A PRIMARY school says it has now deployed an extra member of staff at pick-up times after a nursery pupil left the school grounds by themselves.

The incident happened on Friday morning at Killinghall Primary School.

A parent who contacted the Telegraph & Argus said a three-year-old, who attends the school’s nursery, left the school at around 10am before they were returned to the premises.

The school said the incident was resolved within minutes.

It is the second time in recent years a child has left the school unsupervised – in October 2014 a three-year-old left the nursery and crossed Killinghall Road before going into a shop. At the time the school said it had tightened security procedures. The school did not say whether the child involved in the latest incident had also crossed the road.

The anonymous parent told the T&A: “This is negligence of the highest order, and a serious concern for all parents.”

Head teacher Gill Edge said: “We have thoroughly investigated the incident and have already strengthened our procedures further with an extra member of staff being placed on the school gate at pick-up times.

“The child was back at school within a matter of minutes on Friday morning. We have spoken to the parents of the child who are extremely satisfied with the way we responded so swiftly to this incident.

“We are clear that this should not have happened and that it will not be repeated.

“Following an incident in 2014 there was a full investigation and members of staff were issued with written warnings. A new system was put in place and Ofsted confirmed they were satisfied with the procedures put in place at the time. The school was inspected by Ofsted in 2015 and deemed to be good.

“I would like to assure all our parents that the safety of their children is always our top priority. When collecting their children our parents are asked to ensure they take them from the nursery staff member by holding their hand.”

Alina Khan, Bradford Council’s Strategic Manager for Education Safeguarding said: “We take children’s safety very seriously and we are supporting the school in responding to this incident.”

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