Question:
I admit to being a regular "lurker" on this group, but I now have a question serious enough for me to risk raising my head above the parapet.

My question is whether anyone knows to what extent (if any) a teacher is obliged to inform parents of an injury suffered by their child whilst at school. The background to my situation is as follows:

My 5 year old son brings home a book-bag from school every day containing a reading book which the school likes us to read with him before he returns for the next day's lessons. Last Sunday, my wife opened the bag to extract the book, and out fell a pro-forma letter, addressed to "the parents", advising that our son had suffered a minor bump to the head on the previous Friday.

Now I should make clear that this was the most minor of injuries, and my son suffered no ill effects of any consequence. I do not subscribe to the compensation bandwagon which regularly rolls across our TV screens - neither my son nor anyone else has suffered a loss, and no claim is intended.

However, I am concerned with regards to the schools' policy. My wife is a nurse, and has pointed out to the school that even minor head injuries in children who appear well at the time can cause deterioration, and even intracerebral haemorrhages, and the teacher should therefore have made mention of the incident when my son was collected from school at the end of the day, so that he could be watched for any adverse reaction. As it was, there was no mention at all, just the letter placed in his book-bag. Had my son's condition deteriorated, and he had, for example, started to vomit, I would not have connected this with his accident at school, as I was quite simply unaware of the accident at that time.

I have followed the appropriate channels and written formally to the Headmistress, expressing my concern, and suggesting that the school policy should be reviewed such that verbal mention of the incident should always be made by the teacher, but the reply I have received is not particularly helpful. It expresses indignation that we (my wife and I) have had the gaul to make a complaint, and states that no review of school policy will be carried out since the existing one is quite adequate.

Neither my wife or I are prepared to accept this, and we are attempting to make an appointment to discuss the matter with the Headmistress face to face next week. My concern is to balance the maintaining of good relations with the school (my son still has to go there) with the need to ensure that if anything similar happens in the future, we as parents are informed in an appropriate and timely manner. I would therefore appreciate the comments of any lawyers with an interest in this field, teachers, or employees of regulatory authorities (eg. OFSTED) with regards the stance I am taking.

Answer: That's an interesting one. I am a lawyer who has often acted for local authorities faced with compensation claims from injured pupils. If your child had suffered sequelae from the injury and the failure to inform you of the injury had impeded his treatment, you could have had a case in negligence against the school. Since no harm was done, there is no claim - but I agree with you that the issue is a worrying one. The main difficulty is that schools like to send letters home with pupils, and pupils don't always remember to hand over the letters.

So the fact of the matter is that we all have to rely on the school's "nurse" or "first aider" to assess whether an injury is serious enough to warrant medical attention. I don't think the procedure is foolproof but I think it is typical of head teachers to dismiss parental concerns in the arrogant belief that they are right and the parents are fussing too much. What is the alternative - to say that all injuries must be reported to parents by telephone? Obviously this would be time consuming and impractical. I wonder whether other schools have discovered a better system. There is only one suggestion that occurs to me. In this era of email, it would be inexpensive and take only a moment to send a message to a parent by email. Phone calls are obviously expensive and time consuming, and a typed letter sent by post would be even more time consuming. If the school has the time to write out a slip of paper for the child to take home, it should also have the time to do an email to you - but that of course applies to numerous other areas, like parents meetings, reminders about money owing on school trips,etc. They simply ought to move with the times.

It is not reasonable to expect your child's teacher to verbally pass this information on to you. To begin with, if the incident happened at lunchtime, even she may not be aware of it (depending on the efficiency of the first-aider & lunchtime staff). (Before you ask - she isn't as serious as it sonds - if the child became ill or dizzy in the afternoon they'd be off to the first-aid room where the records would be checked for head injury). There are 30 children in a class, and 5 yr olds frequently collide with each other/feel ill/fall over etc. in a busy playground. A system which relies on her telling you is open to the possibility that she may not actually catch you before you leave, as she may have several other parents to deal with. Older primary children may walk home alone. Many are collected by child-minders & the school cannot rely on information being passed on "third-hand".