Legal advice: Student injuries at school

Insurance claims stemming from accidents on the school playground are plagued by tension between the expectation that all children will be kept safe at school and the fact that a school cannot ever be an entirely risk free environment.

By its very nature, education involves some risk-taking, and children will make errors in judgement. However, it is up to each school to ensure that they prevent accidents from happening wherever possible. 

Recent cases can be used to reach conclusions on how a school can lower preventable accidents and best protect itself and students.

In Palmer v Cornwall County Council (2009), the Court of Appeal was asked to review the case of a boy who was hit in the eye by a rock thrown at a seagull by another pupil. The issue in this case was the level of playground supervision, or the lack thereof. In this case it was revealed that one lunchtime supervisor had responsibility for well over 150 year 7 and 8 pupils, which was found by the Court of Appeal to be “quite inappropriate”. Further, this situation meant that there was only one supervisor able to glance occasionally at years 9 and 10, which was “clearly negligent”.