Girl, 3, walks home alone after nursery ‘escape’
Youngster is found by busy main road
ATHREE-YEAR-OLD managed to escape from her nursery and walk home alone down a busy main road. The youngster had been at Flying Start nursery in Romiley, when she managed to get out of the grounds close to pick-up time.
When the father arrived to collect his daughter at around 3.20pm, he was told she was missing.
After the father and staff had searched the nursery grounds they were told about 10 minutes later she had been found 0.7 miles away, close to her home.
ATHREE-YEAR-OLD managed to escape from her nursery and walk home alone down a busy main road.
The youngster had been at Flying Start nursery in Romiley, when she managed to get out of the grounds close to pick-up time.
When the father arrived to collect his daughter at around 3.20pm, he was told she was missing - something staff say they had been alerted to just moments earlier.
The dad and staff from the nursery, which is a private pre-school in the grounds of Romiley Primary School, continued searching the grounds.
It was around 10 minutes later when they were told she had been found 0.7 miles away, close to her home.
After the incident, which happened last Wednesday, parents were told that the nursery’s investigation had discovered the child ‘left the nursery playground through a gap in the perimeter fence.’
But one parent told us ‘their excuse doesn’t make sense.’
“They don’t know how she got out, they say they think it was the fence panel because they knew it was loose,” said the parent. “They told one parent the panel was loose and they knew about it, but hadn’t repaired it, so they thought that must be how she got out.
“It doesn’t make sense because the times don’t make sense, the child must have been off the playground way before they say she was to travel the distance, it just shows they have no idea when she went, which is what is really scary.
“How did they not see her climbing through the fence? They are covering up because they don’t know what happened.”
They added: “The 0.7 miles was along a very busy main road in Romiley, all alone. The staff stood there crying, not searching. Other adults were the ones searching.”
In a letter to parents, they were given a timeline of the events, which states: “At approximately 3.15pm yesterday, a member of staff was stood manning the gate as parents were collecting children and another member of staff was also in the playground at this time talking with another parent.
“At approximately 3.18pm, the team were alerted that a child was missing from the playground. The team checked inside the nursery and also the perimeter of the building followed by a search of the school grounds.
“The child’s father arrived to collect his child at approx 3.20pm and was informed that his child was missing. The staff team and child’s father continued to search the school grounds.”
At that point the area manager Linzie Goff was informed and the nursery was advised to call the police. The letter goes on to state that ‘the fence has been repaired and the whole perimeter fence has been thoroughly checked and secured.”
It adds: “A new collection procedure has been implemented with immediate effect whereby parents will now be asked to collect their child from the front door of the nursery. All children will be kept inside at collection time until their parent or carer has arrived.”
The nursery will also ‘undertake a headcount and deployment checks every half an hour’ and CCTV cameras have been installed.
The concerned parent who alerted the Manchester Evening News to the incident says a number of parents have kept their children off since it happened.
They said: “Lots of parents are very worried but have no choice other than to send the children there because of work. Those who can find any alternative have done and quite a few people have left.”
A spokesperson for Flying Start said: “A child attending Flying Start nursery in Romiley, Stockport was discovered to have made their way, unescorted, off the premises and found their way home.
“Staff at the nursery enacted necessary and prearranged protocols to manage the situation and, most importantly, the child was found safe and well. All children are signed in and out and headcounts are undertaken regularly throughout the day.
“We would like to reassure our parents that we have robust systems in place to ensure this situation does not and cannot happen again. An internal investigation has been completed which has led to operational changes on site. We have been liaising with Ofsted and they are comfortable with our protocols.
“We have learnt from the incident, remain open and are committed to delivering first class care and earlystage education to our children.”
A spokesperson for Ofsted said: “We have been made aware of an incident where a child went missing from the nursery.
“We are working with the provider and external agencies to ensure that children are safe while attending the setting.”