To think that Health and Safety or the possible threat of litigation has led to an awful lot of extra work for teachers and schools?

[FanjolinaJolly]

I received a phone call from DS school at 3pm today and it went something like this..

"Hello,its xxx primary school here,we are ringing to tell you ds has had an accident"

Fanjolina,slightly bemused and not quite on the ball,says embarrassingly "Oh,well there are some spare pants and trousers in his bag" (wondering vaguely why on earth they should be ringing me about this)[silly fool emoticon]

School sec (probably supressing laughter)
"No not that kind of accident!He fell over in the playground and bumped his head,hes Ok just a little shocked,do you want to come and pick him up?"

Fanjolina (light dawning) "Oh,poor DS,well is he asking for me?"

School sec "No hes fine,he's here with the TA,we just thought we had better ring.."

Now whilst I think it was absolutely lovely of them to let me know,and obviously if it had been a loss of conciousness/Casualty job I would have been there like a shot.As it was it was a bump and graze and I turned up at normal time with sympathy and chocolate.I do feel that back in the times of yore when I was a kid it wouldn't have warranted a phone call home,probably the teacher would have met a mum at home time and explained...

I am sure nowadays it warrants dragging TA away from teaching duties,a phonecall to parent and probably an accident form to be completed by the poor overworked teaching staff.

So am I a mean uncaring Mum or correct in my assumption that sometimes all this H and S stuff must be a bit of a bind for schools.

(Waits impatiently to be shot down in flames......)

YANBU

It's a PITA but you wouldn't believe the number of parents who berate you for not ringing because little Johnny breaks a nail opening his lunchbox.

i work in somewhere vaguely education related where we have contact with parents and schools and i am amazed at how precious some parents are about their kids (one common theme i see is that something written on their child's educational record will somehow damage them for life) [hmmm]. i don't know whether it is because my dd isn't old enough for school and therefore i'm not used to it, but with the amount of litigation around (story today somewhere about how much money schools are having to pay out in comp) i'm not suprised.

so v. much in agreement with you

I'd approve of rules to make things better, but I suspect that it doesn't really. It seems to me that instead of making things healthier or safer it just means spending time making things look healthier or safer by ticking all the boxes on the forms.

Sometimes it's best to concentrate on picking good people to do a job and leaving them to it.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1069282/From-wet-leaves-tripping-tinsel-schools-pay-2m-compensation -children.html

It's ridiculous isn't it?I mean most of those cases cited were obviously accidents,surely not a reason to sue??

We live in a crazy world!

At our school kids are always coming home with the "I bumped my head at luchtime letter" as the school has a duty to inform the parents and the child cannot be relied upon to remember! Some schools use a sticker on the child - that way all staff in school are aware (till sticker falls off or cardi gets taken off!)On second thoughts, perhaps the sticker is just supposed to make child feel better/happier!!

So when I had a phonecall about DD having bumped her head, I knew it was BAD. I have never seen such a lump, it was the size of her fist. She had fallen onto a wrought iron fence post.I am getting up a petition to have them banned!

Don't get me wrong,I thought it was good of them to let me know,but it must be a PITA for the teachers,I mean small children+play equipment= bumps and bruises!

I don't think it is sensible to comment on cases where we know absolutely nothing about the circumstances. There may have been clear neglect on the part of the schools. My understanding (and I used to manage a H&S department) is that the "compensation culture" is largely a myth.

Interestingly my dd used to bring home lots of these notes in the UK (she does have a tendency to get bumped, and is a bit of a drama queen). She has had ten weeks in the US education system (and two weeks at summer camp), and has not brought home a single note, although they did ring me once because she had got into a complete state about something. They do have much less playtime (just a short lunch break) here, but it's still surprising I think. I suspect they don't do notes.

Well maybe,but surely the time taken up filling in accident forms etc for every bump and bruise takes away time spent actually TEACHING children,which is what teachers are supposed to be doing not ticking boxes,and I certainly think that the compensation culture isn't a myth.I'm not saying H+S is invalid or anything,just that things have gone a bit OTT...

Not all schools would ring you for a bump on the head, or for a child being ill either for that matter. Never been rung for a bump or a bruise; had very few bumps letters and then only when it's been needed. It's up to the discretion of the school; if your school goes over the top, it may well be because they've been hassled by irate parents.

Oh and I wouldn't believe any compensation-culture-thing because the Daily Mail says so.