Parents Carlos Martinez-Thompson and partner Cheryl Smith found their son Jaxon, five, alone on the street outside school during class-time (Picture: SWNS)
The parents of a five-year-old boy were shocked to find their son wandering around the road outside his school after he escaped unnoticed.
Carlos Martinez-Thompson, 41, and partner Cheryl Smith, 40 spotted Jaxon as they were walking to Stockingford Academy in Nuneaton, Warwickshire 10 minutes before the end of school.
Jaxon, who has autism, had passed reception and walked through two gates before making it to the road.
His parents would normally pick him up from the other side of the school, but the couple were collecting a letter from reception so happened to see him.
They said he could easily have been hit by a car and it was down to luck the pair came across him.
Carlos, a stay-at-home dad who loads lorries in the evenings, said: ‘We couldn’t believe it. My blood was boiling and Cheryl was in bits.
‘This could have gone very differently. We could be appealing for someone to give him back or arranging a funeral.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
‘It’s a lucky, one-in-a-million chance that we found him. You’re supposed to be able to leave your children in school and know that they are safe.’
The couple were so angry over the incident, which happened on January 26, they have moved Jaxon and one of his half-siblings to another school.
The school, which has just been rated as ‘good’ by Ofsted, apologised and said it has made a number of changes to prevent it happening again.
But Carlos and Cheryl, who have ten children between them, believe there should have been more serious repercussions,
Carlos said: ‘Jaxon was at risk. He wouldn’t understand the dangers or that he wasn’t supposed to leave school.
‘We collect him from the other side of the school, so he wouldn’t have found anyone who knows him.
Jaxon, who has autism, left his class unnoticed (Picture: Anita Maric/SWNS)
‘We couldn’t believe it when we saw him. I just ran to him – I couldn’t let him go. I was so shocked.
‘If this was flipped round and we had lost him you can be sure all the authorities would be involved.
‘But it feels like the school aren’t answerable to anyone. How can they get a ‘good’ Ofsted rating?
‘We’re disgusted and fearful for other people’s children.’
Cheryl, a nursery teacher, added: ‘A nursery would never get away with this – it’d be closed down.
‘None of the teachers knew he was missing.
‘All we get told is that nothing needs to be done because Jaxon is fine. But that’s not the point.
The school recently received a ‘Good’ Ofsted rating (Picture: Anita Maric/SWNS)
‘We’re so appalled that they are just getting away with this.’
Stockingford Academy issued a press release to ‘inform the community’ about the incident.
It said: ‘At approximately 3pm, when the site had been unlocked for adults to collect their pupils, the school became aware that a Year 1 student had left the school site without supervision.
‘Immediate action was taken to locate the child and ensure their safety. Within minutes, the pupil was safely returned to the school, with his parents, unharmed.
‘The child had previously left his classroom earlier in the day whilst the site was secure and was returned by a member of staff.’
It said the safety and well-being of the pupils was its top priority and it takes any incidents of children leaving the school unaccompanied ‘very seriously’.
‘The school has conducted a thorough internal investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Carlos and Cheryl believe there should have been more serious repercussions for the school (Picture: Anita Maric/SWNS)
‘We have identified areas for improvement in our security protocols and have taken swift action to address them.’
In 2021, a nursery in Walthamstow, north east London was forced to shut after two toddlers escaped unnoticed on two separate occasions within a couple of months of each other.
One three-year-old boy went missing before for half an hour before a stranger found him crying in a nearby park.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.