I need help. I’m utterly distraught and upset with my sons school, does anyone have any advice?

[mummytorands]

So I’ve been awake all night with keeping my 8 year old as comfortable as possible and yesterday’s events and I wanted to go to the school today and complain about how they handled things but I think I’m going to write to the chair of governors instead so I want to box clever.

So, I leave work yesterday (I work 10 minutes from the school by car) at 2:45 my children are usually let out at 3:10-3:20. School call at 2:50 telling me my son (8) has had a fall during playtime she explained he hurt his arm, elbow hip and knee. He was grazed seen by first aid but very upset and could I get him early of course I said yes I’ll be 5 minutes. Asked then as it’s unusual for him to be as upset as she was saying as he’s quite a tough cookie has he done any damage. No she said first aid moved his arm but seems ok but he’s very upset and think it’s best you came early and that she would get my daughter for me too (5). I pull up to school a TA is bringing them both out and it was quite evident to me we needed to get to hospital. I could clearly see my son was in pain, he was holding his arm, his wrist and hand were limp. I was given no accident form but didn’t think about that until later as my main concern was to get him medical attention. I called minor injuries they said they had a 3 hour wait and they wouldn’t be able to xray today so off to a&e I went which was heaving but we were dealt with pretty swiftly. Xray and he’s broken both radius and ulna and one of the fractures is going into the growth plate. I won’t know the full extent until we see the fracture clinic in 24 hours however we were sent home in a plaster cast and sling and I’ve kept him comfortable with calpol alternating nurofen. My plan is to go into school tomorrow asking for the accident book copy but I want to see it and not have it done and back dated. I will tell them he won’t be in for the next couple of days until I know more but I’m not disclosing the damage he’s done until I know for definite.

I am furious. He very clearly to me had broken his arm the moment I seen him. She played it down to me on the phone and his arm had been manipulated and it should not have been. They did not contact me fast enough and no accident from was given. Does anyone have advice? I want to complain because I’m just so unhappy about the handling and I don’t want it to happen again but I want the first aid training to be looked into also. My poor boy.

they have a duty of care to the child they should have sought more medical attention and if that means taking him directly to hospital that should have happened with mum meeting them there at the very least they should

What planet are you on?
Teachers cannot drive poorly children to hospital.

They call the parent, or worst case, 999.

So if there was a life threatening injury your OH would do nothing?

There are insurances that the school will have to cover things such as this - with if OP was 3 hours away?

I know there are as my DD has had to be taken to A&E and I met them there

You want one adult per child supervision in the playground? Or do you just expect the adults to have eyes in the back of their heads to see what's going on in every single corner of the playground at all times?!

Honestly, it really is no surprise why teachers are leaving the profession in droves.

If his arm/wrist was clearly deformed, as you describe, they should have informed you immediately it happened rather than waiting till just before pick-up. They should also have recorded this promptly.

I hope he will be well again soon. Children mend quickly thank goodness.

Don't be ridiculous – if there was a life-threatening injury an ambulance would be called.

An ambulance for a broken arm? Get out.

No, I’m pointing out that the school didn’t mention the hospital at all, they didn’t give medical advice.

It’s not binary.

Why the fuss about the accident form? At our place, that's a narrow slip of green paper with a tiny space for 'action taken,' which might just allow for "ice applied" in small writing. This is meant to go home with the child on the day but I can imagine this getting overlooked in the drama here.
There is another much much more detailed form to complete for more serious accidents where a hospital trip has ensued. That asks for details on timings and staff involved -who did what, when- and that may not be ready/completed until the school have been informed that the child was in fact taken to A&E. The OP indicated she wasn't intending to tell them the outcome for a few days.

I'm sorry your boy had an accident but I'm not sure what you're looking for here.

• he had an accident
• the first aider looked at his arm and decided he needed it looked at. Yes it almost certainly involved touching his arm. Of course it would.
• you were called to be informed he'd had an accident and needed collecting
• you took him to receive medical treatment

That's all pretty standard and OK to me.

I can't see what the school or you should have done differently.

Not disclosing his injuries to the school is bizarre and frankly a bit bonkers. Are you planning a delayed big dramatic reveal?

Of course you keep him off for a few days. The school would expect that. Give him a few days to rest the arm and then he should be OK back at school in a plaster cast taking things easy. Kids actually generally heal from broken bones very well but the first week or so can be very sore.

Just let the school know it's a fracture and he's off for a few days.

Nothing more to do. No angry looking for someone to blame. This probably won't be the last time one of your children has an accident in school or someone else's care. It happens.

How many schools have playtime less than an hour before going home time? I don't understand why people are so keen to assume the school acted quickly.

There is absolutely nothing in the OP posts that say he wasn't being supervised. Child feel over, as children do every single break time, child was monitored, child didn't get better, parent called. Seems to fine to me. It is hard to tell the difference between strains, sprains and fractures.

it’s mainly because they play out and sometimes accidents happen. Could keep them inside all day sitting at desks with no outdoor time this would reduce broken bones but store up a whole load of other issues

@Treshik

my dd broke her arm at secondary, an ambulance drove on the pitches to get her, they couldn't move her without gas and air. DD had surgery that evening and was overnight in hospital.

What do you think should have happened?

If I haven’t told my child not to eat chocolate it doesn’t mean I’ve told him to eat chocolate. It just means I haven’t discussed chocolate with him at all.

This child was ambulatory. Also your DD sounds like a drama queen.

She should have gone in the car with a parent because she wasn’t at life threatening risk. That ambulance should have gone and attended to someone at risk of death.

I’m a school governor and we recently spent a long time discussing our policy on accidents in school as a result of a parent complaining that her child had not been taken to hospital with a broken arm, but that she had been called to collect him and not made aware of the seriousness of the situation.

Ultimately we concluded that calling an ambulance for anything at all non-life threatening was not a sensible policy to adopt, given how low a child with a fracture, say, would be triaged. The alternative, a teacher taking a child, would depend on the availability of staff as you need two staff members to go and that is simply very difficult to arrange in the day, particularly if you have no idea how long they will be needed for. You would need a taxi as very few staff are insured to drive children in their own vehicles, which is not in itself a huge problem but it isn’t as simple as a teacher jumping in a car to take them, and our local taxi firms often have periods of low availability as so many of them have school run contracts. You’ve also got no guarantee that the staff members will be ones that the child is familiar with, which isn’t helpful for them when feeling in pain or ill. Finally, the school really isn’t qualified to decide in many cases what merits a hospital visit, and putting a child into that situation without good cause could equally make parents unhappy.

OP, as well as the accident form I would ask for the policy your own school has on this and see whether it was followed. If not, your complaints procedure will probably be to complain to the headteacher before escalating to the governors so please have a think about what you’d like to get from your complaint.

What makes you think they called an hour after the accident? Also, phoning a parent and telling them your child needs to go to hospital, knowing that the parent is likely on their way anyway, isn’t great. No one wants a parent driving too fast because they’re anxious. The important part is getting the child to hospital - a first aid slip is not.

Dreadful. To leave him in agony from playtime to almost home time, and to not give you a written record of what happened (to pass on to medics) is entirely unacceptable. Yes, complain!

Rein in your ‘anger’ and focus on caring for your injured child
or do women have the right to kick off about everything nowadays?

Primaries in the UK do! Typical school day is usually:

Start: 8.30-9am
Morning break-time: 10am for 15-20mins
Lunch: 12-12.30 for 45 mins-hour
Afternoon break: 2-2.15pm for 15-20 mins
Hometime: 3-3.15pm

Our KS1 afternoon playtime is at 2.20 - 2.30. We finish at 3

When they phoned you did they say

• what happened
• when it happened

If not you need to hear this from them.

Has your son told you

• what happened
• when it happened
• who else was there (teacher/ta/other adult (who)/classmates (who)
• was it as a result of him being a bit “silly”
• what the staff did

If not you need to ask.

Do these accounts tie up?

For a child that age to have a clean fracture (not a green stick) I would say it would have been quite forceful.

If there are any issues or inconsistencies between what they have told you, you need to follow it up.
Also if your son says he was doing something he possibly shouldn't or was injured as a result of another dc doing something they shouldn't - who was supervising them?

i think you then decide how to approach it once you have this info. If it was a genuine accident, ie no negligence deliberate injury or lack of supervision and they rang you as soon as it became clear it was more than a minor bump, then upsetting as it is these things happen.

If not then first take a deep breath and don't go in all guns blazing and emotional. What you do next depends on what happened so I wont second guess that.

First Aid and Medical Attention:
School staff trained in first aid will assess the injury and provide necessary care.
If the injury requires more than basic first aid, the school will contact you, the parent or guardian, and arrange for medical attention, such as taking your child to a hospital or clinic.

In our borough @SuperTrooper14 this is what is required of schools. Perhaps in your borough its different!

we don’t know they have cancelled filling out the form, they may have just prioritised speaking to the parent at the precise moment in time rather than not phoning and leaving ops son to wait while they went went and got
a form and completed it. Filling out the form is something that could wait till later it wasn’t the immediate priority