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Original poster

Injury in preschool nursery

27 replies

decisiontime · 19/10/2010 16:40

Can anyone please tell me if they had expirience with their child being injured/fractured their bone in school?
My son who only started school nursery recently was injured/suffered a fracture yesterday whilst playing outdoors in his nursery school. It wasn't noticed at the time as such but they thought he was poorly and crying. I was called in because they noticed that he was miserable and crying and they thought he was coming with some sort of infection. My question is if there isa legal requirement for one of the staff to be outside with children while their are using both inside and outside space?
Thanks

OP posts:
lollipopshoes · 19/10/2010 16:42

afaik all children should be supervised at all times.

If the member of staff was inside but could see outside then I suspect that this would be okay as long as the child/adult ratios were okay.

Even very vigilant adults sometimes miss things but if your ds was outside unsupervised I would deffo be asking questions

PixieOnaLeaf · 19/10/2010 16:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster
decisiontime · 19/10/2010 16:52

Speaking to the teacher today they haven't seen it happening and what my son consistently tells ( so I don't think he is making up) is that he was pushed by another boy whilst riding on trike and he fell on the gorung. He came in to tell the teacher that he hurt his wrist (actually it is elbow that is fractured) and she had a look at it. Hwever, didn't noticed anything abnormal and dismissed it as he went on playing. When I came to pick him up later (30-45 min) i could tell that he was holding his arm abnormally and was not moving it but then it may be that i have noticed it because I am healthcare professional. Many thanks for your answers. Really gratefull!!

OP posts:
lollipopshoes · 19/10/2010 16:55

adult/child ratios:

Adult/child and space ratios
Pre-school service Age of children No. of adults No. of children Floor area per child
Sessional services 0-1 years 1 3 2 sq. metres, maximum of 20 per room
1-2.5 years 1 5 2 sq. metres, maximum of 20 per room
2.5-6 years 1 10 2 sq. metres, maximum of 20 per room
Full/part-time day care* 0-1 year 1 3 3.5 sq metres
1-2 years 1 5 2.8 sq. metres
2-3 years 1 6 2.35 sq. metres
3-6 years 1 8 2.3 sq. metres
Drop-in centres 0-6 years 1 4 (only 2 or less under 15 months) 2 sq.metres, maximum of 24 per room
Childminders 0-6 years 1 5 (including his/her own) No more than 2 children under 15 months

Overnight pre-school service

0-1 years
1 3
1-6 years 1 5

didn't c & p very well, but you can understand it (I think)

CommanderCool · 19/10/2010 16:57

My friend's son fractured his foot tripping over a box. Another fractured her leg on a bouncy castle. Mine fractured her collarbone falling over in the kitchen.

These things can happen anywhere. It diesn't take much.

And none of us took our kids to hospital until the next day, because it was hard to tell what was wrong.

PixieOnaLeaf · 19/10/2010 17:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

mrz · 19/10/2010 17:42

If it is a state school nursery then the ratios lollipopshoes posted are wrong. School nurseries have a legal ratio of 1 adult to 13 children and there is no legal requirement for a member of staff to be outdoors although most schools would have someone working with the children (not the same as supervising)in the outdoor area. As you can appreciate one adult with a large group of children can easily miss a push and as CommanderCool it isn't always immediately obvious that the injury is worse than a bump.

I hope your son soon recovers.

lollipopshoes · 19/10/2010 17:43

sorry mrz, I stand corrected Blush I just googled and cut & pasted

Original poster
decisiontime · 19/10/2010 18:08

Thanks mrz, I wanted to decide whether I should speak to headteacher regarding supervision of littleones whilst outdoors and I did not want to say something that was not true.:)) thanks for get well wishes.

OP posts:
mrz · 19/10/2010 18:17

In the many years I taught in early years we only had one child with a fracture and it happened with 3 adults outdoors and one only feet away from her when she tripped but she still broke her arm. Accidents do happen I'm afraid and no matter how careful and how closely you supervise you cannot prevent those "freakish" unforeseen accidents

misdee · 19/10/2010 18:20

hope he gets better soon.

fwiw, dd1 suffered a pulled elbow, a split head and dislocated arm whilst at nursery. she was just accident prone. two caused by another child pulling on her.

Original poster
decisiontime · 19/10/2010 18:52

Thanks for your posts. My concern was that i wasn't told about the accident and also that there was no adult there when it happened. It still would have happened anyway, but I guess the other child that pushed him was not warned about his behaviour, otherwise I know it was probably one of those things that can happen anyway.

OP posts:
hocuspontas · 19/10/2010 19:00

I read it as the other boy was pushing him on the trike.

Original poster
decisiontime · 19/10/2010 19:14

Yes, that's right, he was pushed off the trike, it wasn't pure accident.

OP posts:
Original poster
decisiontime · 19/10/2010 19:17

Sorry for not explaining it very well from the begining .

OP posts:
Whocantakeasunrise · 19/10/2010 19:56

My son broke his wrist off the school climbing frame, four adults were watching 15 children at the time.

They did phone me immediately to tell me that 'his limb didn't look right'. Longest 10 minutes of my life, while I got to the school to see which limb, was 'relieved' when it was his wrist, I had feared his leg or worse neck!

mattellie · 20/10/2010 14:35

Ditto. DD broke her collarbone falling off the school climbing frame despite adequate supervision.

We were a bit Shock that her teachers didn?t notice it was serious, describing it as a ?sprain?, but we certainly didn?t blame them for the accident happening in the first place.

Pushing someone off a bike isn?t quite the same thing, though. I would definitely expect the pusher to have been told off quite firmly for that.

MmeMorph · 20/10/2010 14:49

A friend's daughter broke her arm less than two footsteps away from me. She fell from a soft ball on to a soft floor (we were at soft play). I thought the mum was being all PFB about taking her to hospital as she hadn't made much fuss and it didn't seem a big fall. It is very hard to tell about these things.

Original poster
decisiontime · 20/10/2010 21:29

Thanks mattelie, that's exactly why I felt that if an adult has seen him beeing pushed off the bike causing him to fall needed warning. The teacher found abot it only next day when I phoned to tell that he has broken his arm! I feel better know with your comment.

OP posts:
cory · 21/10/2010 08:24

I have dithered several times over whether to take child to hospital: it is often virtually impossible to know at first if something is broken or not. And these were all accident that happened under my watchful eye.

mattellie · 21/10/2010 17:03

I don?t agree actually, I think it?s pretty easy to tell the difference between a serious injury and a minor one.

Of course, that isn?t to say that a hospital will necessarily do anything ? there isn?t much they can do with a broken collarbone in any case as you can?t plaster it.

Anyway, don?t think the injury per se was the OP?s concern, it was how it occurred and how she was informed.

mrz · 21/10/2010 17:21

Yes really easy mattellie that's why the hospital told me my ankle was bruised for two weeks when in fact it was fractured and why I walked around on it for a month.

wotnochocs · 21/10/2010 21:46

No you do not have to have an adult in the outdoor area where there is freeflow indoor/outdoor play as long as the door is open.
I know this because the OFSTED inspector particularly told us this when our playgroup was inspected.
Secondly it isn't easy to tell whether a bone is fractured otherwise there would be no need for xray machines

Original poster
decisiontime · 22/10/2010 14:12

Thanks for you views everyone. Mattellie, once again you exactly worded my reason for putting this post in first place. Wotnochocs, thanks for the legal information.
To much of my relief my son is recovering amazingly, and that's what the kids are very good at. Though I feel a bit sorry for him as he keeps asking every morning when is he going to go to school to play with his friends:(. Now I also need to explain the concept of half-term and holidays for the next week.

OP posts:
goldenticket · 22/10/2010 14:26

Also disagree with mattellie - dd had a broken arm after a fall but cried very little and it was only when I noticed that she wasn't using her arm (a good few hours later) that I realised something was wrong.

OP, please do not think that the staff should have known, there have been plenty of examples posted where parents haven't known.