to think the school should have phoned me about a head injury

[RosesandRugby]

Surely schools should telephone parents when a child gets a head injury rather than send home a stupid slip of paper that doesn't even have the full facts on 3 hours after the incident!

My DS has concussion and a black eye with bruised jaw and forehead after falling onto his head at school on the concrete playground.

He has spent several hours in hospital this evening for what the school describe on their 'accident slip' as 'graze to cheek - well enough to remain in school'. He complained to the staff he felt dizzy and nauseous immediately after his accident but they told him to go and play.

X-rays do not show any fracture but he's face is battered. He cant go swimming lessons or on the school trip this week. In fact he's not supposed to be going to school at all for the next few days. Im so cross. If they had telephoned and let me know he was injured I could have taken him to hospital before lunch. Instead he spent the afternoon in agony and was made to do PE with a thumping headache and blurred vision.

That's shocking behaviour from the school, make a complaint in writing to the head and governors. Hope your DS is feeling a little better now.

Sorry to hear your DS has a nasty injury.

How old is he? Young children do not always articulate very well how they are feeling. Plus they can add extra parts on when they retell the story for mum and dad (not saying that happened here).

But sounds like they should have phoned if he mentioned dizziness, blurred vision and nausea.

Sounds like they misjudged that very badly. I don't expect it was deliberate or malicious, but certainly needs following up formally. I would suggest a letter of complaint to the head, followed up by a letter to the governors if you don't get a proper apology, and an explanation of what they are changing to make sure that no such injury slips through the net in the future.

That is pretty poor. I think I would make a formal written complaint asking to see their First Aid policy but not until you've had time to cuddle your ds and look after him and recover yourself from today. He needs lots of quiet until he is feeling better.

Hahaha! I know who you are in RL...

He's 7 and my DD is 10 witnessed him telling the staff he felt unwell and them telling him to go and play

He's dosed up with calpol and ibuprofen. Ive got to try and wake him once he's been asleep for 2 hours but he cant sleep at the moment as his face hurts too much.

Does anyone know if a school should have a specific policy for head injuries or will it just come under basic first aid ?

That's really slack of them. They really should have let you know.
Similar happened to us, but at least school phoned me an said to go an collect ds. When I got there he was swaying and droopy eyed. "He was knocked out for a few seconds apparently but they didn't rate this as serious. Hence a rapid journey to a an e.
He was okay but still find it unbelievable.
I would make an official, written complaint. They will have to record it and if it is a common type of occurrence it will flag up as an area in need of attention.

I am sure the school should have a policy for head injury. Perhaps you should open the conversation by enquiring what it is and why it wasn't followed. At the very least common sense should have been followed and there is no way he should have played PE and you most certainly should have been phoned.

Raskova after what happened with the facebook incident you have to rant somewhere !

That's terrible, your poor ds. You must speak to the Headteacher and explain how upset you are at their dreadful lack of care.
I teach in an infant school and we have a strict policy on head injuries. I, maybe stupidly, thought all schools would be the same. We have accident slips for minor bumps/grazes but always phone home for visible head injuries. 9 times out of 10 it is just to say x has happened, they are fine to stay at school but just wanted to let you know. then parents can make up their mind if they want to come and check it out. Anything remotely serious we ask the parents to come and get them. I can't he complained of feeling sick and having a headache and no-one thought that was a problem. Maybe their First Aiders need a recap on their training? Hope he is feeling better soon.

Yanbu that's unacceptable. I would be furious! They should have phoned you, what if it had been more serious.

I think you'll get much better advice on here than that area that is home.

I'd be very angry at all staff involved after seeing the picture and reading how they basically ignored his injury. If you're taking them in tomorrow (I'd be tempted to keep him off) then see ht straight away xx

You shouldn't give ibuprofen after a head injury.
Was that advice from A&E?
Has he had an XRay or a scan?

Any injury at school needing hospital treatment should be reported to the LEA.

Headache and blurred vision is serious and the school has been negligent in the extreme. A fall onto his head onto concrete could have fractured his skull. You must take this further OP.

He needs to stay off tomorrow for sure.

Every school I've worked in has a specific policy for head injuries. It always involves a call to parents so they have the opportunity to decide what action they'd like to take.

I think when you complain it will be taken very seriously. I agree with ale that staff need a 'refresher'!

The school should have phoned you about that. My dc's school seem to phone me about everything - I got a call from dd's teacher the other day saying she's grazed her leg which was possibly overkill

YANBU OP.

3littlefrogs The hospital said to give him calpol initially and then ibuprofen/calprofen an hour later if it hadn't helped. I waited almost 2 hours before administering the calprofen. He also has a cool gel eye mask to help with the swelling.

He had an x-ray to check if his eye socket had broken (it hadn't). They didn't say he needed a scan unless he gets worse overnight. He's just nodded off about 10 mins ago. Ive got to try and rouse him in 2 hours. Im going to be here a while I think

Your poor ds! Yadnbu! I can't believe they didn't see fit to ring and tell you what had happened! Ds's school ring regarding any head/face injury, regardless of how serious they deem it.

I would be livid, and would definitely be writing a letter of complaint to HT. He could of been seriously injured, and they could have potentially made it worse!

Hope he is feeling better soon!

Do report it to the Head teacher.
Some schools seem to be getting too blaise about head injuries, when they can have potentially serious issues.
Certainly having nausea and feeling dizzy after a head injury would be an indication of needing to see a health care professional ASAP. School need to look at their care of head injury policies.

When DD banged her head at school, I turned up to collect her at the usual time to be told she had bumped her head about an hour before, but it was ok as they had applied a cold compress, and there was no need for me to check her over. (as a nurse, I think I will be the judge of that thanks!)
If only cold compresses could cure as much as the school seem to believe the NHS would save a fortune!
(DD was absolutely fine by the way, but I had every right to double check. You can never be too careful, and school had not done any checks at all - just gave her some wet paper towels and told her to sit quietly...)

Very bad of the school. Ours have phoned for a lot less, but then at least you are aware of the situation. Glad nothing of your DS is broken

I work in a school and have had first aid training very recently.

We don't have a blanket 'phone home for head injuries' policy, because on an average day we can have between 5 and 10 head injuries of the two children bumping heads/child walks into door/hasn't actually hurt themselves but fancies a bit of attention variety. Not that I'm trying to say two children bumping heads can't be serious, but often only one child will report the accident (the other child is happily playing) and when you examine the child, there is absolutely nothing visible (so it can't have been that hard). In those cases, the accident gets logged in the book, the teacher is alerted, and a slip of paper is sent home just to be on the safe side, but we wouldn't phone parents.

However, if a head injury leaves anything more than just a slight red mark (so if it bruises, grazes or swells) or if there is any loss of consciousness we would definitely phone- in the latter case we have been instructed by the first aid trainer that it is ambulance first, parents second! And if a child reported feeling unwell after a head injury we would phone parents.

I would definitely raise it with the school. Sometimes I think we can get a bit blasé because the vast majority of head injuries are nothing serious. I said earlier we have in the region of 5-10 head injuries reported a day. Of those, I would guess we have less than 1 a week that is serious enough to phone home, and the last time I can remember a child needing hospital attention for a head injury was several years ago.

Take this further. DS had a blow to the head last year. No one saw the actual fall but they treated him initially for his grazed leg, the obvious injury. He later returned to the medical room to complain of head pain and seemed confused at that point. I was called straight away and asked to take him to hospital. He was fine, just a precaution. He is 8.

Not acceptable of the school to do this to your son. Hope he is better today.

My DS had a knock to the head at school today, has a bump and an ice pack. His teacher phoned me immediately and the head spoke to us personally at picking up time. They felt he was well enough to stay in school but specified that they had asked him if he felt sick or had a headache, and that they would keep asking him throughout the afternoon. He had been given an ice pack and comforted, and the accident slip was very detailed. They checked on the phone that we were happy for him to stay at school.

YANBU. Complaint time.