Son scratched and pinched on face at school

[HeyitsPorscha]

My son is in year 1 at school and today I got a call after lunch from the school to say he had been attacked by another boy who 'pinched and scratched his face'. I wasn't sure what to expect at pick up but I'm so shocked by what my sons face looks like.
He has deep scratches over both cheeks and above his ear like he has been attacked by a cat. Apparently the child is in reception that did this and lost some play time. I'm so shocked and I don't know what to do and if there is anything I can do.
The child is obviously around 5 years old and the school have punished him and told his parents (who I dont know).
I am going to go in and speak to the head about it tomorrow but I havent been invited in to speak to anyone and the teacher said nothing to me after school she just let him out to me. I think she didnt know what to say and on the phone she was very stuttery so I knew to expect something bad but no where near as bad as what he actually looks like. I've never had an issue like this. How should the school be dealing with it as it feels like they aren't really...

Any advice would be gratefully received

Another midday supervisor here to chime in and say, this is part and parcel of everyday life at a school. We are underfunded, understaffed and not able to see or prevent each and every incident that may happen at breaktime. I work at a large primary (over 400 pupils) and you would be shocked at the adult:child ratio of our coverage. Thank your Tories for that!
I hope your little boy feels better soon, Op.

• To the people blaming the school / staff, id love to see you do playground duty!!!

I’m a TA and let me tell you playground duty ain’t easy and this goes on without people seeing !

The school followed the behaviour policy what more do you want ?*

I'm always astounded on MN by the ridiculous excuses about / from school staff. It's like no one else could comprehend how hard their job is .

I just can't imagine being this dismissive about my responsibilities. Never mind in a job which involves protecting children.

Attacking another child like that isn't normal behaviour for a 4 or a 5 year old. This child needs help and better supervision if they are not to hurt another child again. It's totally unacceptable if this doesn't happen. Hopefully the scratches heal well and don't scar, but you are quite right to take this to the head to ensure the children are better supervised. Take photos with you.

Posters keeps saying 'the school should take steps..' but refuse to suggest what steps they would expect the school to take. I am asking specifically, what do you suggest the school does?

To a certain extent whether the other child is ok or needs referal to CAMHs is absolutely none of the OPs business.

You start with your child because no school is going to actively keep children apart if the children are seeking each other out. They are in different years and this wasn't done at a distance, why we they in each others radar. You need your childs perspective on what happened before you go marching up the school. If you child says i kicked him so he scratched me back youll look pretty stupid asking the school for an explanation! It may well be your child is blameless wrong place wrong time but its worth checking first

After that you may want to check that what your child is telling you tallies with the schools perspective. bear in mind both child and school may gave reason to lie or may just have different perspectives on the incident. At that point how they are safeguarding you child might be appropriate, but if its its a one off

And yes its probably highly likely the other child has a family battling with either diagnosed or undiagnosed SN. I remember the head once telling me that a unnamed child had hurt DD. I told her i hoped .... (the name of the child) got better support soon. (Dd had already told me all about it). The head looked almightily relieved and said yes we hope so too.

Wow. A little boy pushed my DD over in the playground and I was livid when I saw her knee bruised and cut up. I dealt with it myself and went right to the parents.

Really?

When my DD was pushed over and cut her knee I thought 'these things happen' and got on with my life. My DD was fine.

But then I work in a school and I know how quickly these things happen.

As for the OP, that does look pretty bad. I would go in and just try and find out what happened, if they know why it was your DS that was targeted and what steps they will take to try and stop it happening again. But the chances are the staff will be feeling really shit about this happening and that they weren't able to prevent it for whatever reason.

Lol at suggestions of CAMHS - some people are just clueless.

How long would it take to inflict those cuts - less than one minute?
How many children and how many staff are in the playground? What kind of ratio would it need to have a member of staff reacting to every incident in less than one minute?
And CAMHS - come on. A young child hurts another, yep must have mental health issues, let's report them.
If my children fought at home, and one scratched the other, I wouldn't expect to be reported to SS.
Sounds to me like the school have dealt with an unfortunate incident, your DS will be sore for a while and maybe have scars - my DD still does after I scratched her three years ago.

Home schooling will ensure your DS comes to no further harm at the hands of other children until they go to soft play/playground/sports/park etc.

@Peter Yes well DD's teacher saw the whole incident and obviously saw it was malicious. DD has a speech delay so if that teacher hadn't seen it happen then we wouldn't have known what happened. Anyway I'm glad it was handled and like I said before 'job done'

And to those saying 'kept in at playtime isn't much'- what do you want? The child is 5 at most, more likely 4 at this stage in the year. How long do you punish your own child for? Staying in at playtime is painful for most kids that age. Any sanction needs to be immediate - keeping him in for a week, say, would not be appropriate for that age.
That's exactly my thoughts.
Sanctions have to be appropriate for the age of the child.

I do sometimes find myself wondering if the posters who turn up on threads like these demanding "something" is done (but never the sanction the school has implemented and rarely with any other practical suggestions) are also people who think it's wrong that children lose 2 minutes of their break because 'play is so important' and nobody can expect a 10 year old to concentrate if they've had 13 minutes play and not 15.

It also surprises me how on some threads people fall over themselves to tell others not to make assumptions about a child etc, not to raise concerns because it's not your business etc, but then threads like this people honestly seem to think a reception child would get a CAMHS referral for a one off.

I think he wants a no deal to kill off Farage and his burgeoning popularity.

Wrong thread
Little boys of 4,5and 6 en masse fight. It's almost a male bonding thing!

I would be very distressed if I collected my child and saw scratches like that. You have every right to expect your child to be kept safe at school. In fact "does your child feel safe at school?" is a main question on the Ofsted parent survey when they inspect a school.

When a child at my children's school was being violent towards others the school arranged for him to be monitored all through break time and lunchtime. One of the teachers or playground supervisors was assigned to watch him.

Unfortunately the violence continued as even when being watched the staff couldn't always react fast enough to stop the random, unprovoked attacks. The school then arranged for him to be collected at lunchtime and he had to go home for the lunch break so he wasn't mixing with the other children in the playground.

This action was put in place after parents complained and insisted the school keep the children safe. The boy has severe SEN and was unable to cope with the noise and crowds in the playground.

I would go and see the head and ask what will be done.