To think school should have phoned me to let me know we had been hurt?

[SatsumaFan]

Just want some perspective really, as it's the first time something like this has happened.

Ds is 8 and moved up to Juniors (different school as that's how it works where we are in the UK) last Sept. He loved Infants and thrived there, good reports, very bright and no trouble at all.

Yesterday he came out of school upset and said a group of Yr4 boys had set upon him at play time, pushed him to the ground so hard he hit his head on the concrete, causing him to cry (he's usually a tough one and doesn't cry), have head pain and the inside of his cheek was bleeding where his teeth cut into it on impact. He was also kicked and punched

He was helped to the medical room by two other Yr3 friends where he was given a quick look over before being told "can't see any scratches so you're fine, off you go".

He still had a headache hours later. I wasn't informed of any of this so was livid! Phoned the school on the way home and lodged a complaint with the Secretary, who will pass it on to the Head.

AIBU to think they should have called? Or spoken to me when I collected ds? Or am I just being a snowflake?!

Why can’t you take his word as ‘gospel’? He’s your son, if you don’t have his back then who is going to?

In schools we always listen to both sides of the story because there are always two sides and people interpret things differently. We also listen to anyone who witnessed the incident.

I would be livid!

Your son has been beaten up and the incident has been wrote off! What does that tell your DS? That they don't care that he's been hurt and there is no consequences to the other children.

OP you need to ensure that the kids get punished, this is disgusting

Everyone knows you can't believe every word an 8 year old says, that doesn't mean you don't have their back.

It's far too early to write to the governors, that's not good advice, please don't do that

Until you hear back from the HT you can't know what your next step should be but you are right to make sure you get a response.

Thanks all.

Yes I would expect some sort of notification that he'd been hurt, whether that was a note, a call or a quick word from the teacher after school. His teacher always seems a bit away with the fairies tho if I'm honest.

And I think it's different because it's not like he fell over and it was an accident. I'd be a lot more ok with that. It was that he was pushed and shoved and kicked.

There is cctv covering the main entrance and some of the playground there.

I wouldn't take everything he said as gospel as like to get a better picture from the others involved, witnesses, staff etc. He's a mature, sensible 8yo but we can all make mistakes, esp in the heat of the moment. I've listened to him and reassured him I'm speaking to the school about (I'd never say I don't believe what he's saying to his face, he needs to trust me and believe that I'll protect him).

There should have been an accident form filled in and at the very least you should have been informed at the end of the day. I would not be happy at all.

There should have been an accident form filled in

Just a detail, but in our school it would be an incident form, as it wasn’t an accident.

If he told the staff in the medical room wha happened,and particularly that he bumped his head, then the least you should've been told it that there was a head injury(scratches or not) via teacher,a bumped my head letter or sticker.

For serious incidents like this we'd also ring a parent straight away,not wait until the end of the day or worse let them find out from the child.

I'd grab the teacher Monday morning as a first step to establish if she actually knew about the whole incident and then go from there.
There are two issues to discuss with the HT(if you want to) here 1. Why you weren't informed and 2. Verify the poor supervision during playtime and how do they plan to fix that.

CCTV is not that unusual in schools, we have it in playgrounds,at all entrances and in the corridors.

I'm surprised you weren't told, my daughter says she could paper his bedroom with all his 'injury' slips!

If he told them his head hurt, they should have kept an eye on him. I would think a record should have been made 1-because he hit his head 2- he was bullied by a group of others.
Dd is yr 3 and has come home a few times with bruises whilst on the play equipment/pe. These have been with the teacher supervising. Nothing had been said to me by school and no bump note (but my daughter has told me). If she has any form of bump at lunch time (however minor) , the lunch supervisors fill in a bump note. (a little inconsistent but I can understand why the lunch supervisors are more cautious)
The one day though I had a phone call from one of the teachers in her year. She was OK, but had fallen over someones foot! She had grazed near her eye and her lip was swollen. They asked if someone could get her because whilst she was OK, they thought she needed a bit of tlc. Totally the right call as she wouldn't have learnt much during the afternoon anyway. When dh got there she was sat with an ice pack on her face.
I think you should have had a call to let you know. It sounds though as I'd they need not really appreciate how badly injured he was.

The school secretary said on the phone on Friday that she'd be checking the medical room book to see what was noted, so there is a record.

So. Today I have been casually asking ds again about what happened. He's now saying he thinks someone tripped him over, not pushed! And that he's actually not sure if he was kicked or not now Sounds like they were playing, someone tripped him up, he fell on the ground biting the inside of his cheek as he went down. He did bang his head, cry, was taken to medical room where he told the TA his head hurt etc. So still think it's worth asking the school about their policy with regards to notifying parents of bumps and bruises. But is not quite the "these Yr4 kids ganged up on me" story he was telling me on Friday afternoon.

I'll be speaking to his teacher first thing tomorrow.

Kids!

My son is 6 and his school has policy that they have to be collected if any bump to head.
Other son's school would ring

My son is 6 and his school has policy that they have to be collected if any bump to head.

I woudn't expect many parents / carers to be happy about that. We would call the parents / carers to inform them then monitor the child. However, I wouldn't expect parents to collect and take them home, as in 99.9% of cases the child is fine mere moments after the bump.

Yeah the Infants School would always call and say he's had a bump, and would ask me if I'd like to go and collect him? But if he was fine in himself then I'd just say no, keep him there unless he really wants to come home (which he never did).

To the person who asked why the OP wasn’t taking her sons word as gospel - the OPs later post shows exactly why taking any child’s word as gospel is a bad plan!!!! Total change of story...

Head bump - you should have been notified, either by phone, slip or teacher at end of day, depends on school policy. If your son told a teacher the original story, it really should have been investigated straight away. If he didn’t, and didn’t mention the head bump to the first aider, then their approach of ‘theres no scratches, you’re fine’ seems appropriate. I’m a teacher and the number of falls at each break is huge, and most children cry. Most don’t need first aid. However, if he said he bumped his head, that should have beeen taken seriously, especially if he continued to have a headache that afternoon.

Either way OP - I’d Ben contacting the school Re the head bump. Your son needs to get his story straight and then you can decide what to do - but the original version sounds horrible and should be taken seriously.