My 5-Year-Old Broke His Arm at School – School Ignored My Warning. What Should I Do?

[Hannuda]

Hi everyone, I’d really appreciate some advice from other parents who may have experienced something similar.

My 5-year-old son is in Reception. At the beginning of June, he had an accident at home and came back to school with his left arm in a cast. I spoke directly with the headteacher and clearly asked that he not take part in any outdoor or physical activity, as I was concerned about the risk of further injury.

Despite that, on 11 June, during class time (not breaktime), he was outside in the play area with his class. He climbed onto a low block and fell, breaking his right arm — with multiple fractures. He was supervised by a teacher, but at the moment of the fall she was speaking to another child and did not see what happened. They claim he had been told not to climb, but honestly, he’s five — when you put kids in front of playground equipment, it’s predictable that they’ll want to use it, especially if they aren’t closely supervised.

What upset me most is that the school did not send me any written report until 21 days after the accident, and only after I repeatedly emailed them. When I finally received the report, it seemed to shift the blame onto my son rather than taking any real responsibility for what happened — even though they had agreed to keep him indoors for his safety.

My son has suffered a lot, physically and emotionally. He missed important football training sessions (he plays for a pre-academy), and it’s been hard for all of us to see him so down. I’m now considering making a formal complaint to the Council and possibly seeking legal advice — but before I take that step, I wanted to ask:

Has anyone experienced something similar with a school? How did you deal with it?

I get it, but schools are ratio 1:15 if a ta or 1:30 kids and reception is often a lot of free flow to the outside.
I agree with others look at why hes breaking bones. One colleague their kid broke a leg on grass then an arm etc then the other kid broke something. The kids had adhd. And i dont mean they were being silly etc.
Imo state schools need to be more up front on what is possible.

So you could at least have decided to keep him home.

It does usually end up blaming child or parents as school have such minimal supervision

How could he do football training with his arm in a cast from his first injury, was there any matting around the low wall, was the wall a play wall meant to be climbed on. Poor boy must be in a lot of pain so like ppl say he needs to see a doctor about his fractures.

I had the same thought. At that age, it’s just a bit of fun and 95% of them are there just to make up the numbers and they get rid of most of them by the time they are 8.

His other arm was already in a cast, so he was going to miss training anyway.

My 6 year old had to go to school with both his legs in plaster (from the knee to his toes). I asked if they could keep him from doing anything physical, but I totally understood that he is an active 6 year old. He cracked the plaster around his feet and toes 3 times while at school and had to go back to the hospital for new casts. Not the schools fault - kids will be kids.

A medical room with a nurse??? We’ve barely got enough money for a first aid kit and some magic paper towels.

Direct the blame at yourself. If you were that worried, he should’ve stayed at home where his first fracture occurred, remember?

I'd be more concerned about a 5yo breaking 2 bones in quick succession with no apparent health issues.

School cannot watch him 1:1 all the time he is there.

why is it always the schools fault? Are you concerned about your neglect, when the arm was broken under your watch?

1. This reads like it was written by AI
2. Didn't you post this a while ago and get very similar answers? I'm sure I've read basically the same post before.

Thank you for your messages and for sharing your concerns. I want to assure you that my child has no health issues related to his bones or any deficiencies. In fact, the very first thing I did after the second injury was to have all the necessary medical tests carried out to completely rule out any underlying problems. His doctors have confirmed that he is perfectly healthy in that regard.

There was a clear agreement with the school principal to provide extra care and supervision for my son. It was agreed and assured that he would participate in indoor activities while the other children were outside, precisely to keep him safe and properly supervised given his current condition. This arrangement was made thoughtfully and with the best interest of my child in mind.

I understand that accidents can happen, especially with young, active children, and I do appreciate the concern behind your messages. However, ensuring my son’s safety and recovery is my priority, and I trusted the school’s commitment to support this plan.

What upset me the most is that the school had clearly assured me he would be supervised and that I didn’t need to worry — and yet this wasn’t followed through. That’s the part I find hardest to accept.

On top of that, I was not given any incident report, even though the school normally provides it on the same day of the event. In this case, I only received the report 21 days later, and only because I formally requested it 15 days after the accident. This lack of communication and delay is extremely disappointing, especially in a situation involving a young child’s injury.

I'm also a bit surprised at the answers and think they are missing the point. If the op's request was unreasonable and not practical for the school, it was on the headteacher to make that clear, not fudge a response and then ignore the request anyway. Op could then have decided for herself whether she was happy for her son to continue attending whilst in a cast.

Whether it was realistic for the school to put in place or whether the climbing frame was safe is besides the point really.

I’m 32 and we didn’t have that at school. Primary school not at all and when my sister broke her arm at school it was the PE teacher who looked after her, and got me to sit with her.

At secondary we had a room near the front of the school which was overseen by the school receptionist and you’d get a sick bowl and a phone call home if you were lucky!

What do you want to happen OP?

I think that's fine then, go ahead and make the necessary complaints.

But be sure to refer yourself to children's social care at the same time, given the first accident happened on your watch.

Why did you not want him
taking part in any physical or outdoor activity?

usually when a child is in a cast it’s protected and I see them playing out and about all the time.

The fact he’s fallen again and hurt his right arm cannot be specifically related to his left arm being in a cast?

I‘M surprised your son is in a pre academy for football if he falls so easily. That’s a lot of running around obstacles!

id be spending my time getting the GP to find out how he’s breaking bones so easily and frequently tbh.

Im wondering if you're in the UK. And if this is a state schools?

"Your child will be adequately supervised" is very different to "your child will be prevented from going outside". Also what constitutes 'adequately supervised' is subjective. Without a doctor's note or letter specifying certain things, the school's interpretation might be different to yours.

Maybe they said they would do their best to supervise him more closely. That doesn't mean they can watch him every second of the day. It's just not possible.

Ha! I guess things have changed quite a bit since the early 90s.

Jeeeez. How would being indoors prevent him from breaking his arm? I don’t quite understand.

But him having a broken left arm didn't in any way contribute to his breaking his right? I mean, you may as well tell them to never let him outdoors by that token.

if they agreed and assured you that he would be able to stay in then yes its on them this happened

I’m sorry but you are being so unreasonable. Assuming you are at a state school in the UK, I do not believe they agreed to him staying inside with direct supervision every time his peers went outside- because no school could guarantee that given the staffing levels funding allows for, particularly given reception-aged schooling involves loads of outdoor play. The fact that he got injured ‘on your watch’ also tells you how easy it is to happen and that it doesn’t mean negligence. Unless you think staff should be able to look after your child better than you did?

You will be massively wasting everyone’s understaffed time if you complain to the council about this. You will not have your complaint upheld, I 100% guarantee you.
If you want the school to get better at communicating with parents, then contacting the school governors would be a better bet for a positive outcome.

I hope your son recovers quickly.

The em dash is a dead giveaway that this is AI.

Standing on a small block could have happened in a classroom too. I think your expectations were unrealistic.

Was just thinking that