A mother has been left horrified after her six-year-old daughter walked out of her school unnoticed and wandered the busy streets of Logan in Queensland’s southeast, with the state’s education department now investigating.
Incident Details
The six-year-old child, a student at Burrowes State School in Marsden, went missing shortly after class started on Tuesday morning. The little girl was marked on the roll at 8.30am, went to the bathroom, and then walked out of the school gates. She crossed busy main roads, walked more than 1.5 kilometres, and wandered for close to an hour before being found.
“I was at home doing my uni and I got a call from Edge Learning Centre in Marsden telling me that they had my daughter,” the mother told 7NEWS.
7NEWS understands four teachers had been searching the school grounds but did not contact the little girl’s mother. The mother questioned, “How long has she been missing? Why wasn’t I notified? I asked the principal why he didn’t contact me or contact the police and he had said he was in a meeting. He told me that I was overreacting.”
Discovery and Aftermath
The child was found alone and crying at a bus stop on Browns Plains Road by a childcare worker. The woman walked the little girl to Edge Early Learning Centre. “She gave the director lady there my number and she called me,” the mother said.
Edge Early Learning CEO Chris Chambers expressed gratitude: “So thrilled and pleased at the role our team could play in keeping her safe.”
The mother is now consumed by the what-ifs. “If she had been hit by a car, if somebody had taken her, how long would it have taken them to say, ‘we don’t know where your baby’s at?’” she questioned.
School Safety Concerns
The school is surrounded by large fences with locked gates, but the little girl says it had been left wide open. The Department of Education stated: “Burrowes State School holds the safety of its students as its highest priority.” A spokesperson added, “The school leadership team has been in contact with the family and are reviewing its safety arrangements.”
The mother remains unsatisfied: “Even going to get her, what could have happened to her? They haven’t reassured that this is not going to happen again, that they’re going to do better. That’s a problem for me. Because the next mum may not be so lucky.”
The Queensland Education Department has launched an investigation into the incident.
