The boy attends Maybury Primary School's Early Learning and Childcare centre. (Image: Google Maps)
A mother has described the horrifying moment she discovered her toddler “curled up” in a grit bin in his nursery's playground. The mum-of-five from Edinburgh went to pick her two-year-old son up from Maybury Primary School's Early Learning and Childcare service just before 12pm on January 16.
After waiting outside for 15 minutes, the staff told her that her son had not been seen for almost an hour, prompting the panicked mother to call the police. He was eventually found “cold, shivering and disorientated” and “covered in grit” inside the yellow grit bin.
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The mother, who didn't wish to be named, told the Scotsman: “When I opened the box I thought he was dead because he was curled up in the fetal position and wasn't moving. He was cold, shivering, his skin was pale and his face, mouth and nostrils were covered in grit. When I picked him up he was disorientated and just slumped into my arms. And once we were inside he didn't appear to be his usual self and he was shivering and gulping down water.
“I didn't know how this could have happened or how long he had been in there or how much salt he had ingested. Staff told me he had last accounted for at 11.10am, and I arrived to collect him at 11.50am. So I don't understand how nobody noticed that he wasn't there anymore.”
She also said: “After everything that's happened I just can't send him back there.”
The two-year-old was taken to hospital after he was found. (Image: Getty)
An incident report said the boy was playing with the grit bin earlier in the morning before a staff member closed it and told him “not to play with it”. He was last seen in the garden at 11.10am, “going towards the door to go inside”.
But his mum claims this does not explain how he could have been left alone for 50 minutes before being found.
Following a Child Planning Meeting in November, it was agreed that her son would be under a safety measure known as 'tag team supervision', which requires staff to make each other aware when her son had moved between nursery zones. The mum described her son as “very active and energetic”, adding that last year it “was identified that he lacks safety awareness”.
She claimed to have learned this system had been discontinued without her consent.
The incident has been reported to the Care Inspectorate and the City of Edinburgh Council, which said “urgent steps”, including the presence of extra staff in the outside play area to monitor children, have been taken to prevent this from happening again.
A spokesperson for the Care Inspectorate watchdog told BBC Scotland it had been “appropriately notified of an incident involving a child at this nursery”.
“A concern has also been raised with us about this service and we will consider all information given to us carefully”, they said, adding that they would liaise with the service and provider and “take any further action as required”.
Council Leader Jane Meagher also spoke about the incident, saying: “I was shocked to hear about this awful incident and can only imagine how frightening it must have been for the child's mother and family. I'm so sorry they had to go through this.
“It's simply unacceptable that such a young child could be unaccounted for and put at risk, particularly in a place where they should be safe and cared for.
“I want to reassure the family that the Care Inspectorate were immediately informed, and urgent improvements have already been made at the nursery. I am insisting that these are independently reviewed to make sure all lessons have been properly learned and that this can never be allowed to happen again.”
Maybury Primary School has been contacted for comment.