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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

The school didn’t inform me my son broke his finger during pe!!

63 replies

user1469528032 · 22/10/2022 21:06

I’m wondering what others thoughts are on this. Basically my son hurt his finger during a pe lesson at secondary school. He told the pe teacher who sent him to the office, the lady told him it was swollen and looked like it was probably broken, but just to go back to lessons for the rest of the day (the accident happened during second period) and just to let me know when he got home. Am I wrong in thinking If she thought it was broken a phone call to me would be appropriate? When a couple of hours had passed and it was really swollen and painful he asked his teacher if he could ring me to let me know, the teacher said yes and sent him to the office where he rung me. I told him I wanted to pick him up and get him an x-ray. He relayed this to the lady in the office, who then told him off for ringing me but said she needed to get authorisation for him to leave. In the end I had to ring her and tell her I was coming to get him as I didn’t think leaving him all day with no treatment was ok, she was not happy!
Am I being unreasonable to say I expect a phone call if a broken bone is suspected? I am genuinely interested to hear your thought, thanks.

OP posts:

AllBlocChain · 22/10/2022 21:08

A broken arm/leg yes, a broken finger? I’m sure he survived.

ThisIsNotThePostYourLookingFor · 22/10/2022 21:10

For a possible broken bone yes and the office lady had no right in telling him off. I’d be complaining about her attitude more than anything.

7Worfs · 22/10/2022 21:10

YANBU ofc. If not treated in a timely manner it can ‘heal’ all crooked.

Changingplace · 22/10/2022 21:11

Hmm yeah I think it’s weird to think he’s broken it but do nothing, did they fill out an accident form?

I’d understand if they didn’t realise or seriously think it was broken.

landyland · 22/10/2022 21:11

How old is he? Is he your first?

I only asks because I have 4 sons all of whom play a lot of sport and they have ALL broken a finger in rugby or football and I have to say I get progressively less concerned 😂. My youngest in year 7 did it a few weeks ago playing football at school. They did phone and tell us but he was away at a match with another school in the evening.

If it's any consolation theres no treatment (after an x-ray to make sure it's not really severe I guess) they just strap it to the other finger for a few days. I just do it myself with a plaster now ..

GlorifiedChair · 22/10/2022 21:11

YANBU.

The advice is to get a suspected broken finger assessed asap.

Did the school do any kind of first aid, such as on www.nhs.uk/conditions/broken-finger/?

Haybo26 · 22/10/2022 21:11

I broke my finger in secondary. My Mum was called straight away.

itsgettingweird · 22/10/2022 21:16

I think it's odd they didn't call and see if they could at least give ibuprofen and/ or paracetamol.

It's not the broken finger so much but the lack of any pastoral care for a young child who they clearly thought was in significant pain if they suspected he'd broken his finger.

Craftybodger · 22/10/2022 21:18

YANBU. Any suspected real needs immediate notification unless your child can contact you ASAP.

PopcornChewingGum · 22/10/2022 21:18

Of course YANBU. Who on earth thinks it's ok to leave a child in pain for no reason ? I very much doubt he was concentrating on the lessons he was forced to sit through.

It always amazes me how people expect children to accept / endure things that would never be tolerated for adults. Imagine if leaving a workplace to attend to, or get pain relief for, a broken finger was against the disciplinary code.

Scarydinosaurs · 22/10/2022 21:24

And it was broken?

I think it is odd - especially given how hard it is to write with a broken finger!

OdkinsBodkins · 22/10/2022 21:27

The way this woman has behaved is very strange and no I would not be happy. I'd make a complaint on this scenario.

User0ne · 22/10/2022 21:29

Of course that's totally unreasonable. It's neglect to not seek medical advice for a child in your care who needs it (or to notify the parent so that they can do so).

If they say "it's only a broken finger" then I suggest asking them how they classified bones into groups which do/don't need medical attention if suspected broken.

OdkinsBodkins · 22/10/2022 21:30

It's all very well to get progressively less concerned and I understand this with several children that are playing contact sports it is going to be par for the course and not a PFB minor injury blown out of proportion situation with the children. But damage to a finger, and damage left that shouldn't be, can be very detrimental in some cases to future fine-motor skills in sport, music, writing, painting, and so on. It should always be dealt with properly at the earliest sensible opportunity and appropriate pain relief should be offered. What is wrong with people?

TheYearOfSmallThings · 22/10/2022 21:32

OBVIOUSLY you should have been contacted if the school suspected a broken bone, so that you could go and get it dealt with. Ffs.

Ponderingwindow · 22/10/2022 21:39

You should have been contacted immediately. There is no reason for your child to be distracted in pain while trying to learn. It might just need stabilization, but that stabilization would mitigate pain significantly.

It also isn’t up to them to decide treatment options. Doctors with training and proper equipment review injuries to make sure that it isn’t something more serious before sending you off with a splint or some tape because sometimes a finger injury means surgery.

ByTheGrace · 22/10/2022 21:41

AllBlocChain · 22/10/2022 21:08

A broken arm/leg yes, a broken finger? I’m sure he survived.

Seriously? I broke a finger at work, it was seriously bloody painful and I was sent home.
Yes, all that happens is your fingers get strapped together and in my case I needed the nail piercing to release blood build up. But I also needed painkillers.
Why do some Mners just expect children to put up and shut up, that is a serious lack of empathy.

whoareyouinviting · 22/10/2022 21:41

I'd be extremely pissed off and have plenty to tell that school. That's just not acceptable at all. Even from the perspective that he must have been in some pain and yet was expected to rejoin class?? Lunacy.

Meredusoleil · 22/10/2022 21:47

My dd2 had a suspected broken pinkie when she was in Y5. Got called by school to get it checked straight away. Took her for an X-ray to rule out a fracture. Thankfully, she was fine but the triage nurse was such a bitch, making out my dd2 was making a big fuss over nothing and not even believing how the injury was caused!

Not the same situation, but I wish I had put in a complaint about her tbh.

BarnabyRocks · 22/10/2022 21:48

landyland · 22/10/2022 21:11

How old is he? Is he your first?

Not true about the treatment actually. My 15 yr old nephew broke his little finger playing football at the beginning of September. It was X-rayed that day, then they applied a little boat type support to it which he had to keep on for over a month (maybe 6 weeks) and he's had 2 check ups. It's off now but he has to do exercises as it's healed a bit wonky and there's scar tissue making it a bit bulbous on the end. So, worth getting it checked out asap I'd say.
Office lady's attitude seems harsh.

AlwaysLatte · 22/10/2022 21:49

Wow, that's really not on. I'd be very unhappy with that.

dilemmasdilemmasdilemmas · 22/10/2022 21:55

DD has broken two fingers at school now and on both occasions we've only found out when she's got home from school. She hasn't been in particular pain or upset on either occasion.
The first occasion, we rang A&E, were booked in for 9pm, eventually triaged at 11pm and told we could expect to wait overnight. We didn't bother but just splinted it and told us to keep
It like that for a couple of weeks. The next time, we only had a 5 hour wait and all they did was splint it, again, and tell us to keep it like that for a couple of weeks.

Abraxan · 22/10/2022 21:56

AllBlocChain · 22/10/2022 21:08

A broken arm/leg yes, a broken finger? I’m sure he survived.

Seriously? You don't think a parent should be informed about a possible broken bone which has happened during the school day?

Obviously school should have joined you and asked you to collect your child to have a checked out.

Regardless of what some people believe it's always worth getting checked. If broken it can then be strapped appropriately as some breaks to digits can cause life long issues if not set properly

NeverDropYourMooncup · 22/10/2022 21:57

I've done that job. I always asked parents to collect for anything that looked like it could need an x-ray, as leaving them with a broken anything would have been horrible. Same with anything that might have meant steristrips/superglue or proper cleaning. I also called for the things where something just didn't feel right - which was very fortunate on a large number of occasions.

I'd also call but not to collect to give a heads up for things where they might have a black eye, grazes on their face, etc, as I could imagine the Oh My God What Have You Done moments when they walked in the front door.

I'd expect somebody thinking there was a fracture and not doing anything about to be the subject of a formal complaint, as that's not what first aid is supposed to be, not in the diagnosis, as that's not within her power and in the deciding there was nothing to be done about it.

Dexionmagic · 22/10/2022 21:59

Not handled well.

Not unreasonable to send the child to period 3 onwards but with a note/message to comeback if it gets worse.

A call to you, from the office, would have been sensible too. Just to put you in the picture.

Then a call to discuss what best to do when the child came back complaining of continuing pain.

Ask to see the accident book.

The above is more or less how injuries/accidents were dealt with when I was teaching. A more open attitude helps prevent children calling parents on their mobiles and the problems that can cause.

I’ve a long scar on my forearm after a PE lesson incident - actually the eyelets on my PE bag. If I’d had better treatment in the first aid room (butterfly clips) I’d have a much smaller scar.

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