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?

They have....for the worse.

@Cowsgomoomoo a mummy blogger

Hi op,

you really can’t keep him inside at school…and of course they will say he is supervised but they won’t be glued to him so…

either you keep him home and home educate or you need to understand that he isn’t alone at school and if no medical reason, probably will not receive any special person to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself. Hopefully, he will learn his balance and know better than to climb if he really doesn’t want to hurt himself.

My 5 year old son broke his collar bone in school in January. He was allowed to return to school but was not allowed to play outside or partake in PE, because he is 5 and wouldn’t be able to stop himself from running, climbing etc. so yes I think you are being totally reasonable.

Yeap.

I saw it raining outside earlier so I thrown a coat in the kids and went out. Middle one tried to climb some tyres and realise that wet is…different 😂😂

This. Football activities are a physical activity 😂

Here’s the thing. 30+ kids outside. Potentially 2 adults. 1 adult is likely watching an SEN child like a hawk. Another child is speaking to the teacher. It’s not possibly these days for 1 adult to supervise a child alone inside. Your child chooses in the moment to go on the play equipment and falls. What are they supposed to do?

You are at home, your child falls over. Does the other parent contact social services? No.

Please don’t be that parent. You have absolutely no idea, what it’s like in schools, NO IDEA.

My little boy had a broken arm from home about the same age. I had requested the same that he is careful and not to climb etc.

However he never listened even at home. I tried my hardest but he was constantly climbing with it.

I don’t think it’s the schools fault, it’s so hard to keep a 5 year in a cast sat still.

OP I do think you maybe need to look into his bone breaking so easily for peace of mind

Not for about 18 years! The cost of have a room big enough for group work with an adult sat waiting for an injury or upset is not a luxury schools can afford now! All EYFS staff have to be first aid trained.

Funnily enough I took my kids to soft play today and thought of this thread. There was a little boy in soft play with a cast/sling on!!! Talk about one extreme to the other 🤣

He is a child at 5 he should be able to take instructions and know that no means no.
Preacademy football is just like a bit of fun as they have to be much older for it to mean anything, so there is always next time,

Yeah at age 5, not sure his football career will be affected!!

My son has had s couple of fairly serious injuries at school. One head teacher called me several times as obviously worried we would go down legal route, but had no intention of doing so, as it was just one of those things...

Schools don’t have the resources for one to one attention. There may have been nobody to watch him in the classroom.
A teacher will have 30 kids, likely a portion of SEN, that she has to keep an eye on. She cannot watch your son every single second. He was told to stay off the climbing stuff, but he didn’t. That’s on him I’m afraid (I realise he’s only little).
This isn’t a school problem. It’s an unfortunate accident. He had his first accident at home with you, so you must realise how quickly they can happen.

YABU you need to have a word with yourself. You should be cross with you DC for not following simple instructions or just note it that accidents happen.

Accidents happen, it’s shit & I get your frustration about having this happen twice to him. But I agree with others & I’d be wanting tests done to see why. Kids bones are hard to break so for this to happen from a fall may really be unlucky & coincidental. As for his lack of taking instruction. I agree they’re young but at 5 it really is expected for them to listen & respect the rules given

he plays for a pre-academy

He’s five! It’s better at that age for them to enjoy a whole range of sports rather than specialise.

This me too.

I agree with the majority of posters, you would BVU to seek legal advice.
I also had to smile at " (he plays for a pre-academy), he is 5...you have a very long way to go, don't put too much pressure on him, or expect this to mean anything,.

I do think he should have been kept away from the play area, or it made clear he wasn't to climb anything.

I think it would be unreasonable for him to be kept inside.

What I will say is, and this would be to anyone, if you think your child needs to be supervised at certain times in order for you to feel comfortable with them being in school with whatever issue they have at the time, don't bank on that supervision being put in place. Just keep them home and be grumbled at about attendance through the phone and letters.

I had issues regarding another matter when my child was in reception, and after a week at home was told very firmly that my child needed to be in school, this and that, and it resulted in my child throwing up on multiple occasions with no adult around at the time. Which in my mind was a health and safety issue regarding choking.

I think it's just a lessoned learnt on both sides in your case. I'm sure they will be more vigilant in any case, and I'm sure your trust in them will have reduced.

Truth is, they can never give the attention that us as a parent can, and honestly with the amount of children needing supervision, it would be unfair to expect that level from them.

Hope your sons arms are all healed up soon, poor lad x

This reads like AI

When my DD was in reception a class mate fell and fractured her wrist, Her mum complained… not about the accident though as it happens,
her complaint was because after the fall they didn’t call her and the poor girl was at school complaining of pain all day.
At pick up teacher said she’d had a fall and injured her wrist. Mum went straight to A&E and X-rays identified the fracture.
Their report is likely accurate, your son should know better than to climb with a broken arm, So unless they either pushed him off or didn’t deal with his injury I can’t se how there’s a complaint.
it is unreasonable to expect a teacher or TA to stay inside to supervise 1 child while another 29 are outside. If that was your request they should have advised you that it wasn’t something they could do.

Hrft but thonk I'm in minority here.

At 6y I tripped and fell injuring my ankle and had yo keep weight off for 6w. I still went to school but had to stay in and colour or read at playtime.

I would expect school to have a plan for kids who need extra supervision at playtime due to injury. It must happen alot.

I might be concerned about 2 injuries in close succession, but a discussion with ortho at the next clinic should clear that up or decide on need of additional tests.

No doubt the school would be wanting child to attend despite obvious injury and failing yo get said child to school would likely result in attendance investigations.

I think OP was not being unreasonable buy i would have made my complaint very soon after incident.

Reception classes don't really have morning or afternoon break time. In my class, they sit on the carpet while I deliver a lesson (eg explaining a maths concept). They then go and do related tasks whilst the TA and I support and mark their work. After a certain amount of time, the TA goes to the outdoor learning area and it all becomes free-flow. It would be difficult to keep a child inside whilst I do interventions with other children if they are determined to go out. Free flow play, making choices and managing their own imaginative play are all important parts of the EYFS curriculum too.

Keeping them in at lunchtime is much easier - they can choose one or two friends (different every day) and go play in the shared area where there are always adults around, or go to the supervised lunchtime games club which is usually meant just for older children. That's not possible during lesson time.

It didn’t happen a playtime … it was in a reception class which likely had indoor and outdoor provision and the op’s child climbed on something (with his broken arm) and fell off. I don’t think there’d be provision in any primary school for a child to miss outdoor learning due to a broken arm due to staff ratios. It’s likely that parent and school were at cross purposes when parent proposed this ..,

There is no reason to sue. At this point you have to ignore the existing broken arm- this accident was nothing to do that with. Your 5 year old wasn’t listening in class, messed about, fell and hurt his arm. I’d also be concerned about whether there is something else going on re breaks but children can break bones doing the most innocuous things. My daughter fractured her elbow walking out of school. No-one’s fault and just bad luck. These things do happen.

Now obviously it’s rubbish for your son to have both arms broken but by the sounds of it, he felt off something low and that could have happened any time. It’s not like he was climbing trees or jumping off high climbing frames.