Do you believe that this headmaster was responsible for the death of a child in a playground accident?

While pretending to be batman a three year old jumped off some steps (there were apparently four) and fatally injured himself.



The mother blames the school for his death. Initially the headmaster was convicted for negligence.

He has appealed and the appeal was successful.





A tragic death - is the headmaster responsible?







http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-…Do you believe that this headmaster was responsible for the death of a child in a playground accident?
In no way was he responsible . What a dreadful and frightening thing it must have been for him and his family .



My kid's headmaster is a bit of a rare beast he is actively encouraging the kids to play a bit more like we used to . He gave them free reign of 'the bushes' and a load of old school furniture to make dens. He got a load of logs from a chopped down tree and just left them in a big heap for the kids to do with whatever they want .



Now the kids ARE coming home with all kinds of cuts and bruises there's even been a broken arm...but the kids LOVE him for it . I applaud him , what happened to that child is very sad but why oh why does it always have to be someones fault?
He's nowhere near responsible.



There are steps everywhere and probably some in the child's home, would the parents be convicted if he jumped down a couple of steps at home and the same happened?! If he jumped down a couple of steps in the shop would the manager be convited?!



Also the daily mail is a terrible paper, they call four steps a flight of stairs? I don't think so.



It's another example of this horrible culture of wrapping everything up in cotton wool and everything is always someone elses fault. Did the headmaster install the steps, amke the child play batman and then tell him to jump down the steps? I don't think so.Do you believe that this headmaster was responsible for the death of a child in a playground accident?
I think 1 person watching over 59 children in a playground is way too few.It was a tragic accident that may have been avoided if two or three more folk were watching the kids.Having said that even if there had been more in attendance this might still have happened so taking that in to consideration I can't see how you can convict.If he's guilty of anything it's of not lessening the possibility.Bummer of a case to have to judge though.Poor wee fellah.
I'm not quite sure why a 3 year old was at school anyway, isn't he a bit young?



As to blaming the headmaster, you might just as well blame the parents. Surely they would have toured the school before their child started there and if they did not consider the stairs to be dangerous for their child then why would the headmaster. It seems to me that this is a straightforward accident.



My concern is why does everyone feel the need to profit from accidents nowadays? I can understand someone who has been disabled suing after something like this where the money would improve their quality of life and provide medical equipment and aids. And if you feel someone needs to be punished for their neglect then fine them and give the money to charity. But to profit from a child's death? It's just so sad.Do you believe that this headmaster was responsible for the death of a child in a playground accident?
It is so very sad. When we leave our children at school, we put so much faith in the system. We trust their Health And Safety policy is up to scratch, and that all risks are minimised.

Incidents like this are very rare, however they do happen, obviously not many as tragic as this.

Ultimately I think the Headmaster was not negligent in not foreseeing the risk the steps posed.

I think it was a fluke he banged his head like that.

I bet hundreds of kids have jumped from that exact set of steps, and had fun.

I am glad they are now fenced off, the Porters have done the right thing.

They must feel terrible ~ I am glad he can appeal.
No I don't think so, from the sounds of it it was nothing more than a tragic accident. I have a four year-old son and he is always pretending to be Spiderman, jumping around and climbing. It is natural for kids of that age. Sadly in this case the boy tragically injured himself badly. I feel for his mother, but I don't think the headmaster is to blame.
Oh good grief, children will be children and as sad and unlucky as this little boy was there are thousands of children climbing trees and getting into scrapes on a daily basis, we need to let kids be kids even if that means hurting their knee or scraping their head occasionally, accidents will happen but to force blame on the Head teacher is silly he didn't push the child down the steps, I think the parents are looking for a way to vent their anger and sadness.
Well no i don't think the headmaster was responsible.



While i sympathise greatly with the mother,as a mother that must be extremely hard to cope with,i also sympathise with the headmaster and his family.



They must be destroyed by this as well.



I hope both families can rebuild their lives in time.



Terrible tragedy.just terrible.
This Headteacher is a very hard working and decent individual and did not deserve being found guilty and having to pay the huge fine imposed on him. I am glad his appeal was upheld. Obviously I am sorry that the small boy was injured when he jumped and fell but this accident did not cause his death.
No way was the Headmaster responsible, nor should this case have ever been brought before th courts. I mean, just look at the mother: She has "Claims Direct" written all over her face. She should have taught her son that he could not "fly like Batman" and done her job as a mother properly. Maybe then, little Kian would be alive today.
I don't think he was responsible, but I can understand why the mother wants to hold someone responsible for the death of her child. It would be so much easier to be angry with someone than to have accept that she lost her child in a tragic accident.
An unfortunate accident, nothing more. I was sadden to see two years ago that a school cut down all the mature trees due to a over zealous health and safety assessment.



The things I got up to as a kid would be virtually impossible now due to the fear of schools being sued. Sad times
no that was just a freak and tragic accident ,the mother is upset and looking for someone to blame. all young boys like to play spiderman batman etc and leap about, its just the way you fall that effects the outcome just tragic and very unlucky.
No.



Tragic accidents occur and it is inevitable that the family involved will want to hold someone accountable.



Fortunately the law has been used to recognise that this was a tragic accident and the headmaster has been exonerated.
no way, that kid could have jumped the last 4 stairs at home and died, we've all done it, i've fell out of trees, my sister fell out of a moving car- both accidents, no-one to blame, just a tragedy, we can't continue to wrap our kids in cotton wool.
Hi Jomamo



Hard to know what the Headmaster could have done to prevent this tragedy. He should not blame himself for the death



In this case, there is noone to blame. It is just a terrible accident
Sadly enough, accidents happen. I feel bad for the poor guy that he has to go through this over four steps. To be honest, there are bigger problems out there, and the courts should be focusing on those instead.
People always look to blame somebody because it's now the way of the world that accidents no longer happen. Any lawyer will tell you that there is a case to be made against somebody when these things happen.
No, of course he isn't and I agree with "You can't wrap children in cotton wool. You have to allow them to experience risk."
dont think much could be done about it, the kids cant be watched every second of the day. Kids will mess about and its just unfortunate this happened.
No, hes not - but no doubt those crappy papers will make every school in Britian replace steps with ramps or something now
A tragic accident. No one was to blame.How sad.
Of course not.Can't stop a child's imagination even if they get hurt /dead.
Nope just one of them things
No
no
he's the demon headmaster. he hypnotised the jury with his eyes and they followed his instructions