Stoke-on-Trent: Four year old walks out of school on his own

When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they’ll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Blade Mitchell managed to vanish for at least ten minutes after walking out of school alone on Monday afternoon. Teachers only realised he’d gone when his mum Laura Jones arrived to pick the youngster up.

Laura, 25, is now refusing to send her little boy into St Maria Goretti Academy in Bentilee, Stoke-on-Trent, until action has been taken amid concerns for his and other children’s safeguarding.

Blade managed to cross three main roads before a member of the public found him.

CCTV shows the boy cross one street but the member of the public, walking with a little girl, spots him and catches up with him.

Speaking to Stoke-on-Trent Live, Laura said: “I got there at about 3.12pm. When I got there, the teachers said ‘have you not already got Blade?’. I told them I’d only just got here. They said he was not in the classroom. They didn’t know he was missing until I actually got there.

“We started looking for him in the playground. I rang his dad and he started heading towards the school to come and help.

“I was very anxious because I didn’t know where he was and no other family members had picked him up. I was scared. I was shaking whilst searching the grounds.

“His dad found him on his way. He had to cross three main roads. He was on Beverley Drive which would’ve taken him about ten minutes to walk there on his own.

“It doesn’t bear thinking about what could have happened.

“A lady saw him at the park and she followed him to see where he was going, she didn’t touch him. Blade was just saying he needed to get home because mummy would be worried.”

The mum of two, from Bentilee, has since had meetings with the school. She has also reported the incident to Ofsted.

She continued: “There were four children left in the classroom. One teacher was watching them on the carpet and the other was standing in the doorway dealing with parents.

“There’s only one way in and out of that classroom and that was where the teacher was standing. They must have got distracted by a parent.

“The other teacher in the classroom has got up to assist the teacher on the door so at this point there’s two teachers on the door.

“When he got out there’s a little ramp and an enclosed playground and then it goes onto the main playground. There’s only one way in and out of the school.

“He passed the two teachers who were with him. After he got through the playground he got through two more members of staff at the gate and he walked straight out on his own. How did they not know one child was missing? I am very disappointed.

“If it was that I was late and didn’t get there until 3.20pm he could’ve been anywhere because they didn’t notice he had disappeared. I was lucky I was on time and we weren’t far behind him.”

We send our children to school, believing that they are safe. We trust the schools to protect and keep our children from harm

Laura Jones

Laura added: “We haven’t sent him in on Tuesday because we don’t feel like they could be trusted with him.

“We are not planning to send him back until it’s all been investigated.

“In the meeting, the school said it is doing an independent investigation.

“I don’t want it to be swept under the carpet. I want changes put in place.

“They said they are going to give him a care plan and do risk assessments. They are going to put up a gate to stop them running off.

“Something needs to happen in regards to the safeguarding.

“We send our children to school, believing that they are safe. We trust the schools to protect and keep our children from harm. That trust has now been broken and it’s hard to believe he is safe there.

“They have a duty of care which they failed to provide. The outcome could have been so much worse. He’s a really lucky boy.”

St Maria Goretti Academy caters for more than 240 children aged three to eleven.

It opened in 2013 and was last rated as Good by Ofsted.

A spokesman for the school said: “I can confirm that a safeguarding incident involving a pupil occurred at the end of the school day.

“In accordance with our safeguarding procedures, this has been reported to the appropriate bodies and a full investigation of the incident is underway.”

Source: Read Full Article