Fife Council apologises after boy, 4, left behind on nursery trip

The incident happened at the Scottish Deer Centre on Friday 21st June

Author: Paul ReillyPublished 26th Jun 2024

It has emerged a four-year old boy was left behind on a nursery trip to the Scottish Deer Centre in Fife.

Mum Clare Hodge says her son Carson was found after spending 40 minutes without a member of staff.

He'd been on the day-out with Dunmore Nursery in Ballingry on Friday 21 June.

Fife Council has apologised and says it's taking the incident extremely seriously.

Ms Hodge, who said there were only nine children and three members of staff on the outing, described the incident as "astounding".

Writing on Facebook she said: "Whilst on their end of year trip to the attraction in Cupar, the kids were asked to go to the toilet before getting on the bus to go home.

"Carson was the last one to use the toilet and when he came out he couldn’t find anyone and thought they were hiding from him.

"The reason he couldn’t find them was because THEY HAD LEFT HIM.

"Carson stood crying when a man then found him and asked if he was ok and then took him to the deer centre office.

"The deer centre then contacted the nursery to let them know that they had left without him".

Fife Council taking incident "extremely seriously"

Fife Council, who run the nursery, have said they're to review policies and procedures to see where improvements can be mad.

Shelagh McLean, Head of Service said at the local authority said: “First of all I’d like to apologise wholeheartedly to the child and their family for what happened on Friday.

"We are treating this incident extremely seriously and an investigation is underway into how this happened.

"As soon as the child was noted as missing immediate action was taken.

"The school was in contact with the child’s parents and the Care Inspectorate was notified immediately.

"As there are individuals involved who will be easily identifiable in the local community, even if not directly named, until the full details are clear and official proceedings are finalised, which would include any action taken by Care Inspectorate, we are not in a position to comment further on any specific action that will be taken. "

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