Advice regarding informal complaint to school.

[Redwineandsunshine]

At the very end of summer term my 11 year old daughter went on a school trip for 2 nights/3 days.

She came home obviously very ill, with a fever and a badly infected elbow. We had to take her straight to a&e where she was admitted for 6 days of iv antibiotics (plus then tablet antibiotics for a few days once discharged) and was given a diagnosis of cellulitis and lymphangitis. The cellulitis was very severe looking (very red with a large ‘crater’). There was even talk of her having to have surgery but fortunately the surgeon she saw decided it wasn’t necessary.

During this school trip she complained twice, to two different teachers of a painful arm, once on the first evening and once at lunchtime on the third day.

The teacher she told on the first day had a look at her arm and as there was nothing obvious there told her to put a wet towel on it. However, on the third day she asked the other teacher for a plaster for her arm as it was hurting but her arm wasn’t even looked at and she was told there was no plasters available.

I picked her up from the school trip late afternoon/evening and spoke to the first teacher (who was in charge of the trip) to say thank you. This teacher mentioned nothing to me about her problems with her arm during the trip. It was only when we got home and saw it ourselves we realised how badly infected it was.

I had been in touch initially with the teacher in change of the trip to find out exactly what happened and how she came home so ill. He was going to find out if the other teacher had looked at her arm on the third day but I never heard back from him about that particular question.

Once autumn term started I left it a couple of weeks then got in touch with the head teacher to discuss what had happened and that I hadn’t had an answer regarding whether her arm was looked at on the third day, and also to complain that I wasn’t told
anything at pick up. She said she’d find out but I didn’t hear anything.

I saw the head on an unrelated issue at the beginning of last month, and mentioned that I still hadn’t had the answers I was waiting for and that I was really unhappy, disappointed and obviously very upset by the whole thing. I was asked if I wanted to make a formal complaint which I said I didn’t, I just wanted answers and a reassurance this wouldn’t happen again.

The head told me she still hadn’t spoken to the other teacher which I don’t actually believe. She’d had weeks to speak to her at this point.

Anyway, weeks later and I’ve still heard nothing. Im not sure what to do now? I can obviously get in touch with the head again but I’ve asked these questions 3 times already.

The schools policy on informal complaints is to respond within 10 days. I’ve been waiting weeks now. Has anyone else been in a similar situation or have any advice on moving this forward. I’d still rather avoid a formal complaint as I’m not sure if it’s justified in this case. Any advice gratefully received. Thank you

Did you mention that there was an injury before the trip, when you took her to the collection point. Perhaps, as it happened prior to the trip, the staff thought it had been dealt with.

The lack of subsequent response isn’t good though.

@CeilingWacks
thank you, are you’re right I’m not looking for blame. I just wish my child was listened to and the thought of ‘what if the trip was longer’ has has kept me up many nights. She should’ve been safe on a school trip.

@comfyoldcardi
no the injury was a tiny cut sustained at a swimming pool which unfortunately let to cellulitis before the trip

I'd probably escalate to formal complaint.
Because regardless of whether they were at fault or not, they're not taking you seriously NOW are they.
They're fobbing you off NOW.
You've tried with them.

As your daughter already had cellulitis before the trip started, you should have made the school aware of it, or even better, kept her at home until you could get a gp appointment.

I’m not actually trying to blame any teachers, it was just unfortunate timing she was on a school trip when she got cellulitis.

Apologies for not mentioning before but the cellulitis was under her arm by the elbow, so she couldn’t actually see herself to how bad it got.
She asked for a plaster because her trail of thought was that if it hurts a plaster would help, 11 year old logic I guess.

The small cut was sustained on a trip to a swimming pool with a friend, it stopped bleeding almost immediately and she forgot about it almost straight away.
She didn’t tell me until she was in a&e that she’d cut herself and she hadn’t even told
her friend’s mum who took them to the pool. It was so small and she’s had many small cuts before that have never led to cellulitis so even if I’d know I wouldn’t have thought anything about it.

When in a meeting for this school trip the teacher in charge made a point of saying that our children would be as well looked after by the teachers as we the parents would look after them, which is hindsight is a load of rubbish!

Also to the posters who say the teachers aren’t trained nurses, of course I know that! However neither am I and as soon as I saw her arm I knew she needed medical attention and quickly. She had a crater almost the size of a 5 pence piece, it was infected all around and the infection was tracking up her arm, she’d told 2 teachers on 2 separate occasions and it was missed. And that just isn’t good enough.

Like I said, I’m not trying to blame, I just don’t feel she was adequately looked after and it’s the what ifs that make me feel rather sick. She is fine which is the important thing, but it was a horrible situation and I do feel that it could’ve been handled better.

The teachers (allocated first aider) has a duty of care to your DD and should have looked at it to assess. So formal complaint and ask for their first aid and safeguarding procedures on trips

@Lavinia56
she didn't have cellulitis before the trip, I’d never have sent her if she did! My question was actually about informal/formal complaints. I wish the actual question was being answered rather than picking apart was actually a really difficult and upsetting time. We drove her to hospital and I was actually terrified she’d develop
sepsis.
Thank you to all the posters who have helped, I think that formal complaint is the way to go now.

@SwedishSchnauzer
thank you.
Does it seem likely that the first aider would have no plasters on them during a trip like this?
It seems to me that they just didn’t take it seriously or listen to what she was saying but I’m not sure if it’s unfair of me to assume that?

@comfyoldcardi
no the injury was a tiny cut sustained at a swimming pool which unfortunately let to cellulitis before the trip

I worded this wrong, I meant the cut was before the trip not the cellulitis, that was during.
The first teacher looked at her arm the first time and saw nothing that warranted any concerns.

I agree with many others. Put in a formal complaint as it is unacceptable that any parent be ignored several times when raising important concerns.

It sounds like the school aren't taking the complaint seriously and I would escalate to the board of education. I would provide medical evidence to show them the seriousness of it.

When I was about the same age I got a cut on my arm from a rusty fence. I got septicaemia and nearly died as a child. Schools should take things like cuts more seriously in my opinion.

Agreed. You’re not making a complaint to be stroppy - you’ve tried the informal approach and got nowhere. They had the opportunity to avoid this by talking with you and reassuring you about steps they’re taking in future. Instead they’ve ignored you and seemingly done nothing. As you say - their own policy says 10 days for a response.

A formal complaint isn’t automatically get anyone fired, but it will hopefully prompt the conversations and reassurances that they should already have given you.

Sorry, I read that wrongly. You said 'she sustained a small cut which unfortunately led to cellulitis before the trip.'
I took that to mean she already had cellulitis. Sorry I got that mixed up.

I think her subsequent infection wasn't immediately obvious to the staff on the trip, so you do need to find out what happened exactly.

Usually there are so many boxes to tick regarding health and safety on school trips so I'm surprised that these weren't adhered to at the time.

@@Lavinia56
I did word it wrong, I meant the cut was sustained before the trip not that she had cellulitis before the trip.

The crater was almost the size of a 5 pence piece and the infection around it red and raised and about the size of my daughter’s palm. The head teacher did agree that complaints of a painful arm is a little unusual, and all it would have taken was a quick look and it would’ve been obvious there was a problem. And also the teacher in could’ve really quickly told me about her complaints during the trip at pick up but he chose not to.

Anyway, I think due to the lack of any handling of this a formal complaint is the only option now.

I do appreciate everyone’s help and opinions on this.

I'm glad you've decided a formal complaint is what's needed here. By making it formal, there's a far greater likelihood of it having an impact on future policy and practice.

As others have said, formalising a complaint doesn't have to be an argumentative or fault-seeking thing. Follow the school's complaints procedure, mention you'd hoped to avoid making a formal complaint but as your informal complaint hasn't been handled in a timely fashion, you are hoping the formal complaints procedure will lead to a more comprehensive investigation, response and training for staff, and education for students e.g. from the Sepsis Trust or similar. Martha Mills, Sam Morrish, Toby Hudson, Ana Uglow and Sean Hughes are all children or teenagers whose deaths from sepsis were avoidable.

It's not the same situation as for your DD but last year, one of my DCs was targeted and violently assaulted at school. Whilst the initial response to the situation was prompt and appropriate, within 24 hours it had unravelled and become very disjointed, increasing the risk to my DC and giving a lot of power to the student who had carried out the assault. Right from my first contact with the senior teacher who was dealing with the incident, I was clear I wanted it dealt with and for things to be put in place to reduce the likelihood of a similar attack taking place but that I trusted the school to handle it. It was a shambles! In the end, I did put in a formal complaint about a number of aspects of how the original assault was able to take place all the way through to the conduct of the police when they came to interview my DC without warning and without offering them the option to have a known adult be present. The formal complaint was absolutely the way forward. It meant the incident was more thoroughly investigated, wishy-washy or inconsistent behaviour policies were clarified, various safeguarding practices were improved, CCTV was installed somewhere everyone had assumed it already existed... and a number of my other concerns were addressed. The executive headteacher thanked me for bringing the formal complaint, even though there were 12 different concerns within it! All but one was upheld and verbally, the executive headteacher was quite candid about why that had been.

Whilst I will always wish my DC hadn't been set upon, hurt, humiliated and isolated from their peers, escalating to a formal complaint has meant my DC feels heard, supported and safe. And the perpetrator has been given an opportunity to change their ways early enough for it not to ruin their life... unless they need an enhanced DBS check any time soon.

This. Make it formal to prevent it happening again

It's so sorry, that's awful. My DD has been on a number of school trips and they have been much more responsive to kids over injuries etc.

Agree with others, this warrants a formal complaint.

I can totally understand how a sore arm could be missed on a busy school trip. The teacher probably meant to check it later if it couldn’t be seen easily without removing clothes, and then forgot.
I think a much bigger issue is their response once they found out. The Head should have investigated immediately and called with an apology. Mistakes happen as teachers are only human, but if they do, it’s important to apologise and see what you can put in place for the future to minimise the risk of it happening again. I’m surprised they’re not taking this more seriously.

This is formal complaint territory, especially as you have already tried informal routes, and I say that as an ex-teacher. There is no need to hesitate.

It needs to be a formal complaint. Firstly to ensure better practice so something like this doesn't happen again and secondly because of the heads lack of concern which is worrying

The biggest issue here is the way you have been fobbed off afterwards. It’s unacceptable to say you’ll look into something and just never respond. It sounds like they are actually lying to you about discussing internally. When you complain, make sure you set out a clear chronology of what you said to whom and when, and what you were told about next steps.

OK, ask for a copy of the school complaints policy and follow it to the letter. You have tried to resolve it with both the trip teacher and the HT, so technically your complaint is actually to the Chair of Governors at this point.

Next, you have two parts to your complaint, firstly the safeguarding fail on the trip and for this you need to know what they will do in future to ensure it does not happen again. Secondly, it is their failure to communicate and follow their own policies, so perhaps their needs to be someone that can follow up when their is a breech and hold staff to account.

You need to think what resolution is to you and ask for that.

I write this as a CoG, who has over 30 years investigated a number of complaints over ten different schools.

In my experience, if you put it in writing to the school, it becomes a formal complaint.

In my opinion, this warrants a formal complaint. If nothing else, it should serve to improve things for pupils on future school trips.

I'm so sorry your daughter, you & the family have had to suffer this.

Good advice from @Anotheranonymousname and @LatteLady

I started to read your post and wondered what the trivial issue warranting an informal complaint would be. Then 6 days in hospital hit me and reading on I was horrified at just how serious this was for your daughter. The first teacher could be excused- they looked and saw nothing not so the second one who did nothing. At the very least you deserve an apology for the cavalier attitude and an assurance that they will do better. They have pretty much treated you with contempt, it's down to the Head to look into why your daughter was ignored and this relayed to you. A formal complaint is absolutely warranted and not to be rude but not sure why you haven't gone in with guns blazing before this.
Hope your daughter is well recovered now.