AIBU To Expect school to provide me with an accident report after DS suffered fracture during PE?

[aurorablast]

Apologies; this is in two parts..

Part I

DS had bad fracture during sport. Bone was quite clearly heard to snap and the scunners left him to make his way to the medical centre (I do know how blooming lucky we are to have at least have one!) on his own, in shock, knowing he has a blood disorder which puts him at high risk. It took five hours for him to be seen at A&E due to their handling of the incident. Since 'incident' DS hasn't been able to go to school and I've not heard a peep from the PE Dept..AIBU to have expected them to have contacted me about the incident.

Part II

Child involved in DS's injury is now running around on the interwebby boasting that's he's injured my son saying 'I had to take him out'. This. to me..aside from a lamentable attitude to other human beings..implies that he deliberating injured my son..AIBU to expect that his form teacher has a 'quiet word' with him?

Part I - meeting with the Head of the school, not just PE
II - screen shot and police.

Thanks Frisky - my ghast is flabbered no-one has contacted me with the details of what happened. Seems sport injuries are just taken for granted :(

Absolutely get a screen shot before the little scrote takes it off - don't waste time with the form teacher go straight to the HT.

Make a big fuss about the way he was treated and the school's ineffective communication.
Bollock them about failure of duty of care whilst in loco parentis and all that.

Accidents will always happen - but how the school handles injuries is crucial. And if this other kid did it on purpose and isn't just blowing his own bugle, then you have genuine cause for complaint and concern.

Thank you Harticus - I do wonder if I should post under..Am I being a complete and utter wuss? The blether you get is that sport is inherently dangerous - yet my father and grandfather played for 30 years each and nary a break, and the school does seem to have a LOT of sports injuries; which makes you wonder how things are being supervised.

As for 'little scrote' will try to ge screenie, though 'Junior Psycho' is my phrase of choice - who on earth revels in breaking someone's bones?

who on earth revels in breaking someone's bones?

Someone who either:

1. Hasn't been helped to develop any empathy/manners/boundaries/knowledge of social conduct.

or

1. Is trying to play the 'big man' to cover up the fact that he's internally crapping himself at what he's done.

I broke my femur at school, playtime, when I was twelve. Fell over playing rugby! The school ended up admitting they were liable as they hadn't provided proper supervision and had to compensate me for the life changing results of the injury. Their fault extended to how they dealt with the aftermath, delays in calling my mum and an ambulance. You want a proper explanation of what happened, at the very least.

OMG. I have been toying with posting similar. My DD broke her ankle in a training session at school and the PE Dept did jack shit. Told her to make her own way to the nurse if she felt she needed to. The nurse made her walk upstairs to registration. And then sent her to stand outside in the cold to wait for me. She has gone back in with a full cast on and DH has been in to complain about lack of care etc. never heard a word from the PE dept to see how she is.

Sorry about your DS. You should definitely go in and see the Head.

Disgraceful.

Do what FriskyHenderson said.

Keep us updated.

You don't say what sport it is. But if it is a contact sport like rugby then the kid boasting doesn't necessarily mean he deliberately meant to injure just tackle. Obviously his comments are still inappropriate and needs speaking to but not necessarily a sign of a junior psycho.
The school has behaved shockingly to have had no contact with you at all about it. You should certainlty take it up with them.

This is extraordinary! In my experience, schools tend to go too far the other way, erring too much on the side of caution.

Definitely screen shot- but I would go to the school with it rather than the police initially- kids do show off, and he might not even have been actually involved.

1. Written complaint to head teacher requesting meeting, cc. governors and OFSTED.

1. Agree with above - screenshot and police!

Agree with Frisky and Lurcio

You could give the school the screenshot and 24 hours to deal with it to your satisfaction before you go to the police but I'm not convinced they are the sort of school that are that helpful.

YANBU on any count. I agree with getting governors involved at the very least.

Evidence. Police.

He's clearly admitting to ABH.

Forget the school for the time being.

Do the PE department even know the outcome of the accident? If all you have done so far is phone the school office and say DS will be absent this week because of a broken arm the receptionist wont have informed the PE office.

Did the teacher think it was a fracture before he/ she sent them to the nurse? If they didn't hear the sound themselves, it would be easy to be a bit sceptical in the face of some overexcited kids prone to exaggerating. Whatever the injury, a teacher will appear to downplay it to keep the rest of the class calm. And if the kid can walk, seems fine in themselves, he/she will not be accompanied by the teacher to the medical room mid lesson as they have a duty to the rest of the class (another pupil perhaps?). Re the blood disorder, bear in mind the PE teacher may well have taught say 5x30 kids that day, and won't remember every little detail about every single child with the best will in the world, and unless it is life threatening won't be expected too. Surely your son is old enough to know he needs to remind people if/when it's relevant.

All that said, it doesn't sound like it has been handled very well and I would be wanting to discuss with the head of PE how to tighten up their procedures.

As for the other boy, what sport were they playing? Taking the opponent out is the whole point in rugby surely? The police seems more than a little extreme for some bragging.

that is awful handling of it from the school. Make sure your complaint goes to the goveners and if needed the LEA too.

It is bloody unacceptable. I'd be in the school today speaking to the HT.
I hope your DS is ok.

I had a similar experience OP when my DD was injured at school (not PE). The result was she has been in and out of school for 4 years, flitting between full and part time depending how she's coping.
The school were worse than useless. We were ignored completely, trying to get work for DD was like pulling teeth.

I came to the conclusion that they didn't want to discuss the incident because admitting liability could have meant we'd sue (we had no intentions of suing, we just wanted an education for DD!) so they tried their level best to ignore us and hope it would get brushed under the carpet.

Make yourself known, you know you are winning the war when the receptionist visibly scowls as you walk through the door. Request a copy of the accident report. Get your DS to write his account down now, and his friends too if they can. Request a meeting with head of PE AND Head Teacher. Make it known that unless you get answers your next step will be the Governors and the LEA.

DD's school still try their level best to avoid me. I just have to make damn sure they cant.
Good luck.

Thank you all so much for giving of your time to reply, judging from other's have said not at all alone in this and some of the posts are horrifying in terms of what happened. It seems I have at least the med centre onside as they have repeatedly told the PE Dept DS is 'high risk' due to his disability, and should Never be left alone if injured, or indeed taken ill. Hopefully they will back me up.

It was rugby he was playing, but it turns out just a training session (!) and the other child is actively boasting that he hurt my son - not just 'take him down' in rugby terms. Perhaps because it wasn't a full game the refereeing wasn't as rigorous as it should have been - my son wasn't even on the pitch at the time of the incident - on the other side of the try line (unfortunately my knowledge of the sport is worse than limited...)

Thank you for the very helpful suggestions and I'll use many of them as I draft a letter tonight. THANK YOU :)

not sure what to put in the letter but definitely do what frisky said up thread.

bear in mind the PE teacher may well have taught say 5x30 kids that day, and won't remember every little detail about every single child with the best will in the world

If the med centre has been repeatedly telling the PE dept that your DS is high risk, and not to be left alone when injured, then yes, go in hard. They did, after all , do what they've been told not to. There's no excuse for not remembering.