A seven-year-old boy required brain surgery after allegedly being punched in the head by another student in the playground at a school in Melbourne’s southeast last month.
Jayden Pham, a Year 1 student at St John Vianney’s Primary School in Mulgrave, was placed in an induced coma following the alleged October 17 attack, which left the young boy with serious injuries including a brain haemorrhage and broken teeth, according to his parents.
Paul and Julie Pham have slammed the school, saying while they were contacted about the initial fight, they believe there should have been more staff supervision on school grounds.
“He started hitting me in the head and that hurt quite a lot,” Jayden told Nine News on Wednesday.
“When the bell rang, I stood up and he punched me in the chin and my tooth fell out. It hurt a bit. My friend told the teacher when the bell rang.”
Four days later, Jayden began suffering a painful headache.
“He [was in] really bad pain, crying the whole night and vomiting,” Ms Pham told Nine News.
He was rushed to Monash Medical Centre where he underwent emergency surgery for bleeding on the brain. Jayden was still recovering in hospital as of Thursday.
His parents allege the school breached its duty of care.
“The teacher has a duty of protection because we trust the school to protect our children,” Mr Pham said.
Jennifer Lay from personal injury law firm Arnold Thomas and Becker, representing the family, alleged the school failed to provide “appropriate and adequate supervision” for the students.
“We are concerned about how the school has handled this situation as it seems the incident occurred while there were no teachers present,” she told the Herald Sun.
“We also allege that the school was aware of the problematic behaviours of the child that inflicted the punches and that there should have been greater supervision of students.”
Ms Lay added that Jayden’s injuries were “life-changing and are likely to impact him long term”.
St John Vianney’s Primary School Principal Andrew Mullaly in a statement to media that the safety of students was the school’s number one priority.
“We take our responsibilities extremely seriously,” he said.
“In accordance with our clear policies and procedures, no form of bullying or violence is ever acceptable.
“One of our student’s health has unfortunately deteriorated significantly in the days following an incident between two Year 1 students in the playground. Our thoughts and prayers are with this student and family.
“The incident was investigated and found that the student had been struck once by another student as a result of a dispute in relation to a soccer match.
“Appropriate levels of supervision were in place in the playground when the incident occurred.
“Following the incident, the student was treated and assessed by a first-aid qualified staff member. Parents of both students were advised of the incident.
“The student returned to class, and to school in subsequent days, with no obvious signs of the serious and concerning medical issues which have since arisen.
“We will continue to offer full support to the family.”