LOSS of sight, facial injuries and a chopped-off finger are behind just three of more than £500,000 in compensation claims paid out from school accidents.Have you - or one of your children - ever had an accident at school? Tell us what happened using the form at the bottom of the page
In the last five years the total claimed by teachers, staff and students is £565,806.34.
Both the county and the city councils have paid for trips, defective equipment and inadequate training.
Personal injury lawyer Beth Fisher, from Rothera Dowson Solicitors, has worked on cases including a trip that caused a broken ankle, a claim for facial injuries as a result of a failure to supervise children and an injury to a child's eye causing loss of sight as a result of a PE activity.
She said: "There are a lot of slips and trips due to pavements not being gritted properly in the winter.
"Other claims are when schools fail to enforce a system of maintenance and things break and people get injured.
"Claims to do with failure in training usually involve teachers not being shown how to lift things correctly or not being provided with the right equipment to move heavy loads."
Associate Rebecca Emeleus-Moreton, of Sharp Young & Pearce, added: "I have been taking these cases for the last 17 years. These sort of enquires have always been around and I don't think there has been an increase or a decrease.
"The steady flow of cases usually involve head injuries after accidents in playgrounds.
"Children tripping over equipment that has been left plugged in is another cause of injury.
"Generally speaking most of the cases I have seen have been avoidable and some schools do need to put in better procedures."
Since April 1, 2008, there have been 73 separate claims.
Notts County Council has paid out £310,221 and the city council £255,567.34.
One incident saw a six-year-old girl receive compensation from the county council after part of her finger was severed in a fire door.
The tip of Kaitlin Gregson's left ring finger was chopped off when the door at Hetts Lane Primary in Warsop slammed shut in the wind.
The finger was so badly damaged that surgeons were unable to sew the tip back.
Anne Hunt, the county council's risk and insurance manager, added: "All claims are thoroughly investigated and it is only when we consider the council is liable that an offer of compensation is made."
The city council successfully defended 63 claims in the same period. A spokesman said: "Nottingham City Council takes its health and safety responsibilities very seriously and has a proactive operational risk management programme to identify and mitigate risk.
"The success of this is reflected in the safe working practices adopted by all city schools and the reason why there are only a small proportion of successful claims."
