Can I sue if my child is injured at school?

By Carol Fish Director and Head of Serious Injury Department

When a child is injured at school can the school be held liable and as a result compensation claimed? In the recent case of Pook v Rossall School 2018 EWHC 522 (QB) this very point was raised.

This case involved a pupil who having been encouraged to run to her sports lesson, slipped on some mud and fell injuring her elbow. Was the school in breach of duty? The High Court stated that schools owe an “enhanced duty” to pupils in their care who are vulnerable because they are children and young.

“The duty goes beyond that of a parent at home … there are enhanced duties arising from the fact that the ratio of carer to vulnerable person will be greater (a teacher might have responsibility for a class of 30 pupils) and there are duties arising from the different environment of the school …., particularly, the children are interacting with other children who might act unpredictably and sometimes dangerously”.

The High Court held however that this does not extend to reducing the risk to the lowest level reasonably practicable. Quoting from the case:

“The court should be slow to condemn a teacher as negligent and to substitute its own judgement for that of the teacher, where the teacher can be expected to have knowledge of the school, the environment, the particular children in her charge and her experience.”

The claim failed. It was held that children running is not inherently dangerous if they were careful – and stopping excitable pupils from running to a sports session was likely to be extremely difficult.

It is important to understand that where a child is injured at school there is not an automatic right to compensation. Any claimant will have to prove that there was negligence or a breach of duty on the part of the school to succeed in a claim.