Child injury at school

[jodie08]

My DS in Y4 came out of school yesterday hobbling. He said during indoor PE he heard his toe crack and so did his teacher. He was asked to miss afternoon play and rest it but no medical intervention took place. Nothing was mentioned by his teacher after school, no phone call, and no accident report.

We had to walk home 25 minutes, but if I’d have known DS was in so much pain I would have taken the car.
Last night and this morning he can barely walk so off to have it checked as I suspect a possible fracture.
Does anyone know what the procedure is for this type of injury at school because I would have thought it’s serious enough to mention to a parent.
AIBU to be annoyed at the school didn’t let me know?

Well it’s pretty serious if they’ve potentially missed a broken bone!

Would he have said he was in a lot pain/cried when it happened? Or just shrugged it off at the time and the teacher not known it was so bad? Because I'd definitely expect them to call if he was in a lot of pain or upset!

Same happened to my son, he had a really bad sprain and they didn't tell us. Had to call an user to get him home. We made a formal complaint.

So in my school it would have been a form given to the child at that age to pass on themselves to the parent at the end of the day.
A toe is a tricky one as if they were still walking around and saying they just needed a bit of rest then it might have been missed as serious.
Parents only tend to be called if we need the child collected immediately (they have been sick, diarrhoea, injury that is visibly bad) or if a child says that the pain is high level (and are not known to be school refusers/trying to go home unnecessarily!).
Some teachers might call home at the end of the school day if they think the parent needs to know anything, but this wouldn't have helped you on the school run. Teachers themselves are busy teaching.

What was he doing? How did the injury occur? Did they really not perform and basic first aid?? Was it examined at all? Ice pack?
How does it look? Is it swollen or bruised?
On the face of it it does sound like they have not handled this as they should have. At my school it would have been examined by a first aider and an ice pack applied. We would have kept an eye on it and if there was any sign that it was more serious a parent would have been called. An accident slip would have always been sent home.
Speak to them on Monday and see what they have to say.

They should call for a suspected broken bone. I had one school admin person just strap up an obviously broken finger though, so sometimes they’re completely rubbish!

DS said he wasn’t sent to the medical room, no ice pack and just told to sit inside for play. His teacher was on the gate after school but nothing was mentioned even though DS was struggling to walk. Check his bag and no medical form. Although my DS is not usually one to cry you could tell he was in pain.

It’s easy enough not to realise the seriousness of toes in particular because a stubbed toe is painful, we’ve all done it but doesn’t require medical attention. A child not making a fuss doesn’t scream medical attention needed and only head trauma is mandated for notes, other injuries are at the schools discretion, it would be a huge burden if every tiny bump had to be reported. If it is still painful Saturday morning get it checked but even a tiny fracture may require no medical care.

I moaned a bit this week because my son came home with two skinned knees sticking to his trousers. He nearly hit the roof when I had to clean and dress them. He said no one helped him and the dinner ladies just laughed. I didn’t go overboard with the teacher (DS has form for being a bit dramatic), but just said he’s a bit sore. I was pissed off they hadn’t put plasters on him, but let it go. Turns out that they did - he took them off! He swore there was no note - there was - in his bag. Lied right to my face the little sod.

Not great! I hope your DS recovers soon OP.

At the very least a teacher should have mentioned it to you. But any injury should be checked by a first aider and recorded. I would definitely follow this up with the school - won’t do any harm to look at their processes and reporting systems. I’d be worried about what they could miss next time.

Do they actually have a first aid room? Is it a large school/independent school?
Not many schools have a first aider and if the teacher was on their own and the child seemed ok this would also explain why they didn't feel the need to do anything urgent. If they had felt it was serious they would have needed to have stopped the PE lesson, got everyone back in and then administered first aid while keeping an eye on everyone else.

They do have a first aid room. My DS said that he was crying which is out of character for him but there was no medical intervention. I understand that you can’t account for every knock and scrape but not to mention it or record it when he’s in obvious pain is pretty poor.

In every school that i worked in over a period of 15 years there was always first aiders. All support staff had first aid training.

Yes all the teachers do have first aid training but not all support staff - it sounded like in the OPs post the fact there is a first aid room meant there was a designated first aider/member of staff based there.
As a TA I have no first aid training (only all the early years staff are) but am still expected to deal with incidents.

I’m surprised nothing was mentioned at the gate but given you have waited overnight to be considering getting it checked I wouldn’t be making too much fuss!

If it was bad enough for the teacher to decide he had to miss play , it was bad enough for you to be informed, and definitely for first aid to be given.

Legally every workplace has to have first aiders including a school.

OP Child should have been sent to the 'office' to see a first aider or if he couldn't walk another child sent to get someone. If he couldn't walk parent should have been called

Hope your DS is ok OP.

By bothers school nurse missed a collapsed lung and packed him back to class with two paracetamol. His friend said he looked really ill and had the wit to call out Mum. He fainted shortly after she arrived and was in resus as soon as the got to the hospital.

irony was she was also a school nurse.

I would raise it with the school that’s pretty poor you weren’t even informed

I'm a teacher. The amount of limping kids you deal with on a daily basis would astound you. Sometimes it's hard to spot the real injuries amidst the attention seeking. I'd have checked said foot for swelling and if none was there, I'd probably have left it at that.
If the child was normally very stoic about small injuries, and was clearly in a lot of pain, I'd give it more attention.
Teachers aren't doctors and kids have a tendency to ham things up. If you weren't rushing him to a&e the minute you picked him up, it sounds like you also were unsure of the severity of the injury.

Did the teacher hear it crack though?

Well I assume they thought he stubbed his toe. That doesn't need an ice pack or a phonecall.

Is it broken? Have you took him to a&e?

I understand teachers deal with a lot of minor injuries and it can be difficult to judge what’s serious in the moment. However, in this case my child was clearly in significant pain and unable to walk properly, which is why it was concerning that it wasn’t taken more seriously at the time.

Parents rely on the school to flag when something may need medical attention, especially during the school day when we aren’t there to see what’s happened ourselves. Once I saw how much pain he was in, I did seek medical advice.

I’m not expecting teachers to be doctors, but I do think when a child is unable to weight-bear or is clearly distressed, it’s reasonable to expect that it’s monitored closely and communicated clearly to parents.

If it's only a toe it'd only be strapped up anyway.
My son broke his arm in two places when he was in P1. He was given a wet paper towel to put on it until home time by the first aider. When I collected him at the bell, I was told he was fine and just making a fuss.

These things happen unfortunately, they're teachers, not nurses or doctors.

You are absolutely right, they should have told you and you need to take this up with them.

When my son moved to junior school he broke his arm in morning play on the first day. He was a young one for his year, so just turned 7. When he cried they assumed it was because he was upset on his first day, and yes, he had hurt his arm at playtime (he ran into a wall, no misdoings there) so understandably he would cry. If they had rung me, I could have told them he NEVER cried and was a real tough boy.

He came out and I could see his arm was dangling ....

💯

I’d find out if it’s fractured first. Then I’d ask to speak to the head. Procedure definitely doesn’t sound like it’s been followed here!