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.

and if you had your bone sticking out of your skin, I take it you'd not be in paining walk to a car - ffs

What the hell did he fall off to get this injury?

Do schools no longer call ambulances for injuries

Are you thinking that his injuries were due to something other than an accident?

Afternoon play is 2.15 to 2.30pm at our local primary. Perhaps it's similar at the OPs son's school? Do you never feel the need for information to leaven your outrage?

I didn't say no supervision, I said "an adult standing over the children at all times". Quite different.

How long after the accident did they call you?

The issue is your second point didnt happen. The first aider looked at his arm, decided it was ok, then an unstated amount of time later, the parent was called as the child was still upset, not because they thought from assessing the child they needed medical attention.

Other than this, absolutely, the parent was called and they took them to get it assessed properly, but that point is significant enough to warrant a conversation with the school. Not complaints, or arguments, but a conversation regarding the assessment the first aider did, and suggest that maybe more training is required if it comes to light the injury had occured hours before, which is a safe assumption given most children of this age group do not have afternoon playtime, the last one would have been at lunch.

Ambulances etc is ridiculous, she was contactable, but the reason for the contact and potentially the time elapsed is what is wrong here. The first aiders assessment of the situation was incorrect and they didnt escalate appropriately.

ffs you really don't have a clue about injuries

@HereintheloveofChristIstand
"Women?"

Genuinely wondering what type of school some of your kids go to. We’ve had accidents and broken bones in DC’s school (always the monkey bars) and the child is either taken to minor injuries by the school nurse or an ambulance is called if it’s needed. Cannot imagine a child being left with a suspected broken arm waiting for parents to arrive!

Her legs weren’t broken were they? You should have used this as a teaching moment for your daughter about the precious resources of our NHS.

An accident doesn't necessarily need anger and a sternly written letter. It was an accident, and the school called and asked you to collect asap.

Nothing more needs to be done except comforting your DS. I hope he makes a good and quick recovery.

Maybe the SLT's cars are insured for work use but our car isn't (and frankly never will be based on this thread). The key point here though is that the school did contact the parent to pick their child up and seek further medical advice. Turns out they couldn't tell just by looking that the bone was fractured.

OP I’m sorry your son has broke his arm. It’s very distressing when they are in so much pain and may need significant medical treatment.

i do think you are being unreasonable being angry at the school. They clearly realised how serious it was by calling you and having both kids ready for you to collect so you could seek medical attention straight away.

They won’t give you a diagnosis - they are not trained to do so and I think they probably try to minimise the fuss they make on the phone so as not to have you upset and rushing there and get into an accident yourself. They likely would have needed to move his arm to make him comfortable - this won’t have done him any harm - they probably would have moved his arm at the hospital for the X-ray anyway?

I’ve been through similar with my child (radius and ulna break at playtime) and the school responded in the same way - called me and said she’d hurt her arm in the playground and needed to be collected. I thought it was weird when they asked if I wanted to pick my other child up at the same time, but when I got to school it was obvious that her arm was broken, we would be going to hospital, and I wouldn’t be able to get back to school that day. They had moved her arm to take her cardigan off because it wasn’t immediately obvious what she had done.

We had an accident form but all it said was the date, time, the fact that she had hurt her arm in the playground and they had applied a cold compress. Nothing that helped in any way and we had a bit of a a laugh about it afterwards given what the actual injury was.

Take some time to process your emotions and get your son sorted, then if you feel you’ve not been given enough information, speak to the school when you are calmer.

Pretty sure they will have completed it after🙄. My point is they did not delay in ringing mum first.

You’ll read this back in a few months and not recognise yourself. You’re in shock and upset that he’s hurt, it’s not the schools fault. They will have this happen over and over again for years, it’s just happened to you the once. Your complaint will fall on deaf ears. It’s not worth the drama and the fight they have followed procedure and you’ll end up even more frustrated.

an adult should be supervising at all times, it is their duty of care. They need to be able to write exactly what happened and why. I would very much want a full account of how my DS ended up with such serious injuries while at school.

Adults are supervising at playtimes but they're just like you and I and only have two eyes! At my school, there would be approx. 180 children charging around like loons with six or 7 members of staff (1 or 2 of which are on 1st aid duty). One member of staff might be tying endless shoelaces and doing up coats, another might be trying to calm a tense situation, etc etc etc. We can't watch every single child 100% of the time! We often have to rely on the child's version of events, or other children's versions.
Sometimes I'd have a long queue of 'injuries' and if the whistle goes at the end of playtime, I'd have to continue treating these children instead of doing what I was actually supposed to be doing, such as supporting learning, or running an intervention group. It really isn't as plain and simple as some people here (who clearly don't work in a school) think it is!

perhaps you should learn about medical emergencies

Well they’d have had to wait a damn sight longer for an ambulance instead! Imagine phoning 999 for a broken arm knowing a parent is on their way anyway? It would be a low priority and you’d be lucky to get on within 12 hours these days!

I'm sorry your boy got hurt.

I think the main questions are did the school act quickly and responsibly.

How long before they called you did he have the accident?
A child can still move limbs even if fractured.
Did your child underplay his pain (you said he was a tough cookie), so maybe it wasn't obvious.
They probably didn't want to alarm you as it was the end of the school day anyway.

A broken arm isn’t a medical emergency ffs. Get a grip.

I’m a teacher and I normally chime in to things like this to say don’t blame the school, but this to me isn’t acceptable. It sounds like he wasn’t checked properly and they played down the injuries on the phone.

Just make sure you follow the school complaints policy and don’t skip a step before going to the CoG if it says go to HT first, for example. Can copy CoG into complaint email maybe?

Exactly this.

And this is why teachers are leaving in droves.

They're not doctors ffs. Your son fell, they called you immediately, you came to get him, you took him to the actual doctors.

If he'd fallen at 9am and youd not been told until pickup at 3pm I would totally get it, but thats not what happened here.

You're honestly angry at the wrong person.

your ignorance is incredible, hopefully you'll not ever be around someone having a medical emergency and tell them to get a grip ffs

it wasn't my dd that phoned the ambience, is that really what you think happens in schools. fortunately the medics were trained - unlike you