Miss-Delectable
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Partially deaf boy, 4, 'left unsupervised at Wibsey school gate' (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
A couple are calling for answers after their four-year-old son, who has learning difficulties, was left unsupervised at the open gates of his school – just yards from a busy main road.
Eamon – who is partially deaf, has a mental age of a toddler and needs constant supervision – was left on his own at the gates of St John the Evangelist Primary School in Wibsey, Bradford, say his parents John and Allan.
Head teacher Kath Spillane said the school would “fully investigate” the incident and review safety but said it was her understanding that Eamon did not leave the school grounds.
However Eamon’s dad John Maughan, of Chartwell Drive, Wibsey, said: “I found him outside the school gates. They didn’t even know he had left. If I had been a few seconds later, he would have been in the road.”
Mr Maughan’s partner, Allan Williamson, said he specifically told school staff that a teacher needed to collect Eamon from the gates and hand him back to him when school ended following a similar incident two weeks ago.
On that occasion, Eamon had been dropped off at school but had started to follow his dad back towards the open school gates without any staff noticing, Mr Williamson claims.
“That is when we made sure they knew he shouldn’t be left alone,” he said.
In the latest incident on Thursday, Mr Maughan had gone to pick up Eamon and said he found him on the pavement in Beacon Road – just outside the school and near a busy trading estate.
The couple visited the school on Friday demanding answers.
They have now withdrawn Eamon from school until the head teacher gives reassurances the same thing will never happen again.
Mr Williamson said: “They are just ignoring the fact that they are in the wrong, that Eamon has come out of that school and has been in danger. The argument got so heated that police were called to escort us off the premises but still nothing has happened at all.
“To make it worse we were told that if we don’t like it, there are other schools in the area for Eamon to go to.”
He added: “We want to know what is going to happen so that children are safe and reassurances that it is not going to happen again.”
In a statement from the school, Mrs Spillane highlighted a report by education watchdogs, Ofsted, in 2008, praising the school’s “robust” child protection procedures and arrangements. She said “no similar incidents” had happened before and that the school’s current procedures complied with Government requirements for safeguarding children.
Mrs Spillane said: “We are, of course, very concerned as such an incident has never occurred before and the care and welfare of all children is of paramount concern to all staff of the school.
“It is my belief that the child did not leave the school grounds, however I have explained to the parents that the incident will be fully investigated and reviewed.
“Security procedures for the reception class, as with the whole school, are rigorous as noted in the school’s most recent Ofsted report.”
I hate to say it but Eamon is better off in a Specialist school because with his mental age of a toddler, he won't fit in mainstream school.
A couple are calling for answers after their four-year-old son, who has learning difficulties, was left unsupervised at the open gates of his school – just yards from a busy main road.
Eamon – who is partially deaf, has a mental age of a toddler and needs constant supervision – was left on his own at the gates of St John the Evangelist Primary School in Wibsey, Bradford, say his parents John and Allan.
Head teacher Kath Spillane said the school would “fully investigate” the incident and review safety but said it was her understanding that Eamon did not leave the school grounds.
However Eamon’s dad John Maughan, of Chartwell Drive, Wibsey, said: “I found him outside the school gates. They didn’t even know he had left. If I had been a few seconds later, he would have been in the road.”
Mr Maughan’s partner, Allan Williamson, said he specifically told school staff that a teacher needed to collect Eamon from the gates and hand him back to him when school ended following a similar incident two weeks ago.
On that occasion, Eamon had been dropped off at school but had started to follow his dad back towards the open school gates without any staff noticing, Mr Williamson claims.
“That is when we made sure they knew he shouldn’t be left alone,” he said.
In the latest incident on Thursday, Mr Maughan had gone to pick up Eamon and said he found him on the pavement in Beacon Road – just outside the school and near a busy trading estate.
The couple visited the school on Friday demanding answers.
They have now withdrawn Eamon from school until the head teacher gives reassurances the same thing will never happen again.
Mr Williamson said: “They are just ignoring the fact that they are in the wrong, that Eamon has come out of that school and has been in danger. The argument got so heated that police were called to escort us off the premises but still nothing has happened at all.
“To make it worse we were told that if we don’t like it, there are other schools in the area for Eamon to go to.”
He added: “We want to know what is going to happen so that children are safe and reassurances that it is not going to happen again.”
In a statement from the school, Mrs Spillane highlighted a report by education watchdogs, Ofsted, in 2008, praising the school’s “robust” child protection procedures and arrangements. She said “no similar incidents” had happened before and that the school’s current procedures complied with Government requirements for safeguarding children.
Mrs Spillane said: “We are, of course, very concerned as such an incident has never occurred before and the care and welfare of all children is of paramount concern to all staff of the school.
“It is my belief that the child did not leave the school grounds, however I have explained to the parents that the incident will be fully investigated and reviewed.
“Security procedures for the reception class, as with the whole school, are rigorous as noted in the school’s most recent Ofsted report.”
I hate to say it but Eamon is better off in a Specialist school because with his mental age of a toddler, he won't fit in mainstream school.
