Gate Pa School principal Richard Inder expected the greater range of activities available to students accounted for the increase in claims. "Our children are involved in a whole range of physical activities, including climbing trees, adventure playgrounds, rugby, league and a number of other sports" he said.
"There's far more available to them than there was 10 years ago and 20 years ago.
"Part of that is the use of a lot more equipment - that's probably another reason for the increase."
However, the portion of children injured was small, he said. "Over the years we might have had one broken arm on the adventure playground - not 101, one, possibly two - and we get a few sprained ankles.
"That's a very small, very minor portion of children who get injuries considering the amount of active play they're involved in."
Mr Inder said it was possible parents were reporting injuries to ACC more than they did in the past. "Parents want their children active and involved and we certainly encourage it."
As in any workplace, the odd accident by staff was inevitable, he said. Nationally, 361,450 ACC claims were made by students in the past five years. The claims cost ACC more than $100 million. The number of claims increased each year to 79,622 in 2014. The total cost of claims was higher in 2013, at $19,390,681.
New Zealand Principals' Federation president Denise Torrey was surprised the number of claims had increased.
"Are our kids being nice and active like we want them to be? Are we covering our kids in too much cotton wool or is it just that we're getting better at reporting these things?"
She did not think school grounds had become more dangerous.NZME.
