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Over £80,000 has been paid out in compensation by Norfolk County Council to children who have hurt themselves at school in accidents over the last five years. The payments include £10,000 for falling from a climbing frame, and £6,500 for trapping a finger in a door.

Schools are becoming increasingly worried about such claims for compensation. Schools watchdog Ofsted said last year, "Too many schools do not take children on outdoor activities because they fear they would be sued if there was an accident."

Accident claims declined during 2003-04, and there was little evidence to support the idea that compensation claims were rising in the UK.

Norfolk County Council paid out £85,840 in 2004/5 to people injured by tripping over broken or uneven pavements and overgrown tree roots.

A spokesman for Norfolk County Council, Dan Pritchard, said: "Fortunately accidents are incredibly rare, but schools are always striving to improve their health and safety and do have a very good record in Norfolk."

Schools are obliged to carry out risk assessments for every activity. The head teacher at Aylsham High School, Paul Mitchell, said: "If we want to take the pupils on an outdoor activity we have to get county council approval for it. We have even put special fixings on our sports hall doors to stop pupils from trapping their fingers. But this is not about compensation claims. It is about making sure that children are not being injured, which is very important. Certainly in the last couple of years the risk assessment process has become very rigorous, but we've always done it to some extent."

Rosemary Escott, of Norwich law firm Hatch Brenner, and a member of the Law Society's Personal Injury Panel believes that the problems at schools are most likely to come down to a lack of supervision. She said: "My daughter is at a local school and they do seem to be clued up and responsible in what they do, especially if the amount of paperwork I fill out is anything to go by. It's well known that accidents do happen, but you can't claim for a genuine accident, there has to be some negligence.

Escott added that the compensation paid to schoolchildren was likely to be lower than other pay-outs, and less headline grabbing, as there was no loss of earnings to be considered in final settlements.

A total of 95 claims have been made against schools in the last five years, of which 12 were successful.