As much as Bella wanted to take over, she felt it was best if Nina led the conversation. As his teacher, he’d probably want her, and Nina bent down in front of him. ‘What happened, Freddie? Let me have a look at you. Did you bang your head?’ He nodded and pressed his small hand into the back of his head. ‘Do you mind if I feel for a lump? I’ll be very gentle.’ Freddie sniffed as two fat tears slipped from his eyelashes. Nina felt the back of Freddie’s head. ‘There’s a little bit of a lump, but I think you’ll be okay.’

A lump was always a good thing. It was when there was no lump they worried more because it could mean the swelling had turned inwards. On those occasions, they’d complete an accident report and call the parent straight away in case they wanted to take them to a doctor. Bella would inevitably spend all night worrying about them. You’d think after ten years as a teacher she’d have got used to it by now.

‘Can you tell me what happened, Freddie?’ Nina asked again.

Hannah opened her mouth to speak but Bella stopped her. It was important they found out from Freddie first. ‘Just hang on a second, Hannah. You can tell us what you saw in a second, okay? We need to hear from Freddie first.’

Hannah nodded and Freddie wiped at his eyes before speaking.

‘I was playing tag with Hannah and Leonie and Desmond and Oliver, and I’d tagged Desmond and was running away when Amias ran towards me and pushed me over.’

Bella caught a slight tightening around Nina’s eyes. ‘Was he playing tag too?’ Freddie shook his head. ‘Maybe he was playing a chasing game with Umar and Richard and he didn’t see you. You know how they like to race about.’

‘No, he wasn’t, miss. They were stood by the climbing frame watching us and then when he saw I was on my own he ran towards me and pushed me over.’

‘I saw it, miss,’ said Hannah, unable to contain herself any longer. ‘Amias is always picking on Freddie.’

‘Is he?’ Bella asked. She’d noticed a tendency to tease coming from Amias recently, but she hadn’t considered it as being directed at Freddie. It was normally children in her own class that were affected. She’d have to keep a close eye on the situation. Hannah and Leonie were nodding so much their heads appeared detached from their bodies, so they clearly agreed. ‘Do you think he is, Freddie?’

Freddie shrugged which did nothing to reassure Bella because shrugging could mean any number of things from a child. It seemed to cover everything from ‘I don’t know’, ‘I don’t want to’, and ‘I don’t care’, to ‘I think so’, and anything else in between.