer for it - School pays out= their insurance goes up= less money to spend on the School.
As for the not informing you part - it obviously wasn't warranted. School's that my DS's have attended are usually terrified to do anything "wrong" and will inform you if they want to apply so much as a plaster. If the nursery thought for one minute the bump to the head was serious you would have been called immediately to collect him, thats if they hadn't already taken him to A&E.
Your not wrong to worry about your child, if you seriously believe they are lax in their care then take him out.

Dondon, please do read it all I have taken him out of school and have already said
It was a knee jerk reaction.

Sorry your son has had a run of accidents, it does all seem to come at once with some kids.

Can I ask why your ds was off for 2 weeks with a head bump?

I know as a cm that the only fool proof way to prevent children having accidents is to strap them in chairs all day!! Not preferred option.

Not sure re point of metal in the door frame, if u put your fingers in the door it hurts.

I think u will be advised by any sensible si intro that you don't have a case unless you can prove neglect.

I do feel for u as I had 2 boys who were permanently bruised, bloodied and at casualty but they did grow out of it.

Ignoring the legal action but the staff ratios are too low for a nursery class surely? 3 members of staff to 26 4 years and under is not enough I'm sure.

Perhaps focus on improving that and also you could ask for a health and safety review . . .

yes ask for copy of risk assessments

yes you should be signing an accident book

yes accidents DO happen but a sharp edge low enough for a child to cut self on should have been picked up by staff before opening that day, presuming they do daily RA

OP, yabu to take legal action

YANBU to draw attention to possible failings in standards of safety

Good luck

It was a large bump and bruise and for the first few days he had headaches. I kept him off until it had cleared totally and then within 3 days of going back he did his thumb.

Oh bless him, u r making right decision tho op and hope meeting goes well, sometimes settings do need a kick to wake them up a bit.

I think you are mad! So he's got a scar on his thumb? Hardly life altering is it?? Get used to it love, cos their accidents get worse as they get older!

And yes YABCFU

Losing, I take it you haven't read the whole thread?

I'm glad you appear to have calmed down.

But seriously, two weeks off for a bumped head? DS2 was back at school the very next day after he split his head open on the log circle and had to have it glued back together. He has an inch long scar but it never occurred to me to sue although I did airbrush it out of his passport photo which was taken a month later

You may be surprised at how well the thumb heals though - I've sliced and taken chunks out of more digits than I care to remember and they all look whole :)

Single, you have my sympathy. If I had a quid for every accident slip I've had to sign for DS we'd have had a darn sight more glamorous holiday this year! FWIW, we have noticed that he gets more clumsy when he's going through a growth spurt. Ie bumping into the door and falling over his feet on the way to school = new shoes and trousers needed soon....

Hope you get things sorted with nursery.

Not sure why you're getting such a bashing on here Single, seems to be one of those weeks on MN where people compete to be the sneeriest. I don't think you're being at all unreasonable to be concerned about the fact your DS has been injured so often while in the care of the Nursery, particularly when they aren't taking the trouble to record the incident or provide you with a proper explanation of how it happened. Having this meeting with the Head seems sensible and if you're not happy with his/her response then put your concerns into writing and raise it with the Governers. Legal action isn't the way to go but I think that's been made plain several times over.

I really don't see why so many people are making faces at the length of time you chose to keep your DS home after he injured his head. It's got absolute feck all to do with anyone else and it wasn't something you were asking judgement on in your original OP.

Yes I have. You have changed your view a bit but you still (IMO) are over sensitive. Raise your concerns with the school, but starting at threatening legal action was out of order. You and your DC are going to have to toughen up, especially when the involvement with sport begins.

I would tend to agree about the lack of care from what you have described, at nursery you are required to sign an accident form for just about everything. Also 3 staff to 26 children is not enough - I know if you have a qualified teacher it changes the ratio but it does not really mean that person is capable of doing the job of 2 qualified EYs staff. The normal ratio is 1:8 so you would need 4 people for 26 staff at the minimum.

It is over the top to keep a child off with even a bad bump to the head a day or two should have been sufficient but I understand that you were probably completely fed up about the sheer number of incidents!

YWBU to take legal action but a letter of complaint to Ofsted would be the best course of action regardless what the HT says. There are so many nurseries and pre-schools around that behave like this and spend too much time preparing for Ofsted (and often getting outstanding) but not enough on caring for the children - I am speaking from experience. Ofsted will investigate the complaint and it will be recorded with their inspection.

Sorry Single- guilty of not reading full thread.
Hopefully you will have peace of mind now with the new place.