An eight-year-old braved 20 minutes of terror when he was impaled through the forehead on the spindle of a radiator valve in an accident at school. Paul Beardsmore was comforted by his mother and staff while firemen cut through the hot metal.

He was rushed to hospital with an inch of the spindle still embedded in his brain. Surgeons removed it in a two-hour operation and Paul is now recovering at the Midland Centre for Neurosurgery in Smethwick, although the next 48 hours will be critical.

He was fully conscious while he was being released and firemen who did the job have praised his bravery. His ordeal began during a gym lesson at the Beacon Junior School in Davis Road, New Invention, yesterday afternoon, said his mother Susan aged 39. "He was racing with another boy and they both slipped. Paul fell onto the radiator valve, which had the top missing." She said at their home in Moore Road, New Invention. "He put his hands out to save himself and the spindle went right through his skull and into his brain about an inch. It was also touching the main artery in the forehead and if it had been broken he would have died. The school called me over at once and we spoke to him while he lay there. The radiator was hot and the firemen got him off as quickly as they could. I'm not blaming the school or the teachers, but I would have thought the authorities would check on things like this, particularly in the gym.

His brain is severely bruised and it will be 48 hours before they know if there has been permanent damage, but he is lucky to be alive." Paul's father, Roy is an ambulance man himself and did not know his colleagues at Walsall had taken his son to hospital until he returned to the station. Station Officer Steve Farnsworth, who led the team of Willenhall firemen who cut Paul free said he had been incredibly brave.

Surgeons were due to operate today on a boy who was blinded in the left eye during a school rough-and-tumble.

But they have been unable to save the sight of the eye, which 13-year-old Andrew Mitchell injured when he fell awkwardly on to a radiator valve. The valve's cap was missing, leaving the 2-inch metal spindle protruding. Andrew was playing with his pals in a corridor at Oakbank Grammar School, Keighley, West Yorks. when he fell. Staff rushed to his aid.

"The spindle drove straight into Andrew's eye," said one teacher. "He was in terrible pain and we did out best to comfort him. It was an appalling accident." Andrew was rushed to hospital where surgeons tried in vain to save the badly injured eye. John Roberts, headmaster of the school which is due to opt out of local authority control later this week, said: "Staff have been told to watch out for missing valve caps, but pupils often remove them.

National Union of teachers Health and Safety officer Frederick Binns said schools had been warned about the danger of not replacing valve caps on the older type of radiators." Andrew's parents, of Bronte Drive, Oakworth, were too upset to comment on the tragedy.

In public buildings, the safety officer is responsible for the protection of everyone.