Son was injured at school but I wasn't informed.....

[Allalone0]

I would appreciate any advice/experiences of those that may have been through similar.
Basically my son who has recently started at high school, joined the after-school football club. I went to pick him up on Wednesday and was met with a very distraught boy, whilst playing football he accidentally banged his face against another boys head. As a result of which his nose broke.
I was not called to inform me of this instead i only found out when i went to pick him up. I was absolutely fuming, the teacher had left for the day and i had to wait until the next morning to speak to the head.

He said he would speak to the head of P.E. and the head of year 7 and get back to me with the results. He phoned me on Friday asking for me to come in on monday. I went in today and the teacher concerneds' chain of events.
My son was in his uniform ready to go back to lessons but was sent back home with me until after his hosp. Appt on wednesday.
I would like to know if/what the school is obliged to do in these circumstances as i feel i came away dissatisfied.

Thanks in advance....

[admission]

The question i would ask is whether your son is fit to be at school. If he is then I do not understand the school sending him home with you. That is an illegal exclusion for both Monday and Tuesday and is not something the school should be doing
The nose breaking is an accident and as such is just one of those things. But I would have expected at least some degree of concern from the school at the injury, even if it was an after school activity. If it was in school time I would have expected a phone call, but as it was an after school activity and you were picking him up, I would have thought that best practice would have been for the teacher to have waited till you came and be saying it is probably best if he gets it looked at. But did the teacher know that the nose was broken? Did your son say anything or did he just go ?
It might be appropriate to ask the school for their complaint process and then make a formal written complaint. To me the focus of the complaint is how the head teacher handled your complaint and how you were told to take child away from school. The complaint would be investigated by members of the GB.

[Allalone0]

Thanks for the reply admission.
There was alot of blood, and as they were on the school fields with no tissues he had to use the bib he was wearing to hold against his nose. By the time i went to collect my son his nose was very swollen.
I felt my son was okay to go back to school which is why i took him in but the headteacher said he was concerned that the nose may get knocked again, which is why he was quite insistent on sending him back home. The person in charge of health and safety was also present who suggested that my son be allowed to leave lessons 5 mins earlier so he can make his way to the next lesson so as to avoid getting caught up in the students rush. But the head wasnt happy with that as that would mean my son being 'singled out', which i thought abit strange as i told him that my son being kept from school is also 'singling him out', maybe more so. Yet the head was okay with that. Thats why i felt abit confused.

[happygardening]

I thought most schools have a first aid kit readily available on the side of the pitch for such eventualities. I am a mother and a health care professional and if I was in your shoes I would be concerned that no one came to help you son with his nose bleed. Nose bleeds are generally not life threatening but they frightening especially for a child. People often or are incorrectly encouraged to put their head back and then then swallow blood and vomit, treating this kind of nose bleed is fairly simple and involves pinching the nose hard but again this if often done incorrectly and carrying on running around is definitely not the way to stop it. I would have thought that the school would have to have completed some sort of accident form as well. Finally explaining to you what had happened and what action had been taken I would have thought was also standard stuff. In my experience schools generally over react to the most trivial of injuries not under react as in your case. In general complaining is boring and creates lots of work for all involved but I think in your case you should put your concerns in writing to the head and chairman of the governors ask to see the schools accident procedure policy, ask where the first aid kit is, was it readily it, first aid training of staff etc and finally ask about documentation procedure following an accident. In the NHS this is standard stuff now and has been for the nearly 30 years I've been doing it, I often joke to patients that they mustn't fall out of bed or I will spend the next three hours completing forms; I'm only slightly exaggerating!

[happygardening]

Sorry meant to say was first aid kit readily available

[ForYourDreamsAreChina]

I don't understand. He banged his head, he bled, then you arrived to pick him up and presumably had him checked over and at that point it was discovered his nose had broken?

At what point were the school supposed to have contacted you? If they didn't know?

Or he'd been to A and E and had his nose checked and then went back to football practice? (in which case, obviously, YANBU as that seems very odd)

[happygardening]

Allalone0 said in her OP that her son banged his nose whilst playing football and that he carried on playing after he did it using the bib to stop his nose from bleeding. She also said that there was "a lot of blood" all this implies to me that a not insignificant injury occurred during a school activity and that the person in charge should have done something about it. No one is to blame for it happening. It is the inaction on the part of the teacher and the not following of what must be a standard procedure in schools is what would concern me.

[JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar]

An ugly, cauliflower-eared, hard bastard adult rugby player would be removed from the pitch for a lesser injury. The inaction is what would concern me tbh.

[Bramshott]

If it was near the end of the session, I can understand why they might not have called you (if you were going to be there within 20 mins or so anyway), but did the club coach not wait with your DS until you were there and explain about the injury? Not sure if that's what you mean by "the teacher had left".

[meditrina]

If it was close to pick up time, then a phone call probably would have made no difference to the time you could have got to him. And it does take a bit of time to assess the injury (possibly broken? Just nose bleed?)

So if it was in the last 15 minutes or so, then I don't think they were unreasonable, but if it was at the start and there was an hour or so to go, then yes I think they should have rung you.

Either way, he should not have been allowed to play whilst still bleeding (banned in many sports), and should have been sitting out under proper supervision until collected.

[Theas18]

C'est normale as they would say in France!

Bloody annoying but normal in sporting injuries. I have taken this up by letter with school and got no where very much despite the first time in year 8 being a neck injury sustained in a rugby match where they made him stay on the pitch and let him go home by bus!!! (and they spinal boarded him in casualty).

also he has had a calf tear that rendered him unable to walk to the bus stop to get home ( having got back from an away match by minibus he was left on the wall outside school till he called me and was collected).

part of the issue is the " gladiatorial " nature- the adrenaline gets going and they don't really even realise they are hurt, the other thing is not wanting to appear wimpy infront of the other lads.

Its a real problem but I'm not sure there is an answer.

[admission]

Allalone,
The head's reaction is not one I would have expected. The suggestion of the H & S person is exactly what would happen in the school I am a governor at and is very common practice for pupils in wheel chairs or with plaster casts etc.
I am assuming that your son was checked out at hospital after the incident and that the visit on Wednesday was another visit after swelling had gone down etc. If the hospital were not concerned then I think the head teacher has over reacted.