What is the purpose of a 'bump slip'?

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I had an email from DDs teacher, very apologetic, she had given DD a bump slip for an injury she got playing outside, she has a very small graze on both knees from falling while doing cartwheels but DD had left it on her desk and not brought it home.

She is Y5, we haven't really had bump slips since KS1, so I presumed they were to make parents aware why they had scrapes because the children aren't the best at communicating so young. But DD is now 10 and capable of telling me why she has such a minor injury.

I am just wondering what the actual purpose of the slip is? It seems crazy teachers/lunch assistants have to fill them out for every bump/scrape!

There is a policy for things that need monitoring, eg if your child had a head injury you get a phone call and then a bright yellow sticker is put on their jumper, coat and book back so other adults are aware to keep an eye, but surely 60% of the kids in school had scraped knees!

Apologies for typos I'm on my phone.

It's about covering their backs because everything now is a potential legal or disciplinary case, subject of a "formal complaint" or Daily Mail/Twitter shitstorm in the making.

I presume it’s just arse-covering from their point of view. They record it in an accident book and tell you then it’s all documented in the unlikely event her leg subsequently falls off. I could paper a room in the slips I’ve had sent home from my boys.

To prevent being sued by a parent.

I suspected that and I find it really sad, I understand why but the need for so much time spent on a scraped knee that didn't brake the skin and didn't bother DD is a shame.

Particularly when children tend to make a fuss about things (DD says they all love getting a wet paper towel!) it must be very time consuming.

It is to cover our backs, basically.

Yep, arse-covering.

Mind you, I'm a TA in KS2, and grazed knees is the last thing I'd send a slip home for. We always send it for any kind of head injury, and I would also usually send for twisted wrist/ankle kinds of injury - the ones where just looking at it can't really tell you how serious it is. But things like cuts and grazes where you can easily see exactly what's wrong, I wouldn't bother. The only time I have done is when a child has grazed their palms and said it hurt too much to be completely cleaned up, so I've cleaned as much as they'd let me, covered with a plaster and sent a note home suggesting parents take another look and clean properly at home in the bath/shower when the child is calmer.

Some parents become angry and aggressive if their child was hurt at school and the teacher doesn't have time to inform them directly. Slips make it clear that it was dealt with at the time.

School office and first aider. Yes it's absolutely arse covering. You wouldn't believe the problems we have with some parents if their child comes home with so much as a broken fingernail. Fortunately most parents are sane!