Accident in the school plyground

[ElaineED]

Our little girl has recently started in reception class at Bellenden primary school. Yesterday she fell during playtime and grazed her knee (the skin was broken and the area was very red). She said that she told her teacher and the teacher told her to go and clean it herself. She wasn't taken to have it cleaned and we weren't contacted to advise that she had hurt herself. Is this standard Health and safety procedures in primary schools? I'm just a little concerned that a 4 year old was told to go and clean herself up after a fall which could have become infected.

[Growlybear]

I can't imagine that any school would contact parents to tell them that their child had fallen and grazed their knee. If they did that for every minor accident, the office staff would never be able to get any other work done!

[Pickle]

I've only been contacted by the school when my kids have either bumped their heads (badly enough to need an ice pack) or there's been lots of blood (nose bleeds). I wouldn't expect (or, to be honest, want) to be phoned if they grazed their knees, it's a daily occurrence. My children are year 1 and reception.

[Crokes]

I think Pickle's description for contact sounds reasonable but reading the OP's post I thought it was also about the little girl being left to sort herself out.

I can understand that teachers have lots to do and grazes are daily occurrences, but if it was a bad graze and dirty, it seems a shame that no-one helped her clean it up at all (especially as the little girl is just starting reception and the whole school thing is probably all very new)... or am I being soft (it says she's only 4).

[ElaineED]

Thanks for your responses. It's not really being contacted by the school that I'm concerned about. It's how these accidents are being dealt with at the school. Was your child expected to clean up their nose bleeds themselves?

[Pickle]

No, they've always been helped by a first aider or TA if in the classroom. Although there have been times when my son claimed he did it himself, only for me to have the TA mention it the next day as she had assisted ("oh yeah, I forgot" said my son!). My 4 year old girl is fiercely independent so tends to refuse offers of help :)

Have a word with your little ones teacher after school

P x

[Townleygreen]

I don't think she should have been left to deal with it herself, I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to do that in my first few days at school!

[Cora]

I think if a child goes to the teacher for support after grazing their knee then they should receive help. As a parent I would not be particularly worried about it getting infected but I do think it's very important that a child in the playground feels like they will get support if they go to an adult with a problem. Dismissing problems early on means a child is less likely to go back with a bigger issue. It's about building trust.

[DVnewbie]

Totally agree with Cora and everybody else. I have a fairly robust 4 year old about to start school today and I'd be very upset if he hurt himself, told a teacher and was told to go and clean it up himself. It would totally knock his confidence and trust that he would be happy and looked after at school. Definitely think you should mention it to the teacher.

[etta166]

It's probably more complicated than we parents realise. I helped on a school trip with my son's class. Another girl fell, and broke a nail so far back on her finger that it was bleeding and the nail was half hanging off. Since I know the girl and her mum fairly well, I said to her not to worry and I'd cut her nail off to stop it getting any worse. Cue major panic from the teacher - I was told that I'm not allowed to cut her nail (why???), just to put a plaster over it. I didn't really get to the bottom of all the rule and regulations about what teachers can and can't do, but it was complex to say the least!

[oimissus]

without knowing what else was going on at the same time, it's hard to say. The teacher may have been involved sorting out something else more serious, had a look at your daughter's graze, made an informed decision that it was minor and asked her to go and wash it herself. That's not telling your daughter that she shouldn't or can't go to a teacher. After all, if teachers had to accompany every child who trips and grazes their knee, there wouldn't be any teachers left to supervise.

[Monkey]

I think you should have a word with her teachers. I don't really care what teachers are allowed to do (or think they are allowed) to do or not. There's also something called common sense.

[snss75]

ElaineED, my son goes to Bellenden (now year 2, has been there since nursery) and whenever something's happended to him or he's had an accident, the teachers have been there to help him and I've always been told what happened at the end of the day. The only time they've sent letters home has been when he's bumped his head. I would definitely have a word with the teacher, like Monkey said.

[ElaineED]

Thanks for all your really helpful advice. I think that I will have a chat with the teacher about the incident and just try to understand what the school protocol is so that I know in future how minor accidents are being dealt with.

[pommie]

If my daughter has a small accident at her nursery, when i go and pick her up the teacher just tells me and gets me to sign the accident book

[mich]

Hey, my lo is also in reception at Bellenden, she too fell over on Friday and grazed her knee. When I collected her at the end of the day her teacher informed me that she had fallen over, and a plaster was put in her knee. She fell over again on Monday and another child stepped on her finger ripping the skin, and I was again informed on Monday when I collected her. As another poster mentioned maybe teacher was attending to another child. Was your child in distress, if your child wasn't crying etc, maybe teacher thought to give to much unneeded attention could make your child more stressed out about the situation. Maybe it was a case of "opsy daisy, up you get, go and get some tissue".