4yo left behind on nursery trip?!

[Inyourwildestdreams]

Have just read an article about a 4yo in Fife who was left behind at a wildlife park when on a nursery trip (DM article so I won’t link it!).

All kids had been told to go to the toilet before going back on the bus, he’d been last in the queue and when he came out they had left.
I believe another park visitor alerted park staff that there was a child alone and they then contacted the nursery staff who made the journey back to collect him. They hadn’t even noticed he was gone!

3 staff to 9 kids. How on Earth does something like that happen?! Poor child must have been so worried!

If you've read it in the daily mail why are you too embarrassed to post the link?

I know, surely each adult was keeping a constant eye on their group of three. But obviously not.

It is only human error to have an accident like this, but saying that, 3 staff members should have been allocated 3 specific children so that the 9 are all definitely registered

Does it really matter which newspaper it was in??? A simple headcount by the nursery staff should have been done. They only had nine children fgs!!!

That is absolutely appalling. I have helped on many nursery and school trips and stuck to my 3 kids like glue and I was only a parent helper. 9 children and 3 staff! Sheer incompetence. What were they thinking?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cyxx511l695o

Is BBC more acceptable?

Nursery messed up massively. Knowing 4yos, the kids were probably trying to ask where he was!

God this whole “won’t link to the DM” is tiresome. If you’ve read it there then you obviously read it, so stop bloody virtue signalling and just link to it already.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13571587/Boy-four-left-nursery-trip-wildlife-park-staff-40-minutes.html

Sorry, I just hate the DM 😅 I only ended up on it because the article popped up on Facebook and I couldn’t not read it. Have linked it for anyone interested.

I get that mistakes happen - a missing bag/lunchbox/coat I can understand. But a missing child with a ratio like that is ridiculous.
I don’t work in childcare but in my mind, being out of your normal nursery environment you’d be even more careful about headcounts etc surely?!

This happened to me when I was about 5, except I was left in the middle of a city centre and they tried to lie about it to my parents! It was a summer play school type programme. I still remember the absolute terror; it's one of my earliest memories!

😂 I really didn’t mean to cause an issue with the DM mention.

I once ended up going to a theme park after hours to collect a scout who had been left behind. Similar scenario only 50 on the coach and his teenage mates thought it would be funny to tell the coach leaders that everyone was there from their group. How on earth someone didn't notice one of their group of three was missing is beyond me.

@showmethegin That’s awful 😔

Hopefully grown ups can cope with a variety of sources of information without suffering too much psychological distress.

Apparently they got back on the bus and asked the kids, "is everyone here?" Kids answered, "yes," so they left. It's so ridiculous that it would actually be funny if it wasn't such a scary situation with a young child.

I also get that they each would have had their 3 but surely out of three adults in charge of kids, at least one of them thinks to double check the group 😳

@Ohlittleone I agree! Thankfully he was found by a decent person and didn’t wander off alone looking for his group!

I wonder if these people were actually trained staff? That is a massive safeguarding fail. Anything could have happened to the child.

I don't know- the Daily Mail has form for making things up/ embellishing. It should be avoided as a source of information where possible. E.g. https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/daily-mail-criticised-over-amanda-knox-guilty-story-/s2/a546216/

Well surely you would read several sources, look things up? Cross check things? That is just common sense.

Wow. On every school trip I’ve ever led I’m basically just head counting the whole time. It’s a teacher’s worst nightmare to lose a child on an outing. I know it’s easy for me to say, teaching KS2 children who are thus less wandery, but I just cannot see how this happened. Surely there must be more to the story?

I came to mumsnet just to see if anyone was talking about this!! I'm the QTS teacher for a large nursery and have been for many years. I am absolutely gobsmacked by this, 9 kids to 3 adults!

Surely they got back to the mini bus and had an empty carseat? I read it took them 40 minutes to get back to the deer park so in a 40 minute drive no-one thought, "hey, didn't we take Jack with us too?"

This has to be gross misconduct surely.

@endofthelinefinally Would they be allowed to be anything other than trained staff to take the children away from the centre?

@Timeturnerplease i really hope so but I struggle to see what there could be tbh?! They left without a child, for whatever reason.

Well they should be trained, of course. But there must be an explanation for this level of ineptitude. Extraordinary.

@Loupenny25 I’m a bit baffled that they even got back to the minibus without him tbh! Surely if theyre waiting for them to come out of the toilets they would be counted at that stage before moving to any other location?!

My sons nursery is joined to a primary school and they share gym hall and library facilities. Even for a trip to the gym hall within a locked campus the kids are counted through every door on the way there and back. Surely you’re only even MORE cautious away from your own establishment?!