Concerns raised as two Denbighshire schools have TEN TIMES more accidents than county average

One-in-four pupils at Ysgol Pendref in Denbigh have had some form of accident, with pupils at Ysgol Gwyddelwern the most likely in the county, with ten accidents recorded in the 2016/17 financial year for just 34 pupils.

By comparison, the average rate of accidents is less than one each year for every 40 school children across both primary and secondary pupils.

The information comes from the council’s corporate health and safety annual improvement report, which comes before the council’s corporate governance committee today.

According to the report, there were 36 accidents logged at Ysgol Pendref in 2016/17, with 144 pupils reported as being in attendance according to the latest schools information pack.

Amongst high schools, pupils at Prestatyn High were most likely to have an accident, at a rate of 3.6 per cent, with pupils at Dinas Bran the least likely at 0.37 per cent.

Of the 385 incidents logged across all schools, five were classed as major injuries, 337 minor, 41 as non-injury and two as asset damage.

However, there are concerns that many schools aren’t logging data as often as others, with 16 schools reporting no accidents whatsoever within the time period.

County councillor for Denbigh Upper and Henllan, which covers Ysgol Pendref, Geraint Lloyd-Williams said: “I am on the health and safety committee and (I) will be asking for these figures to be brought forward for discussion next week to see if there are underlying causes.

“It could possibly be the case some schools aren’t reporting. The ratio is very high for Ysgol Pendref and it would be useful to see which of the two sites the school is spread over that more of these are occurring at.

“It’s been seen before, however, that some of the things aren’t reported.

“The chair at Pendref will report everything, but this can be to your detriment

“Some schools have much higher pupil numbers as well as a much lower number of incidents.”