A mother has failed in her bid to sue education chiefs over an accident which left her son scarred.

Jane Crossland's son Daniel required plastic surgery for the injury he sustained during a fundraising pyjama day at his old primary school, Parish Church School, in Brougham Street, Skipton, in January, 2005.

But a judge sitting at Skipton County Court ruled that education bosses, North Yorkshire County Council, had not been negligent and that its supervision requirements on the day were not inadequate.

The court heard that Daniel, who was 11 at the time, was sitting having lunch in his classroom when another pupil threw a teddy bear up in the air.

The soft toy struck a strip light, which shattered and a shard of glass fell down, cutting Daniel on his left cheek.

The pupil had to be rushed to hospital by ambulance and had to undergo surgery for the 4cm wound.

Mrs Crossland decided to take action against the local education authority because the accident had occurred while the children were unwatched - the lunchtime supervisor was in another classroom - and the light did not have protective casing.

After the hearing at Skipton County Court, Mrs Crossland told the Herald: "I am very shocked. I can't believe it. You send your child to school and expect them to be safe."

She said that the judge had said it was unlikely that the accident would have happened if there had been an adult in the room but said it was not unacceptable that the 11-year-olds had been left alone for five minutes.

Since the accident, the lunchtime supervision requirements for the school have been altered and the lights have been upgraded.

Mrs Crossland said the incident and the court case had caused an upheaval for the family.

She said her son's scar had not faded much over the two years and it bothered him.

Daniel is now 14 and goes to Aireville School.

Mrs Crossland said: "It's a talking point when he meets new people.

"He's got to go through adolescence and things like job interviews. If it had been somewhere else, like on his arm, he would be able to cover it up, but it's noticeable."

She said the legal proceedings had not been about gaining compensation.

She added: "I wanted somebody to accept responsibility."

The Crosslands' solicitor Andrew Armstrong said he felt many parents would be surprised to learn that their child could be sitting in a classroom, be injured by something thrown by an unsupervised child and there was no legal redress.

"Not every accident is compensatable but, with this case, given the circumstances, we felt that it was a preventable accident," he said.

Mr Armstrong said he was very disappointed the case had been lost, adding: "We always knew it was going to be a hard fight but we felt we had a reasonable prospect."

But he said that the judge had dismissed all their arguments and had disagreed that the incident was forseeable as it was a special day at school and children were in particularly boisterous spirits.

Following the court case North Yorkshire County Council said that it did not wish to make a comment.