A mum has told how she found her three-year-old son 'wet through' and alone in the rain after he walked out of nursery.
Ellen Imeson spotted a small figure standing next to a fence as she arrived at the nursery in Bradford. She was left 'panicked' when she soon recognised it was her toddler who was without a supervisor or adult.
The mum-of-two said: "I thought 'is it him?' I was confused and panicking. I found him near a gate, within the grounds. He was just looking through the fence..
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Ellen told YorkshireLive: "He should not have been able to get out of those two doors. He was wet through and didn't have a coat on. He had escaped and had gone out through two doors."
She added: "I am so lucky I saw him when I did. I was fuming as I walked back around the school to the nursery. They (staff) even shouted his name for me to collect so they were clueless he had left.
"If I had walked past my boy that day it would have been a different ending. It's a school next to a motorway."
After collecting her son, the 29-year-old went inside the nursery and was 'very upset' by the whole incident at St Matthew's CE Primary School and Nursery. The school launched an investigation following the incident in May last year.
However, Ellen feels that the incident has been 'forgotten about' and is now deciding to speak out. The school letter acknowledges that Lenny was found by his mum in a different part of the school grounds in an area "which is out of visible line of sight from the white main nursery doors".
It adds: "The CCTV evidence of the Nursery entrance...shows that school protocol regarding dismissal to Parents was not fully adhered to on this occasion." The letter also stated that Lenny's disappearance from the school was 'unnoticed' by staff.
In fact, three minutes had passed from the time Lenny left the nursery to when he was picked up by his mum. "This constitutes a breach of school safety protocols linking to the safe dismissal of children," the letter added.
"We can conclude that on this occasion a breach has occurred with regards to (Lenny) and insufficient direct supervision. The young person left the nursery by himself and fortunately no harm came to him as he was met by his mother coming to collect him."
Due to the incident, Ellen had decided to pull Lenny out of nursey. "It has really affected me. Teachers need to fix safeguarding in Bradford. It is not acceptable."
Deborah Evans, headteacher at St Matthew's Primary, told YorkshireLive: "Although this happened over 12 months ago, before I joined the school, I know that the matter was taken very seriously. The safety of our pupils is always our number one priority.
"I would like to reassure all parents that this was an isolated incident that took place over a year ago. The matter is extremely important with a full investigation carried out and new risk assessment completed to ensure it cannot happen again.
"We again offer our deepest apologies to the parents of this pupil and are delighted they have chosen to attend our Reception class in September 2022."
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