4 year old face split open in classroom , teacher didn't see it ?

[ChirpyRedMoose]

So i recieved a call from my sons school about a hour after dropping him off. I was told He had an accident and had a deep cut on his face. When I arrived at school to collect him , he was in a side room with his teacher , the Head teacher and school nurse . He had a split across his face just below his eye which needed stitches. I was told he had and accident in the class but nobody witnessed it and if I could talk with him and fin me out. We left school heading straight to A&E where he had the wound stitched.
After speaking with my son he explained he tripped over a tray that was pulled out ,fell and hit his face on the coner of the unit. He the got up and went to the teacher.
I am aware accidents happen and teacher may not see everything but this was inside the classroom . It has been a few days since that accident my son returned to school but nothing more has been said about it and I have not recieved a report about the accident or any updat on it anything is being done.
I'm unsure what todo any advice?

I could offer some perspective as far as scarring. My DD had two accidents at school requiring stitches. One on the back of her head, and one on her forehead. Both times whilst at primary.

However hard I look I cannot find a mark where these stitches were. Because she was so young just like your son it literally does not show at all now so try and be reassured about scarring in the future

He tripped, kids trip, it will happen again FFS. Maybe he should be more careful?!

I got smacked in the face with a hockey stick at school and had the most horrendous black eye for weeks and the school didn't even ring my parents 🙃. I walked home after seeing the school nurse. And my parents didnt bat an eye lid.Ah the nineties. Looks really sore and he's clearly a littley which makes it worse but accidents do happen. You have asked for the accident report but kids will trip. Doing anything more will be unfair on the teacher, and being a teacher is hard enough.

The units you describe are very standard with9n classrooms and have been for many years.

Have you used this as a learning opportunity for your child, to teach him he needs to be careful to look where he is going etc? Personally that would be my focus.

Hope it heals quickly and well, it's upsetting when accidents happen to our children

The school can not prevent your child tripping over. No investigation is needed. The teacher contacted you as soon as it was known. The head teacher was involved. Everyone seems to care for your son and all the correct steps were taken.

There are likely to be future trips and falls in the future both at home and elsewhere, hopefully not needing stitches!

You wouldn't get an accident report from school for your child tripping over. You may get a medical slip if he received any treatment from a school firs aider or had a head bump. They can't risk assess etc for that, that would be utter nonsense! Children have accidents all the time, it's unfortunate but nothing could be done to prevent it. I suggest you stop looking for someone to blame and just get on with life. There is nothing else the school should do or need to do.

Also, even if she had seen him trip and fall, nothing different would have happened. He would srill have fallen and cut himself. You can't prevent this sort of thing.

Some of the schools in my area call the medical slip an accident report. The problem is that it seems like no form of written evidence was given.

In my area if you take a child to hospital for a school injury, they will ask for evidence that the injury occurred at school. This is standard procedure to safeguard children. If the accident occurred at home, then depending on the injury a further investigation may happen.

We all know accidents can happen, but some accidents are avoidable. As a parent I would like to see the layout of the room, just so I could see where the injury occurred. 5 year old boys are not known for looking where they are going, so a clutter free classroom would reassure me that the accident was unavoidable.

The form we complete for a child going straight to A and E is online. It’s very brief and has a section where as HT I’m asked how I will avoid such accidents in the future. I can’t see how this could be avoided. Reminders to push trays in but the furniture you describe is in nearly every classroom in the country and children are children. Children do trip.
I hope it’s healing well.

Ouch, that does look a nasty cut but unfortunately accidents happen. I'm glad he's doing ok.

I honestly don't think you'll gain anything from speaking to the teacher or even the headteacher. The teacher can't have eyes in 30 different directions and if she didn't see exactly what happened, what do you expect her to say?

We had drawers in my classroom and you can tell children until the cows come home, to close their trays/don't shove your jumpers in there etc etc etc but they're young and they're in a hurry! Also, they have to be down low so that the children can access them!

Wrt the accident form, at my school it moved to all online. You filled out the child's name, a brief description of what happened and what injury was sustained, treatment given and what action came next - child stayed in school/child taken home/professional help sought etc.
I presume the school has followed this because you were called, which is what would have happened at my school with ANY head injury, even very minor ones.

I appreciate that you would have been shocked to see your little one's cut face but I really don't think the school can give you any more information I'm afraid. Unfortunately, it's just one of those things.

Oh and I'm sure the class were reminded about closing drawers again but I imagine these words went in one ear and straight out the other! They're little children and accidents happen.

In school classrooms, resources are often stored in tray units. Children have continuous provision and accessing resources independently is part of the curriculum. In Reception, this also means several children might be walking around the classroom at once. Children won't always remember to close things. I teach older children and it takes months of constant reminders for some of them to even remember to push their chair in under the table.

You can't compare a class of 4 and 5 year olds to a workplace full of responsible adults.

I hope he feels better soon. My DC have had various injuries, including broken bones while at nursery and school and it is upsetting but just accidents.