Pupil splattered by custard wins £6,000 damages

One student received £15,000 after being dropped by classmates during an exercise which formed part of a lesson.

Another youngster in the same Yorkshire town received a £11,492 payment after a shelf fell from the wall and cut his head.

The compensation claims were made by pupils at schools in Rotherham, with figures released under the Freedom of Information Act.

In the custard claim the victim was said to be injured after a lunchtime spill which happened when two pupils accidentally bumped into each other.

A report said : “While in the dinner hall, the claimant was bumped into by another child, whose custard had spilt from the tray onto the claimant’s left hand, sustaining injury.”

The fall that earned another youngster £15,000 came when he was dropped during a ‘trust’ exercise where others were supposed to catch him. The report said: “The circumstances of the accident were that the claimant was participating in a ‘trust’ activity that was initiated by his teacher.

“The activity involved the claimant lying on the floor when his classmates would lift him off the floor and over a cane held at the students’ head height by the teacher.

“While in the air the claimant was dropped by his classmates and he fell to the floor, sustaining injuries.”

When a shelf fell from a school wall one boy was left with a cut head and won a £11,492 payout after suing the education authority and another who fell over a protruding playground pole leading to a successful £9,550 claim.

A boy who fell and cut his knee in a PE lesson was awarded more than £2,500 and a girl who fell down two concrete steps while on a tricycle got £6,250.

A girl whose eyelid was sliced open during a game of frisbee was paid £879 and another who broke her wrist while trampolining won £1,092. A girl who fell after she caught her foot in a hole worn into anti slip felting was awarded £1,003 and £450 was paid out for lost property including jewellery and mobile phones.

Overall more than £50,000 was paid to settle claims over five years.

Nick Smeaton, of the Campaign for Real Education said: “It’s a sad fact of life and schools have an impossible job. Accidents do happen. If someone has a serious accident due to negligence then it is quite right that a claim can be made. But in other cases it needs to be stopped before things go too far.”

A Rotherham Council spokesman said: “We take health and safety very seriously and take every precaution in ensuring that the children in Rotherham’s education system are as safe as possible. In terms of compensation, each case is taken on its own merits.

“In terms of the payments themselves, they don’t effect the education budget as they are covered by our insurance.”