Negligent supervision

Palmer v Cornwall County Council [2009] EWCA Civ 456 21 May; SJ 2 June p30

The claimant was a 14-year-old schoolboy in year 9 at school. During his lunch break he was on the school field when he was hit by a rock thrown by one of his peer group. It was common ground between the witnesses, who were the claimant’s fellow pupils, that they knew that stone throwing was prohibited and that they would not have thrown stones if a supervisor had been nearby. There had been approximately 300 children on the field that day and the judge had found that although there was only one dinner lady on duty who had directed her attention to the pupils in years 7 and 8 with only an occasional glance of pupils in the years 9 and 10, there had been adequate supervision.