I think I've blown my job today, would you have done the same?

[ilove]

I'm a supply teacher/cover supervisor through an agency covering primary and secondary across Yorkshire, I work adhoc days to suit what fits in with my own kids and family and we also foster.

U agreed to work today in what is a decent secondary not far from home. My husband was also working overtime (we've had a very tough January money wise), but because his car is broken he got a lift in at half five this morning with someone who works on the same site but in a totally different area. I had my car at school with me.

Right at the end of P3 (I'd already taught Y7 and Y9) I had a Y11 class, teaching geography. As we packed up I noticed my phone flashing madly and looked at it - missed calls, texts, whatsapp said, messenger and emails all saying URGENT, CONTACT ME OR SCHOOL, SERIOUS INJURY and missed calls from my kids school too.

I rang my husband to be told that our youngest had had a serious head and mouth injury, bleeding, teeth forced backwards, blood from his mouth and face and could I get there now...

So I went straight to the supply department, told them, said I was leaving and went. Rang school and said I was on my way, then rang my husband to say I was too, and rang my agency to explain and apologise.

Just to say, we have NO family help. None. My in laws are six hours away and my parents both work and are over an hour away but wouldn't have come anyway. My eldest son is 90 mins away and works shifts. There are no neighbours at home who could have stepped in, we really are on our own and that's why I do agency work.

The agency were clearly very poised off with me and told me I should not have left the school (the school, by the way, were lovely - told me to go and not to worry and took all the handover stuff straight off me)

My boy isn't good, he has split top and bottom lip, ripped his frenulum and looks to have broken the muscle in his top lip as well as pushing his two front teeth right backwards so his teeth don't close together properly. He is a ? Concussion and needs waking every three hours tonight. Dentist on Monday unless he feels worse tomorrow and will then get an emergency appt with 111. Hospital were lovely, and surprised an ambulance hadn't been called as the child he bumped heads with was in just as bad a state but has my sons teeth marks in his head (apparently it was a game of tag!!!)

So WIBU to have but my son first? WWYHD? Sat here fretting :(

and yes, by ambulance I mean

OP please ask the school for their accident policy and check if it was followed, also speak to first aid officer who dealt with your DC and ask why 999 wasn't dialled. IMO it should have been.

Any news on the job and what their reaction was?

The other child has still not returned to school. My DS saw the dentist, who X rayed his teeth and said there are no fractures, that they are firmly in place and that the issue will be sorted when he has his braces on. There is a risk that the nerve has been damaged but there's nothing they could do to know whether it has or not, and if his teeth start to darken then he will need a root canal treatment doing.

as you all said, the agency rang me repeatedly at 7am on Monday to ask me to do a full day at the same school - lol. I couldn't as DS had his dental appointment and I had my interview, but they never said a word about Friday, nor did they ask how he was. Can you imagine if it had been far more serious and my DS were still in hospital??

I contacted my old agency up line and he has said he will take me on like a shot but has to wait a little longer as he had a 12 month poaching clause in his contract, which is nearly up, then he can talk to me properly.

I definitely need to speak tho the school and find out why on earth they didn't call a paramedic or ambulance, does anyone know if it impacts them in some way if the DO call one?

Thanks for all your help and lovely messages :)

My DSS had a similar sounding accident in the playground, his teeth went through his upper lip. They tried to wait for DH to get there so they did not have to send a member of staff with him to hospital. Maybe that is why they waited.

Not related to your question but i hope your son is okay, concussion is awful so hopefully thats not the case :(
and also, your agency have no right to be angry with you!

More to the point - I think that it should have a negative effect on the school if they don't call an ambulance in these circumstances! Because how can you trust them with your dc if they don't call an ambulance (or even throw them gently! into a teacher's car and take them in to a&e themselves if that's easier/going to be faster)

There was a problem on a school trip at the dc's school recently - kid had an allergy, was inadvertently given the food for a child with a different allergy and thus had a bad reaction. Two of the teachers had clocked what was happening, given the epipen injection and jumped into a car (one teacher in the back with the dc while the other drove) and drove to a&e which they knew was reasonably close by. In the mean time another member of staff on the trip had called ahead to a&e to alert them that they were coming so they could be ready with more epipens and drugs ready to go as soon as they arrived and then called the school to send more staff over to the trip to help with those left behind, as well as get the school to alert the parents and get them to hospital asap.

The mum was full of praise for the quick thinking teachers - somebody asked if she thought they should have waited for an ambulance or called her first - and she was just pleased that they had got her dc to hospital in the fastest possible manner regardless of whether or not she had signed a form to say that the teachers could drive her child in their car. But it's scary that there are some people that were questioning her and thinking that in these sorts of situations it's the form filling and box ticking that comes first rather than urgent medical care!

I think it's very similar in your case - with head injuries and at least one child that had been knocked out, yes, they should ring you, but at the same time there should have been a member of staff calling an ambulance and sorting out getting them transferred asap - they couldn't have known in your dc's situation that it wasn't going to be even more serious and they should have been treating it as if it were at the more serious end of a head injury rather than just a minor bump.

Hope your ds continues to get better! Glad to hear that his dentist is as reassured as he can be that there's no major damage.