‘Her father was absolutely livid’
GIRL, 4, ESCAPED NURSERY THROUGH HOLE IN THE FENCE, THEN WANDERED THROUGH WOODS AND A GRAVEYARD
A MUM has told of her horror after discovering her four-year-old daughter escaped from her nursery and went wandering through a nearby wood and graveyard.
The mother-of-four, who asked not to be named, says the incident occurred at Chestnut Nursery, Chestnut Street in Deighton, on Friday afternoon, February 8.
She said: “They were all playing out and afterwards a head count was done and staff realised they were one child down.
“Ironically, my son who attends North Huddersfield Trust School, was looking out of a window and saw a child playing out and wondered if it was his little sister
“A student must have told one of the teachers there was a little girl wandering about and they told the police and the nursery.
“I received a phone call from the nursery manager at 2.30pm.
“She was really upset and tried her best to reassure me.
“They had realised my little girl had gone missing for between eight and 15 minutes after walking through a hole in the fence.
“It wasn’t a little one, though. A key worker at the nursery went through it and brought her back.
“Her father was absolutely livid and when we had a meeting with the nursery on the Monday afterwards he was too upset to attend.
“The two girls had been there since they were ninemonths-old and it’s a shame we have decided to take them out as they had made a lot of friends and were on the verge of leaving to go to school. We’d had no issues prior to this incident.
“I’m still very upset about it, it’s been very traumatic and we decided to move them elsewhere.
“It doesn’t bear thinking about
We are working closely with Chestnut Nursery to ensure children’s
safety.
what might have happened.”
Andy Petrie, chief executive of LS2Y Nurseries, said: “The safety of the children at Chestnut Nursery is our top priority and we acted swiftly when our staff realised the child was missing.
“We informed the parents immediately and rectified the issue which allowed this unfortunate incident to occur.
“Parents can be assured that we have done all we can to prevent such an event occurring again.
“We have also informed the local authority and Ofsted, as we are required to do, and they will be investigating the incident.
“We will adhere to any recommendations, should there be any.”
An Ofsted spokesman said: “Ofsted is aware of this incident, and we are working closely with Chestnut Nursery to ensure children’s safety.”
According to Ofsted’s website the nursery was registered on May 8 last year, and first inspected on July 11, when it was found to be good across all areas.
A spokeswoman for West Yorkshire Police said: “Police were called to reports for a concern for a young girl who had gone missing.
“Officers attended Woodhouse Hall Road and the child was located shortly after.”
A spokeswoman for Kirklees Council said: “We are aware of the incident and are investigating.”