Mum's anger over son's playground injury

Nicole Norman claims P4 pupil Aaron Brownlie strained a ligament in his ankle after falling down a hole on the grass during playtime.

However, it is alleged the seven-year-old was left to suffer through class for the rest of the day after his cries of anguish were ignored.

This allegation has been denied strenuously by North Lanarkshire Council.

Ms Norman said: “I knew nothing about the incident until I picked him up as the school hadn’t bothered to inform me he had fallen.

“Their idea of first aid apparently was to just put a moist paper towel on his ankle to act as a cold compress and send him back to class.

“He told the teacher a number of times he was sore, but was just told that he was okay.

“However, I know Aaron has a really high pain threshold – he’s split his head open and not batted an eyelid – so if he said he was sore then he must have been in agony.

“When he told me what had happened I made an appointment with the doctor who told me to take him to Wishaw A&E where, thankfully, they said nothing was broken, but he was diagnosed with a strained ligament.

“Surely allowing a child to suffer is nothing short of negligence, his cousin who was also in the room at the time confirmed Aaron’s version of events and I am so angry I don’t want either Aaron or his brother Kaiden to attend the school.

“This isn’t the first problem we’ve had, although it hasn’t been officially diagnosed yet we are sure Aaron is on the autistic spectrum and a plan was supposed to be put in place in March, but we are still waiting.

“I did try to make a formal complaint, but was told by the Education Department I had to follow the correct procedure, which is ironic when my complaint is about the school not following proper procedure.

“I had made up my mind that I just wouldn’t take the boys to school on Monday, but I was then told that legally I had to so I feel like I am caught in a catch-22 situation.”

The council denied Ms Norman’s version of events and are planning to meet with her to discuss the matter.

Gerry McCormick, acting head of Education Services (Standards and Inclusion), said: “We can confirm that members of staff assisted the pupil after he fell on the grass during a break and they took all appropriate steps to support the pupil for the remainder of the day.

“The pupil was accompanied by a member of staff for the rest of the school day and the pupil worked normally throughout his lessons.

“We completely refute the allegation that staff took no interest in the pupil’s welfare and I believe staff acted in an appropriate and professional manner during this incident.

“We have scheduled a meeting with the parent to discuss the matter further.”