Girl, four, locked in school bus

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/wales/south_west/6159451.stm

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A four-year-old girl spent more than six hours stuck in a school minibus after she was locked in it for the day, it has emerged.

The pupil was picked up in the morning and taken to St Joseph's Cathedral Infants School in Swansea but was overlooked as everyone else got off.

The unnamed girl was only found at the end of the school day.

The school said it had apologised to her parents and taken steps to ensure it could not happen again.

"As a caring school and community we were deeply upset by this incident as parents expect the very best from our school," it said in a statement.

"A situation like this has never previously occurred and we will ensure that it will never reoccur again.

"All our processes and procedures have been rigorously reassessed to ensure the safety of all our pupils."

Chairman of the school governors, William Kavanagh, said a full investigation had taken place after the incident in September involving staff, governors and the girl's parents.

An incident of this nature is extremely rare Chair of governors William Kavanagh

The girl was only discovered when the bus was opened to take pupils home.

"Staff were upset by what happened and the school has apologised to the child's family," said Mr Kavanagh.

"The child's parents are satisfied with the additional measures taken to ensure an incident like this cannot happen again."

He said they had allowed the girl to continue to use the bus service.

"An incident of this nature is extremely rare," he added.

"Thousands of young people in Swansea are taken to and from school on school buses and minibuses every day and no one at the council can recollect something like this happening in Swansea."