DD badly injured at school WWYD?

[BoosMaw]

Hi all, I'm hoping for a little perspective...

My DD is in reception year, she hasn't told me much detail but at least one older child has been giving her bother at school during lunch and break times. It all came to a head last week, she was pushed and shoved around and ended up breaking a bone. She was in hospital for 2 days, and will have to continue to attend hospital as an outpatient for some time yet.

I have spoken briefly to school about this, they don't know much detail of the incident but are investigating it, DD doesn't like to talk about it much so I also don't know much detail, e.g. which child/ren was/were involved. I suspect she doesn't know names, she guessed the child who caused the injury was perhaps in year 1 or 2. After half term I expect to discuss in more detail with school staff. So far the school staff I have spoken to have seemed very defensive, even though I feel I have been very reasonable about the incident so far.

What should I expect to happen from here? What do you think I should be doing? Its half term here at the moment thankfully so I have a few days to think this through, also DD is recovering

I broke my arm in the school playground as a child as much my fault as anyone's.

The police would not get involved if all parties are under 10.

If you are concerned about a lack of supervision then that is a matter for the Local Authority and the Governors. Ask to see the schools accident book as they will have to have this incident recorded. Ask for their bullying policy if that is what you suspect and ask what they intend to do to maintain your child's safety.

Surely the police would document your complaint though and then if this ever happens again the school cannot lie and say well it's the first time anything like this has happened because the other parents could point to the crime reference number.

Ephiny:

I think it's absolutely reasonable to call the police if you think this was a deliberate assault by an older child. Did anyone else witness what happened?

Seriously? There's been no "assault" or any other criminal offence committed so what do you actually expect them to do?

The police are there to sort out actual crime, not 7 year-olds fighting - that's a job for parents.

It's not the children that is the problem it's the lack care, the school are loco parentis I believe the term is, well they didn't do a very good job in this case.

mamatomany -there is no crime, there wouldn't be a crime reference.

If you were call the police they would refer it straight away to the local authority and (at a push) social services if there was a neglected violent child on the loose.

I wouldn't stop at the police. I'd call in the army to enforce martial law in the playground.

Srsly.

I'm amazed the school have yet to follow this up with you formally especially since the injury sounds serious. Many schools have a seprate play area for FS to rest of the school, so I'd be surprised if Ofsted have not made such a recommendation. I hope your dd makes a good recovery and you get a satisfactory response immediately after half term if not before. However if not, insist on setting up a meeting with the head to discuss how it happened and levels of supervision then follow up with Ofsted if it is not resolved.

I'd call in the army to enforce martial law in the playground.

That's called the mothers I believe

I'd want this recorded somewhere it can't be swept under the carpet, I haven't actually had cause to call the police myself but I have had the school lie about a pupil causing harm to other children and tell three sets of parents it was the only incident.

It isn't a requirement for reception to have a separate outdoor area just for them to have access to the outdoors Liz so Ofsted would make no such recommendation.

Accidents can happen in separate play areas just as easily as in a shared area and no matter how well supervised sometimes accidents happen. (sorry but I can't imagine 5-7 year olds deliberately intent on breaking another child's arm)

The OP doesn't know what exactly happened and as I'm sure she has been too busy with her child hasn't had time to get an explanation. The injured child thinks the other child may be in Y1 (5 years old?) or Y2 (6 or 7 years old) hardly hardened criminals and I'm sure very worried at this point.

mamatomany it has to be recorded with the LA for insurance purposes.

By all means ask to see the incident report and ask the HT what's going to happen next. If you think the school is not taking adequate action, then raise a complaint and take it through the school's complaints procedure (which will include the governing body at a later stage).

That said, all this talk of going to the police and obtaining a crime reference number is daft. Even if it was a deliberate assault rather than rough and tumble play that went wrong (and this is far from clear at this stage) the 'perpetrator' is so far under the age of criminal responsibility that the police will not record the incident, let alone record it as a crime. Unless the playground staff were egging the perpetrator on (!) then it's hard to see that they have done anything to bring themselves within the scope of the criminal law.

It's awful when children get hurt in the playground but even the best playground supervisor can't keep their eye simultaneously on 100 children and accidents do happen.

Just a thought, but how close to the half term holiday did the incident happen? The school may not have had time to make a full enquiry into what happened if they only found out about it at the end of the week.

I don't agree about contacting the police, BUT I would be calling the headteacher and asking for a face to face meeting with her & the class teacher immediately after half term.

Basically I'd want to discuss their anti-bullying policy and what they will do to ensure that the culprits will not come near your DD again.

I'd ask for an appointment to see HT, stating why so he/she can gather together any info beforehand. Keep calm (I'm sure you will) and check supervision at break and if there's a quiet area. Certainly not police, though would ask for a copy of accident report. Ds broke his arm in Y4ish. Caretaker and school hugely apologetic but it was entirely his fault - undone shoelaces and British Bulldogs!!

I (thankfully!) don't have much experience of serious injuries at school, but the two I do (one broken wrist, and one facial stitching - ouch!!) had to be recorded properly on a form that went to the LA.

Both of these were accidents, not as a result of bullying.

I would go to school after half term and have a meeting with the head if I were you.

Hope your child is recovering well, and that you get it sorted.

Hi all, thanks for your comments. It's fair to say the school didn't have much time to investigate before the start of half term, also DD didn't immediately tell anyone at school that another child had caused the injury, so they didn't know until later. I got an accident form stating DD "fell". No adults witnessed the incident. DD mentions another boy in reception who the older child/ren had tried to pick on, but it seems this other lad managed to get away. He might be able to help identify the culprit/s, and provide more details generally, though I'll have to leave that up to school to pursue, it would probably be inappropriate to ask him anything myself.

I think DD has had problems with a handful of older children before, quite possibly the same ones. She only ever tells me snippets of info, like "I was cold and they wouldn't let me get my coat", or "they kept catching me and putting me on the bench". Until the injury I hadn't known if these were real issues, or just usual kid stuff. I find it hard to get any info from her, the more I ask the more she shuts down. I thought perhaps she'd be more likely to tell the teachers than me as they're proper authority figures (unlike me!!) so she'll be less likely to ignore them. When I ask her questions she'd rather not discuss she just acts like she can't hear me.

Hospital folks didn't seem concerned that this was a non-accidental injury, they made no mention of police or SS, probably because of the young age of the perpetrator. Interestingly there was a heavy police presence one day for another child, I can only imagine that something far worse happened to this poor soul.

Anyway, I have a better idea of what to expect from the school, I didn't get much chance to discuss it with them before half term as we were busy at the hospital. DD is in a lot less pain but still not properly mobile.