child broke leg at school....

meritaten

What I am getting at is if the school KNEW the steps/stairs needed repair before the accident! I would have thought it would be apparent to everyone that if they did and didnt put the steps 'out of bounds' then they ARE liable!
yes accidents happen - but sometimes the 'accidents' COULD have been prevented! that is what I am trying to establish!
unfortunately, if an accident like this occurs - and the school KNEW the steps were unsafe and didnt do anything (either because they didnt have the funding or because it wasnt 'on the agenda') they will often try to cover up that fact. in which case they should be 'held liable'. as the law says they should.
I am merely trying to help the OP establish the facts - does anyone object to that?

Savvy_Sue

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

The school has insurance for this sort of thing and as I understand it you have some considerable time anyway in which to lodge a claim.

Indeed, I have a sibling with a missing finger tip from an accident with a beam in PE: they got an insurance payout when they were 18. I don't know if mum and dad had an earlier payment for trips to hospital, although I don't think there were that many ...

jellytot79

i cant say for sure wether the school knew or not, it's outside concrete steps. they have cemented the one she fell down but the step below it has a great big chunk out if it too but they havent fixed that bit. it seems to me that its another accident waiting to happen.....
i will be phoning the shool tomorrow because i do want to know why these steps were allowed to be used if they did know they were unstable.
i dont think she will have any lasting damage or at least i hope not!
i must point out that until today i was just thinking of it as an unfortunate accident and not looking for someone to blame until i saw the state of the steps...also i certainatly hope its not the job of a janitor to be fixing them either..i thought that would be more of a builders job?!!

meritaten

Jellytot - There are accidents and there are accidents! a pure accident is one where there is 'no blame' attatched. Where an accident could have been prevented by using common sense ie mending broken steps or putting them out of bounds - I dont really class as an 'accident'. this is why I urge you to establish the facts. A photo of the mended step and of the one you state is still IYO 'dangerous' would be useful too.
I do agree that the 'compensation culture' is getting out of hand - but, in cases like jellytots child, she has been hurt quite badly dont you think? and if that accident could have been prevented and wasnt. then she should be entitled to some compensation when she is old enough to make the decision. so an info pack from her parents would really help her then.

thegirlintheattic

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

Thats not true.

They cannot make your child leave if you sue them.

The school has insurance for this sort of thing and as I understand it you have some considerable time anyway in which to lodge a claim.

Depends if school were negligent, which no of us can say only the OP. If the school were not negligent then no money for the OP.


This is what goes out to all the local schools:

"Some parents wrongly assume that if a child is injured at school, the County Council is held responsible regardless of the circumstances, and that its insurance will automatically apply. This is not so. The County Council's responsibility is strictly limited to cases where there was negligence by them or their staff.

Accidents can happen in school, or on the sports field, or during school visits, when the County Council or its staff are not in any way at fault and are, therefore, not responsible.

The provision of personal accident insurance is considered to be the
responsibility of the parents. Parents who are interested in this form of
insurance can contact their local broker but they may be interested to know that the National Confederation of Parent-Teacher Associations has arranged a suitable policy."

OP - If you are only worried about your child's welfare then surly you would have been complaining to get repairs done - as has now happened.

meritaten

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

Depends if school were negligent, which no of us can say only the OP. If the school were not negligent then no money for the OP.


This is what goes out to all the local schools:

"Some parents wrongly assume that if a child is injured at school, the County Council is held responsible regardless of the circumstances, and that its insurance will automatically apply. This is not so. The County Council's responsibility is strictly limited to cases where there was negligence by them or their staff.

Accidents can happen in school, or on the sports field, or during school visits, when the County Council or its staff are not in any way at fault and are, therefore, not responsible.

The provision of personal accident insurance is considered to be the
responsibility of the parents. Parents who are interested in this form of
insurance can contact their local broker but they may be interested to know that the National Confederation of Parent-Teacher Associations has arranged a suitable policy."

OP - If you are only worried about your child's welfare then surly you would have been complaining to get repairs done - as has now happened.

exactly HOW is jellytots supposed to identify potential H&S risks at her daughters' school? The Health and Safety assessments are the job of the HeadTeacher and staff are they not? I am sure a parent on becoming AWARE of any risk would notify the staff.

POPPYOSCAR

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

Depends if school were negligent, which no of us can say only the OP. If the school were not negligent then no money for the OP.


This is what goes out to all the local schools:

"Some parents wrongly assume that if a child is injured at school, the County Council is held responsible regardless of the circumstances, and that its insurance will automatically apply. This is not so. The County Council's responsibility is strictly limited to cases where there was negligence by them or their staff.

Accidents can happen in school, or on the sports field, or during school visits, when the County Council or its staff are not in any way at fault and are, therefore, not responsible.

The provision of personal accident insurance is considered to be the
responsibility of the parents. Parents who are interested in this form of
insurance can contact their local broker but they may be interested to know that the National Confederation of Parent-Teacher Associations has arranged a suitable policy."

OP - If you are only worried about your child's welfare then surly you would have been complaining to get repairs done - as has now happened.

Don't know why you quoted my post.

I was responding to a poster that said the school might make her child leave if she were to sue.

I have no idea if the school were negligent or not, a solicitor would ascertain this and advise accordingly, but a claim can be made at a later date.

I am no lover of the compensation culture myself, but if a child is injured at school then I do think the school has to take some responsibility for this if the accident could have been prevented.

Regarding your quote, we are not talking about a child just having an accident here. My own children have had accidents at school that were simply just that, even though one did end up in hospital it was not the fault of the school in anyway. We are talking about a step that was dangerous and possibly should have been out of bounds to the children if it was known about.

thegirlintheattic

meritaten wrote: »

exactly HOW is jellytots supposed to identify potential H&S risks at her daughters' school? The Health and Safety assessments are the job of the HeadTeacher and staff are they not? I am sure a parent on becoming AWARE of any risk would notify the staff.

I was not talking about BEFORE the accident. I was pointing out that if the aim is to get things done, not to get compensation then surly the school repairing the step is what the OP now wants and it is happening.

thegirlintheattic

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

Don't know why you quoted my post.

I was responding to a poster that said the school might make her child leave if she were to sue.

I have no idea if the school were negligent or not, a solicitor would ascertain this and advise accordingly, but a claim can be made at a later date.

I am no lover of the compensation culture myself, but if a child is injured at school then I do think the school has to take some responsibility for this if the accident could have been prevented.

You said the school had insurance to cover this. There insurance will only pay if there was negligence, there is no way any of us can prove negligence on here.

I agree if there is evidence of negligence then the OP is within her rights to get compensation.

gravitytolls

I would accept that accidents happen.