Health & Safety gone mad

I work in a hospital so am quite concious regarding health & safety.

But can you believe it my 7 year old daughter has broken her ankle & got a cast on up to her knee. Its a straight forward break & should take 3 - 4 weeks to heal.

The hospital dr says she's ok for school even after i mentioned we have a large hill to walk up.

She has what is known as a walking pot on a walks slower than normal with a slight limp.

Guess what her school won't allow her to attend for the duration of the time that she has the cast on for health & safety reasons. If there was a fire she wouldn't get out & the best one is she might stumble on another child causing them an injury. Don't kids do that on a daily basis?

They will send work home for her daily & she will still get her mark!

But i am a working mum, can't get sick pay as i'm not sick, so i get no pay but still have all the usual things to pay.

Don't get me wrong I don't consider school to be a glorified babysitter but doesn't the government insist once a child starts school, these single mums should go to work, how can they when there are rules like this about?

I have asked if i can get some kind of help from social services, tax credits & educational welfare but apparently not.

I can't help thinking I should go on benefits & get everything entitled to but because I have always worked for a living its tough.

So because of health & safety gone mad I can't afford to pay my rent which means the right to buy i have just put in for is up in smoke.

Anyone else had simialr problems, advice greatly accepted.

How ridiculous. Ask the hospital to provide her with a wheelchair. The school cannot refuse to allow children who use a wheelchair in as it would be against the disability discrimination act. Albeit she may only have a temporary 'disability', but the same rules should apply. The world is going H&S mad, when I was at school there were people with casts/crutches/wheelchairs all the time.

Sorry Twiglet the DDA doesn't apply here (section 1, disability is defined as something that "has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on [the person's] ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities", but it certainly sounds like the school is being ridiculous. dynamicdebz, phone up the council and speak to someone in the education department, hopefully they can sort the school out and let your daughter attend. If not, phone the Star - they love this sort of stuff.

Make sure you speak to the right person.

I work in teaching. The law is in the process of changing in this manner this month and I know has very serious implications but I don't understand it all yet. Just know we are getting some more training regarding it on Monday.

Sorry training was nothing to do with this.

Don't get me wrong I don't consider school to be a glorified babysitter but doesn't the government insist once a child starts school, these single mums should go to work, how can they when there are rules like this about?

How about contacting your local MP about this matter

How about contacting your local MP about this matter

Would possibly be too late by the time anything was done

This just beggers belief! Had you turned round and told the school that you considered your child to be "unfit" for school because of this injury.......there would no doubt have been a huge uproar! Maybe it's because I am getting old, but so many things that happen these days just don't seem to make sense to me! If I catch the common cold I just carry on......equipped with a box of tissue's.......but then I am told NOT to come to work! WHY for goodness sakes? I might feel a bit rubbishy but I can still do my job. It is only a cold after all. BUT......if I was to ring in and say I am not coming in because I have a cold I would be in trouble and accused of having time off for a minor thing!

I think we live in a "no win" world just now. We have become so politically correct that we are in danger of dis-appearing up our own back ends! The clear black lines have become fuzzy grey ones and nobody is prepared to stand up and be counted any longer. We live in a "nanny state" which is dictated to us by people that don't live on the same planet as the majority of us.

Surely for goodness sakes the school is......or should be equipped to make adjustments to your childs needs? If they are unable to teach a pupil with a broken bone then in my opinion they are unfit to teach! Your child has a temporary problem which could.....and SHOULD be dealt with in the proper manner. For instance, if she needed a bit more time to move from one area to another then allowances CAN be made. It isn't as if she is totally dependant on others in order for her to pursue her normal school day. As for health and safety......well that is just a pathetic excuse! If there was a fire then the school is "charged" with the responsability of getting everybody out! It isn't up to the pupils to get themselves out is it!! Procedures should be in place to deal with such an event.......and given that they would be aware of your daughter's temporary disability then they should have put in place the correct procedures. In my mind excluding her is not an option!!! They have been made aware of her condition and they should do everything in their power to make sure that she can continue with her education.

I haven't looked at the legal stuff here but I think it smacks of discrimination! I would get in touch with the education department and quote words like discrimination.......exclusion.........depriving my child of an education etc etc. It just isn't good enough and it is also causing you huge problems. It isn't fair at all.

Don't give up Debz......make your voice heard. Tell the education people what you have told us. I just shudder to think that all your plans and hopes for your future could go down the pan because of something like this. It is WRONG! Good luck girl and please let us know how you go on.

Big hugs from me. xx

Would possibly be too late by the time anything was done

Or maybe it wouldn't.

I made an enquiry by email to my MP about something recently (Megg Munn). The following afternoon she had phoned the relative authorities and sorted the situation out.

You can just imagine the situation if you wanted to take your child out of school for a holiday for instance and the barrage of questions you would face for it.

You may not want the publicity but I would seriously consider getting in touch with the press or television on this matter. The school or Education Department deserve to be seriously embarrassed with this one and it may pave the way for future instances. They have a duty to educate your child, just as you have a duty to send the child to school and allow it to be educated.

Best of luck:thumbsup:

Sounds to me as if the school don't trust their own evacuation procedure.

Surely the children are taught to walk under supervision to the nearest exit. There shold be no question of tramplling another pupil or of a child with a walking pot being unable to keep up with the rest of the class

I wouldn't have thought that after a week of wearing it a walking pot would interfere with progress at normal walking pace.

she could be stuck under somebodys arm and carried out??

errrrrrrm

i think its just an excuse...............and one of the worst ive ever heard

Phone the press you know you want to, they will probably write an article for you too