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AIBU?

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Original poster

4 year old head injury school reaction

73 replies

Pencilltime · 03/12/2023 00:04

School called at 2.50 to say my 4 year old son had fallen and had a small graze on his head. He was fine no need to pick him up.

School finished at 3.15 and they carried him to after school care (private company on the same site who told me this) because he couldn’t walk.

At 3.30 I get a frantic call from after school club that they could not wake him. I got there minutes later and it took me a few minutes to rouse him. He clutched his head, screamed and fell over. He then started vomiting.

Went to A&E and he had severe concussion.
I am very cross but am trying to work out what to do next to make sure another child doesn’t go through this. What should I do?

OP posts:
RandomButtons · 03/12/2023 00:15

the school said he had a graze when he’d actually banged his head? I’d complain. Did they inform the after school club?

However bangs to the head are really tough to tell if it’s serious or not. Concussion is hard to predict. You can have a minor looking whack and it be serious, or a nasty whack and it ends up fine.

RandomButtons · 03/12/2023 00:16

Also, is your son ok?

SutWytTi · 03/12/2023 00:16

That is unbelievably negligent. Someone should be disciplined for not following procedure.

Formal complaint to the school and then after that to Ofsted https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-school/state-schools

Most importantly, is your DS ok?

Complain about a school

Complain about a school - complaints process, when to complain to the Department for Education, the Education Funding Agency or Ofsted.

https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-school/state-schools

Original poster
Pencilltime · 03/12/2023 00:18

@RandomButtons he is ok. Head still hurts and napping on me throughout the day but eating and drinking ok.

OP posts:
Original poster
Pencilltime · 03/12/2023 00:20

@SutWytTi what should the procedure have been? I think they should have called an ambulance but I have looked through their website and cannot find their procedures for head injury’s.

OP posts:
Original poster
Pencilltime · 03/12/2023 00:21

*injuries

OP posts:
SutWytTi · 03/12/2023 00:22

Pencilltime · 03/12/2023 00:20

@SutWytTi what should the procedure have been? I think they should have called an ambulance but I have looked through their website and cannot find their procedures for head injury’s.

There's no way they should carry a child to after school club if they can't walk.

That clearly requires investigation.

SleepingStandingUp · 03/12/2023 00:25

School finished at 3.15 and they carried him to after school care (private company on the same site who told me this) because he couldn’t walk.
Oka graze might not look much, he might have immediately been fine but what the actual fuck? Even without a head injury,a kid can't walk so they just dump him at after-school club cos they CBA??

At the point he couldn't walk and probably way before, they should have called you to get him / phoned an ambulance

SutWytTi · 03/12/2023 00:25

I'm so sorry this happened. Do you know which teacher phoned you and who carried him? I'd complain about them specifically.

Amybelle88 · 03/12/2023 00:26

Negligent.

I agree concussion can be hard to notice, but if a child has to be carried somewhere because they can't work, it's a pretty clear red flag.

I'd kick up absolute murder truth be told - you've handled it well.

Original poster
Pencilltime · 03/12/2023 00:33

@SutWytTi the receptionist left the message. I don’t know which staff member carried him over. After school club mentioned it because school staff never deliver kids to after school club. The club staff pick them up.

OP posts:
Original poster
Pencilltime · 03/12/2023 00:37

@Amybelle88 I am very cross but want to focus on making sure it never happens again to any child at the school. I just need to work out the best way to make that happen. A part of me wonders if they just wanted to go home on a Friday and that is why they didn’t help him.

OP posts:
JanglyBeads · 03/12/2023 00:51

It's precisely because concussion is not spottable tha there must be a policy for head injuries and it must ensure that blows to the head are identified, recorded and passed on to the next carer(s).

Ask school for their head injuries policy, as a start.

RandomButtons · 03/12/2023 00:56

Pencilltime · 03/12/2023 00:20

@SutWytTi what should the procedure have been? I think they should have called an ambulance but I have looked through their website and cannot find their procedures for head injury’s.

I’m no expert on policies, only going by what’s happened when my kids have had head bumps at school or home, but a bang to the head where child was conscious and behaving fine immediately afterwards would not warrant an ambulance.

However the guidance with head bumps is ALWAYS watch them closely for the next 24 hours, and inform any carers as such. The point he needed to be carried imo an ambulance should have been called or bare minimum you called and you or a staff member take him to A&E.

Original poster
Pencilltime · 03/12/2023 00:59

@RandomButtons I agree they should have called me or an ambulance. I like the school. I like the teachers but I feel they have really neglected my child. I want my reaction to be productive but at the same time need to make sure they do not fob me off.

OP posts:
Original poster
Pencilltime · 03/12/2023 01:02

@RandomButtons i can’t find anything like that in the policies of my son’s school website.

OP posts:
SpottyUnicorn · 03/12/2023 01:07

I am disgusted by the school's behaviour. This is negligence and they've put your child's health in serious risk.

I personally would send them an email containing all the facts and ask them to explain why they deprioritised your son's health. Make sure everything is in writing, including their response (if they phone, ask them to also respond via email).
I'd seriously consider escalating further, including Ofsted, local education authority, etc

unvillage · 03/12/2023 01:10

They had to carry a 4 year old to his wraparound care because he physically couldn't walk?! I'd be reporting that to every possible agency. It's a basic first aid concern, when they should have had at least one first aider on site.

I almost never say this, but this needs an OFSTED report. This school needs a fucking kick up the arse on their first aid policies, your child was seriously injured and nothing was done.

I actually believe the school may have an obligation to report this injury on their premises to OFSTED. There are a number of injuries that must be reported, concussion may be among them but I can't recall. I can't stand ofsted but if what you've posted is accurate then I'm so shocked, the school needs serious change at the deepest level. I hope your child is okay now.

Caterina99 · 03/12/2023 01:19

My DD fell off some equipment last year at school at break time and hit the back of her head which was bleeding. The school rang me straight away and said that as it was a head injury they recommended I take her to A&E. She was v pale and shaken but didn’t pass out or throw up.

She was totally fine. It was a tiny scrape on the back of her head, didn’t even need glued in A&E. No signs of concussion. Obviously she was lucky, she didn’t hit her head too hard.

Not sure if the school can absolutely insist on A&E, but I feel they did the right thing in saying they recommended she be checked out.

Ive also been called before to say a DC has hit their head, collided with another child or whatever but it’s fine I don’t need to collect, so they must have a way to assess which need immediate medical care and which don’t.

At the point they had to carry him to after school club - wtf - or whenever they realised he wasn’t his normal self they should’ve phoned you and possibly also an ambulance.

User5512 · 03/12/2023 01:32

Is this a school in Kent?

coxesorangepippin · 03/12/2023 01:41

I'd be hitting the bloody roof

They basically lied to you

coxesorangepippin · 03/12/2023 01:42

What kind of an idiot carries a passing-out child to after-school club rather than calling an ambulance??

I mean, come on!!!

Purpleraiin · 03/12/2023 01:59

Complain to ofsted. I had a call a few months back for my 12 year old, 'He's banged his head and has a lump could I go and fetch him please but no rush as he's fine'....
the correct story was.... he'd been tripped over by another child, and he landed on a dodgy radiator joint pipe that went into his head. I got to the school to find him wobbling around in the hall way, trying to hold an ice pack and paper towels on the wound, with blood pissing out this hole in his head and not a single person in sight to keep an eye on him!!! It also took them 10 mins to buzz me in through the gate so by the time I was in, there was a pile of blood soaked paper towels at my sons feet and blood down the wall where he'd lent on it for support as noone got him a chair And he had no balance. I was fuming and ofsted weren't pleased either, they took it very seriously, thankfully.
I hope your son is OK

SwedeCaroline · 03/12/2023 02:14

depends why he was carried.. on the face of it, they informed you he had hurt his head, they might have carried him just because he requested it and they were going above and beyond, and you were contacted when he deteriorated.

When my child had a head injury at school, i was informed, I went to see him myself, and choose to take him to hospital. I think that decision is left to parents not schools. YOu chose not to go and see him, although you had been informed