Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Bay school injury claims top 3000

By Lydia Anderson
Bay of Plenty Times·
2 Feb, 2014 09:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Western Bay students made 3042 ACC claims for injuries at school in the last calendar year.

Western Bay students made 3042 ACC claims for injuries at school in the last calendar year.

Strains and sprains are the most common injuries among Western Bay school students, new figures reveal, with school injuries on the rise nationwide.

Figures released by ACC under the Official Information Act show Western Bay students made 3042 claims for injuries at school in the last calendar year, up from 2901 in 2012.

Fractures, lacerations or stings, and soft tissue injuries such as sprains were the top three injury categories, with local injury claim costs tallying almost $719,000.

A national teachers' union warns that unsafe physical environments are putting students at risk of further injuries at school.

Nationally, there were more than 77,453 student injuries in the past year, an increase on 71,753 in 2012, costing taxpayers almost $16.5 million in claim costs.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

More boys were injured than girls, with 46,055 compared with 31,398.

An ACC spokeswoman said the figures were not specific to school hours, school terms or to school pupils, and were likely to include people using school grounds for weekend sport or other school facilities for unrelated activities.

Just-released Education Ministry figures show 755,204 students from Year 1 to 13 are heading back to school across the country, with 51,468 of those in the Bay of Plenty region.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Principal of Tauranga's Brookfield School, Robert Hyndman, said he was surprised injury numbers had gone up.

Students at his school got the "normal cuts and bumps and bruises" when playing.

Boys were probably more likely to injure themselves because of the "rough and tumble" games they played, such as rugby.

Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) president Angela Roberts said the national injury figures created more questions than answers.

"Schools are struggling to provide a physically safe environment. Large classes, [and] leaky, mouldy or poorly maintained buildings are placing increasing pressure on school resources and could certainly lead to more injuries.

"Whether or not these injuries are accident or behaviour-related is something figures like these don't reveal so there are a lot of interesting questions to be asked."

Ministry of Education head of education infrastructure services Kim Shannon refuted Ms Roberts' comments and said the Ministry was unaware of any child having been injured in relation to weather tightness issues in New Zealand schools.

"All New Zealand schools have safe, healthy environments.

"Of our stock of 29,000 school buildings, as at July 2013, there were approximately 1000 buildings we have identified as needing repair to address weather tightness issues. That is approximately 3 per cent of our total building stock."

In New Zealand, injuries are the major cause of hospitalisation and death for school-aged children, and ACC has specific programmes for high school students to learn about reducing accidents.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

According to the ACC figures, the single biggest cause of injury to pupils were strains and sprains, resulting in 46,074 claims at $8,137,175.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Teen's 900km ride for Māori wards ends with cheers at Parliament

14 Jul 12:34 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Plague of hoons' on motorbikes tearing up Tauranga parks

13 Jul 07:03 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

Making NZ top destination for international students

13 Jul 06:55 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Teen's 900km ride for Māori wards ends with cheers at Parliament

Teen's 900km ride for Māori wards ends with cheers at Parliament

14 Jul 12:34 AM

He delivered a support letter to Parliament, and was greeted by Chris Hipkins.

'Plague of hoons' on motorbikes tearing up Tauranga parks

'Plague of hoons' on motorbikes tearing up Tauranga parks

13 Jul 07:03 PM
Making NZ top destination for international students

Making NZ top destination for international students

13 Jul 06:55 PM
Premium
Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored

Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored

13 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP