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?

OP says he broke one at the beginning of June at home and then the other one on 11th of June at school

There is a difference between him staying indoors during playtime (which is pretty standard for a kid with an injury) to missing an outdoor (non-pe) lesson. The curriculum encourages outdoor learning and if it’s a whole class lesson then he should be there- as many others have pointed out, if he’s climbing on things when he’s been specifically told not to then that could have happened indoors too

i wish posters would read the thread

shes had him checked for brittlew bones and the school principal agreed to have him inside they didnt just randomly say yes

I don’t see how he can be supervised by the teacher at all times when the teacher has the rest of the class to manage?

You should have kept him
off school.

Okay so was the agreement that your child wasn't to go outside at all? Because perhaps the school had adequate cover to supervise during lunch/break etc but not during actual class times. Where was he meant to be/be doing whilst his class were..learning? Also he injured his left arm at home so clearly could just ad easily have broken his right arm indoors

I can see why you are upset but I think you are being unreasonable. If your son required that level of supervision, he is not well enough for school. I would be also concern about his bone health and why he is not able to follow instructions.

I wish posters lived in the real world.

And the school principle? Not a British term at all.

And that this is a rehash of a thread from a month or two ago. Another OP with a completely disproportionate demand that her child be kept indoors, which was ignored...

“Important football training sessions” for a five-year-old? Give over.

The children have outside learning every day.
Unless your child qualified for a one to one assistant, how can you expect that someone is watching him all the time, when there are 25 or more other little ones each with their own set of needs.

He could just as easily broken it falling off a chair, tripping over his own feet getting up off the carpet, standing on one leg to pull up a sock, walking down a single step or one that's equally common, falling from sitting on a 6 inch high bench. Or when walking in or out of your front door - they're all situations I've known, and one where an older child broke their leg just turning slightly when walking at normal speed (was walking with them at the time and their leg just buckled).

Maybe if you think he's particularly fragile he shouldn't be doing football with all that running around with a ball near his feet that he might trip over or jumping about? Or is his entire future already planned out to become a Premiership Footballer and that's therefore exempt from the excessive restrictions?

Maybe Australia? We have school principals here.

I think you could get scans done quickly here as well. Scans are commonly done by external private companies who take a prescription from the GP. You can often rock up there on the same day to get it done but quite often need an appointment within a few days. It’s the same for blood pathology testing too. It’s generally covered by Medicare.

I think it’s just an accident and you need to move on. He’s 5 you can’t wrap him up and tell him not to move or play. It’s bad luck but it’ll be over and done and he will be ok.

That's because the whole thing is AI - notice the en dashes and The Title.

Do you think that you should take any blame for the first break? Or maybe it was just a unfortunate accident that could happen to anyone?
YABU for expecting that the school can supervise him 121 (which is what would be needed to avoid any risk at all) whilst his arm heals. The accident could have happened anywhere really, he could trip or fall off a chair.
Yes you could take legal advise and maybe sue the school. Then you’ll ruin your relationship with the school for the rest of the time that he’s there.

YABU. The school do not have the staffing for 1-2-1 supervision.

You ask what action you should take. I suppose that depends on what you want to achieve? If you want to ensure neither your child or any other is put at risk in this way then I can only suggest that you encourage the school to create a policy that states either children in such a situation do not attend school or that a family member stays with them so that they can be constantly supervised on a one to one basis. If you want the head teacher to be reprimanded (as the tone of your post suggests) then you could contact the chair of governors. They can investigate. If you feel your relationship with the school has broken down because you no longer trust them, then I would suggest you remove your child from the school. What you asked of the school was in my opinion not reasonable or sustainable. It was remiss of them to agree.

@Hannuda

What outcome are you actually looking for here?

I mean Ive have my 3 yo grandson who is the size of a 5 yo ( brain and speech of a 3 yo ) staying this week and Ive spent the week saying go easy on the stairs or you will slip and fall ( he did ) don't run on the wet grass you will fall ( he did ) , dont play with the window you will fall and die ( he trapped his fingers ) dont go too close to the waves they will knock you over - they did

Kids are kids, they push their boundaries and until something happens and they get hurt, they dont understand

So your child was told not to do this that and the other, did so, got hurt

What outcome do you really want?

I have seen many kids who have broken arms and have carried on going to school with a cast on, and they have not been incarcerated inside for the duration - at best they haven't done PE. Why should your son be kept in?

@Hannuda You sound absolutely insane. Children play, and minor injuries such as broken arms can happen. I've had 3 broken arms, and my siblings have had multiple broken bones too.

If you're concerned about him being in a playground and being injured, then god knows how he will cope once he enters the workplace and encounters things, and people, that are a million times worse than broken bones.

I think expecting a child to go to school and not go outside especially reception age where it tends to be more free flow is unreasonable.Skipping PE or other sports lessons fine but not just play.If you really didn't want that to happen you would have been best to keep him at home.

However, the school have acted poorly here in that a) they should never have agreed to something and not followed it through and b) for a broken arm that's a serious injury and appropriate protocols re accident reporting should have been followed straight away!

I think you've grounds to complain and take things further about those facts.

Schools are so weird. When my child drive a limb we were advised due to type of break to keep off school for a set time. The school didn't accept this and was pressurising us to return child sooner than medical advise as they could 'keep child safe' but then when child is in school and they agree to indoor play only if doesn't actually happen

Surely he would’ve missed his “pre-academy” training anyway because of the first break??

And wgat do you hope to achieve by getting lawyered up? It sounds like you’ve already destroyed any relationship with the school.