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?

You let him play football and train, but he can't go out at school? Far more likely to break something at football. If no one else at school is breaking bones I don't think the school is to blame (with faulty equipment or such like), is your son particularly clumsy and uncoordinated? Or a bit of a daredevil? It wasn't the same arm he broke so like others I would be worried that he has particularly brittle bones and would be urgently checking that out rather than looking for ways to sue the school.

“He missed important football training sessions”. Oh come on , he is FIVE. I am willing to bet that none of the children currently in this pre academy he “plays for”will ever be picked to play for England, or even for county teams! You are really scraping the emotional barrel by almost implying that a teachers inattention has cost the country a future World Cup win.🙂

I am sorry your lad is injured, most bone breaks at his age heal quickly, check with the hospital and ask if they are concerned with the multiple breaks in the second arm, but otherwise he should be well out of plaster by the end of the summer.

I once had a five year old wheeled into my class at 10.00 in the morning, “sorry he’s late miss, we had to wait for the wheelchair to be delivered.” He had broken his leg playing out at 9.00 the previous evening, x ray, leg in plaster, back in school. Kids are resilient, even with broken bones.

You laugh, but here is my then 6 year old up a climbing wall with her arm in a cast, wearing her 4 yr old brother's crocs because she couldn't climb in flip flops 😂

My son climbed trees, rode his bike, roller blades etc with both arms in casts at the same time. Fractured both wrists at softplay 🤨🤨😂😂

@Hannuda You should tell the school it's just a bit of armless fun.