Mother's fury after five-year-old daughter walks out of school disco and is found frightened and alone near busy road a quarter of a mile away
- Laiyla Nelson walked almost half of the 15-minute route home in York
- She was found by next-door neighbour Daniel Cooper 'cold and frightened'
- Mother Emma Bootland furious that teachers had not noticed she had gone
A furious mother has told how her
five-year-old daughter was able to walk out of her primary school disco
alone and was found wandering the streets over a quarter of a mile away. Laiyla Nelson had walked almost half of the 15-minute route to her home in York, crossing at least two roads when she was discovered cold, frightened and alone by next-door neighbour Daniel Cooper. Her mother Emma Bootland had been on her way to pick her up from the end of term disco at St. Barnabas Primary School when Mr Cooper called.
Laiyla, who only celebrated her 5th
birthday last week, hadn’t even picked up her coat when she left the
school hall and started to make her way home - unbeknown to teachers. Mrs
Bootland, 23, said: 'My neighbour rang me and said "I’ve got Laiyla" so
my first thought was that he had picked her up with his daughter Libby. 'I
was already walking to the school and started to thank him for getting
her when he explained that he had found her walking on her own. 'My
first thought was how? How was she walking on her own? How was she let
out of school? All the thoughts of what might of happened started going
through my head. 'She had no coat on, she just had her little blouse and leggings that she had worn to the disco. 'When
I got to her I asked her why she didn’t go in to the shop where the
owners know her, but she said "you told me not to speak to strangers".
Route: Little Laiyla had walked almost half of
the 15 minute journey to her home when she was discovered frightened and
alone by her next door neighbour
Risk: Laiyla who was not even wearing a coat, had crossed at least two roads, as she wandered through the streets of York
'When I asked her why she had left the school she said "I saw other mummy and daddy’s and thought you would be there".
'I
went straight to the school and they hadn’t even realised she had gone.
I was so upset. By this point Laiyla was in tears too.'
Despite teachers using a
checklist to tick off the tots leaving, Emma believes Laiyla had managed
to just walk out without being noticed and started the 15-minute walk
home by herself. She added: 'I think it’s disgusting that she was found on a street corner. 'She was nearly halfway home, she didn’t even have her coat on and was freezing. 'I don’t know how long she had been out there for, she couldn’t tell me. 'If your children aren’t safe at school, where are they safe?' Head
of St Barnabas’ Karen Boardman said the school had apologised
'unreservedly' to Laiyla’s horrified parents, saying they were 'relieved
no harm came to her.
She
said: 'An incident like this has never happened at St Barnabas’s school
before and in conjunction with our governors and staff we have put
measures in place to reassure parents that this does not happen again.'
Mrs
Bootland, a customer services agent, said she is yet to receive a
written apology from the school and is still uncertain what to do next.
She added: 'When I went to the school I told them Laiyla would not be coming back. I was just so angry.
'I had an apology on that night but since then I’ve had no phonecall, no letter, no explanation at all. 'Laiyla
really doesn’t want to leave her school and has a lot of friends there.
I feel like I’m punishing her if I take her out and it is not her
fault. It’s just made it so much harder that the school hasn’t even rang to see how she is.'
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