Child hurt himself at school, teacher didn't notice

[namechange35790]

DS5 is in year 1 and goes to a childminder after school. When the childminder picked him up today she noticed he had a cut/bruise on his head. She asked how he got it and he said he fell over in PE. The teacher knew nothing about it.

AIBU to be miffed that his teacher didn't notice this? He fell, hit his head and cried when she was meant to be supervising him. Or is he 'at fault' for not telling an adult that he'd fallen? We have explained to him that he must tell an adult if he hurts himself in future.

I'm wondering if I should email the school about it but I'm not really sure what outcome I'd be looking for.

One adult to possibly 30 children!!! Child doesn’t say they are hurt and the teacher hasn’t got eyes in the back of their head or psychic powers.

Have you ever watched 30 kids for an hour whilst they run about and make lots of noise ?

I'd say it's pretty normal at that age. I remember being quite surprised that we didn't have the same rigmarole with accident forms as there was at nursery and there were a few times in reception when DS hurt himself and didn't tell anyone (including one time he got stung by a bee). I'd only expect to be told if it was something major or there was vomiting involved.

My eldest is a nightmare for this. He falls and hurts himself, but doesn’t tell anyone until we collect him. It’s not possible to have one set of eyes on 25-30 kids, all the time. There will always be falls / incidents that the teacher doesn’t see. I’d just remind him that if he’s hurt, and crying / upset, he needs to let an adult know.

Ok fair enough, as I said we've had a chat with him about speaking up in future. He's very shy so it's not that easy for him. I didn't necessarily expect the teacher to see the incident itself but thought she might have noticed the big gash that suddenly appeared on his head this afternoon.

Are you 100% sure that the teacher wasn’t aware? Are you also 100% sure that DS did cry after falling? Only reason I ask is teacher doesn’t have eyes in the back of their head but surely there was a reaction to other children if your son fell and surely the teacher would have heard him cry?

Looking after 30 kids must be tough, you can’t keep your eye on them all but you are responsible for their safety and well-being at that age especially.

Yes your DS should have told the teacher too. I’d ring them and clarify what happened.

My DC got hurt in the playground by another child on purpose but didn't tell anyone and when I asked why she didn't say anything, she said it's because the school bell rang which meant line up. Something that seems obvious to us like telling the teacher isn't obvious to 5 year olds.

If they're a good teacher, they will be kicking themselves for not realising it happened and be wondering how a child got injured without them noticing. For all we know, they were dealing with a separate issue at the same time in the PE lesson which took their attention.

If it becomes a pattern or it's a serious injury they knew nothing about then definitely raise it in the future.

He might also have done it at playtime and nowhere near PE at all and he didn't tell the supervisor what happened either.

Suppose it's a bonus that he didn't say 'Mummy hit me', though - because that one happens, as does 'Mrs Wotsit pushed me' when they don't know or can't remember exactly when something happened but think they need to explain it/guess it must have been when they were stopped from running into a closed door or suchlike.

@Duckmamahere Unfortunately all my information is second hand. The childminder told me she asked the teacher about it and the teacher wasn't aware. DS himself told me that he cried but he's not always the most reliable source. I will ask school for clarification

Are you sure he cried? And is it really a big gash?

If he genuinely has a big gash on his head and was crying, then yes the teacher should have noticed.

Ask the school. I doubt your son would have cried, I feel like the teacher would have heard OR other kids would get teachers attention or reacted, you know what kids are like.

Doesn’t surprise me in the least @namechange35790 - my SEND reception ds banged his head and ripped his face open badly enough to end up in hospital… no staff noticed (despite his screaming and blood everywhere) until another 4 year old broke the rules of where they were allowed to go in order to find a teacher.

Turns out they had left the entire reception year unsupervised on a playground while all the staff were on a different playground (which was on the other side of the building, down 2 sets of stairs- literally no adult had line of sight to the reception children).

My friend collected her DN one day to be told he’d had a bit of a fall- he had fallen on his face and smashed his front teeth. When she asked why she wasn’t called they said they hadn’t noticed… she took him directly to the emergency dentist who said he couldn’t do anything because so many hours had passed, and asked why he hadn’t been taken in sooner because he could have saved some teeth if he had been.

When you say "big gash"-did he have blood on his face?

Because I would be very worried if a teacher didn't notice blood on a child's face...

At that age, I would expect someone to notice, absolutely. Especially if they fell in PE (so not on a free play break time type thing) while being taught.

The child minder noticed, so unless no teacher or staff member actually looked him in the face at any point since the incident where's their excuse?

I would check with the school, in case they did in fact notice and he didn't pass that on.

Our school always has a teacher plus TA, plus student teacher in each class.

I run brownies - one of my littler ones who also has SEN showed me a weird friction burn on her tummy 1hr through the meeting - it was a good inch.
said she did it at the beginning…she couldn’t really say how it happened. None of the three adults or three young leaders noticed either….

I would definitely have a quick word with the teacher just to ask if he cried during PE etc, she may have noticed him crying but might have just thought he was upset for some reason and if the bruise didn't come up straight away she may not have realised he'd hurt himself.

As an aside my 4yo climbed on to our dining table and fell off the other day while I had my back turned. She only told me she hurt her head but when she was in the bath later she had a big scrape and bruise down her back too but because she hadn't said anything I didn't realise. It happens.

In my class I can be on my own with 30 children, some of whom have high needs and several of whom have behavioural issues. It’s not possible to notice everything, all the time.

Agree with PP that it happens in a class if the child doesn’t tell anyone.

I would use this as a chance to explain to teachers that your DS is one they need to keep a specific eye on because of his shyness and the fact that he doesn’t speak up when he’s hurt.

They didn’t know that about him before so they aren’t at fault. But if you tell them that this is an issue and it happens again, then this would give you the right to feel a little concerned .

Yes I would email. If they didn't notice they need to know and if he'd injured his head it could have turned out much worse. Even if it's just so they can chat to the kids about when they must seek adult help.

Jesus wept. You’re in for a rough ride if this is what you’re getting precious about at primary school already

You say "unless no teacher or staff member actually looked him in the face at any point since the incident" as if that's outrageous and not something that is entirely easy to happen.

PE in this case took up part of the afternoon so we're probably looking at an hour max afterwards where the teacher didn't see the gash. It's hardly unreasonable that she might not have looked at his face in a one hour slot, particularly one that involved getting ready for home time. I didn't often stare at my pupils individually face on when I was teaching. Usually it was quick glances as I did input and while they were working or playing they'd not necessarily be at an angle to see their whole face. And that's before you factor in OP's son being shy and even less likely to be looking straight at the teacher face on.

The childminder saw it because she was responsible for that one child and looking directly at him to greet him. No

It's nobody's fault. Kids hurt themselves. No need for blame, emails, chats with the teacher etc. etc