my 5 yr old son denigrated by teacher after receiving head injury

[givemepakora]

my 5 year old son received a bad head injury in school. When I got a call to collect him, the teacher who claimed to be witness to me in the school reception area that my son is "...not exactly the sharpest tool in the box...". this was while I was cleaning the blood stains from my crying child and tending to the cold compress to allow the bleeding to stop. To this day, i have not received a written report of the accident from the school, nor have i resolved the pain and anger inside me regaerding the comment made in the presence of a member of the office staff. What, if anything, can be done?

What have the police said about it? It could explain the school's reluctance to communicate with you, if the investigation isn't yet complete.

Why didn't the school call an ambulance? It seems really strange that they've not handled a near-fatal accident more seriously.

at the time, all my son could tell us was that it was someone 'big'.

i was begining to think i was all alone...thank you all for your kind support

My son was assaulted at school and beaten around the head - unprovoked and by a fellow student.

I called the police and reported it, they were great. A liason officer went to the school and we received victim support.

THe school didn't take me seriously until I involved the police.

How long ago did this happen?

when i got the call from the school, i could tell from voice that something serious had happened in school...i took pictures of my son and the corridor where the incident took place. the teacher who claimed to be witness (and air her impudent remark) refused to tell me WHAT she saw. When i contacted the the school for the next 3 consecutive days, i was unable to speak to the head (they have every call on speaker in the head's office, so the head can choose to answer, ignore, or evesdrop) bcuase she was in a 'meeting'.

As for the a&e peadiatric, after informing me of my son's injury, refused to x-ray him, refused to divulge his coversation with the school, then telling me i can send my son back to school the next day, refused to state it in writing and walked away.

this happened last year.

i have a fried who works in a school office. when i told her what had happened she said that her employer would sack anyone if the dare attempt to call the ambulance for serious injury to apupil, such as head injury.

Errrr...if it was he doctor who said it was 'near fatal', it doesn't make sense that he refused to xray him, or that he was stated as fit to go to school the next day, or that the school called you and not an ambulance, and I do not see how it is possible for anyone non forensic to determine that it was an adult who caused the injury.
In fact, not much of this makes sense.

You know someone that works in a school office elsewhere, and she said she'd be sacked if she called an ambulance? That simply can't be true.

I'm sorry, but very little of this makes sense to me.

the problem is that over 90 pc of the parents who send their treasures to this school do not know their and their children's rights.

when i raised the issue of care with the head, she took the line that i was deliberately keeping my son from school without any justification.

None of this makes sense. This injury happened last year??? And you are only now managing to see the Head? Have you sent your son back to school yet? I'm also not sure what his reading ability and the removal of his teeth has to do with anything?

If you are seeing the Head tomorrow, I think it would be useful to take a partner or friend with you to take some notes so you have a record afterwards of what was discussed. It would probably also help if you wrote down clearly beforehand all the issues you would like to discuss. However, I think it would be best to concentrate on the head injury and issues surrounding it, rather than trying to bring a reading discussion into it as well.

I'm a bit confused about this thread. In what context was the teachers comment made and to who? Why would the doctor say the injury was near fatal and yet refuse to x ray? What has your friend who works in a school office got to do with it? Why would anyone be sacked for calling an ambulance? Why has this not been resolved before now if itnhappened last year?

the triage nurse and the doctor confirmed that someone much larger than a 5 yr old had inflicted the injury. the doctor could on conjecture that he had been struck or forcibly had his head crushed, but he had not fallen on the floor because their was not grit and grazes to his hands and knees. why would the doctor tell me that if my son had received the 'injury' a little 'higher' to his nose it 'may have been fatal'. the doctor was in the least concerned that the school hadn't calkled an ambulance.

Sorry the doctor was concerned or wasn't concerned.
Exactly when did this happen?

Has your son been back since? If not, are education welfare involved?

Ok, so you were very misleading when you said the the doctor said the injury was nearly fatal. He wasn't concerned about no ambulance being called, didn't want to xray, and said he was ok for school the next day, and the injury only may have been fatal if it had occured in a different place.
Your translation of that statement was a tad hysterical imo.

The not falling to the floor/adult causing injury is exactly what you say- conjecture. Was the doctor being pressed by you for details as to how this could have happened perhaps? I am medical and people often want an explanation as to how it happened that I cannot give as there are too many variables and possibilities (generally), they still want a good guess from me though.

I agree it seems from what you say that the school has not dealt with this well, I would be interested to hear the other side.

It's not an excuse for them to deal with it poorly, but you do not come across well, do you think you are capable of rubbing people up the wrong way?

Last year??

I'm really confused now.

My son fell onto the edge of a table.
He split open the skin along his eyebrow.

The doctor said that if he had fallen onto the corner, not the edge of the table, and if he had hit the corner of the table a little lower down, he would have lost an eye.

He went on to explain that our faces are remarkably well-nade, in that we have bony bits sticking out over the soft, delicate bits. They are like that so that, when/if we fall, our delicate bits are protected.

Your child fell/was pushed 'last year'. It is unreasonable of you to have kept your child away from school for...exactly how long? was it a year ago as in, last March? Or last year, as in December 2011? You should have written to the Governors as soon as it became clear that the Head Teacher was avoiding contact. You should also have made an appointment at a time when the HT could see you.
The reason that you have not been told the details of what happened is probably because another child is involved, and they have been dealt with as the HT sees fit, but you do not have the right to know who pushed your child, just that he was pushed.
The reading and 7 teeth out is totally irrelevant. Drop that and concentrate on getting your kid back to school.

Oh yes, Lockets, you just reminded me, I got a visit from the HV when DS3 had his accident. Mind you, he was of pre-school age then. Once they start school, the HV signs them off and passes on to the School Nurse. The School Nurses are very stretched, and tend to get involved if school have a safeguarding concern. The GP will have recieved a report though.

This is bizarre. Why are you being called in to see the Head now, if this happened last year? Has your son not been in school since then?
There is a way big difference between a "near fatal" injury and one where, if the site of the damage had been in a different place, then it might have been fatal. I fail to see how any medic who wasn't there to see the event, could reliably say how it happened, or who was responsible.
I wonder if, when he called the school, he was given background to this story that you have not told us.

You're drip feeding information. Start again.

Storm in a teacup.

The doc said 'if' it had been higher, it might have been fatal.

They did not believe the injury was serious enough to warrant x raying.

They said your son was fine to go back to school.

I suspect they refused to discuss it any more with you because they had more serious iPod life threatening injuries to deal with, it being a&e, and all.

The teacher's comment was a bit out of order, but tbh at the time it sounded as though he had tripped over his own feet or walked into the wall, and she was probably trying (in a spectacularly crass way) to lighten the mood. I do the same thing with my kids if they fall (and I have a spectacularly clumsy kid with cp, who regularly gets called a daft head by me if she trips up and hurts herself. Ok for me to do it, but maybe not a teacher)

I think you are blowing this completely out of proportion, and as others have said, you may have been labelled a trouble maker, which is why school are ignoring you.

The only thing school need to do, if you wish to see it, is let you see the accident book. You can discuss the 'comment' if you like, but I think it's yesterday's news, tbh.

iPod? Wtf

No idea where that came from...

Very odd:
This isn't adding up at all!
I find it very surprising that a medical professional who it claims said this was neat fatal did not themselves involve the police? AND no x ray?

How long have you kept your son off school for? And why!? Because of his injury or because you aren't happy with the school?

the 'injury' only had to been a finger's width higher to have resulted in a fatality. So rene 'n' george should try and make themselves a bit clearer as to which angle they are coming from.