A WOMAN, who has now witnessed two children running away from Fife primary schools in separate incidents recently, says kids aren't getting enough support.
Maggie Burke was driving with a friend towards Hill of Beath on Tuesday when she noticed a child running down Main Street, heading for the B981, a 60mph road.
She slammed on the brakes and ran from her car, leaving it running, to try to catch the child.
Whilst running, she shouted out to passers-by and tried to flag down cars to prevent them from being hit before the primary school pupil was eventually caught by a workman.
She said: "I deserted my car. I didn't even turn it off. I got out of the car, and I ran after the child.
"I can't run, but it must have been the adrenaline in me. Because all I could see was this wee child's feet, running for that main road.
"Had anybody come along there really fast, as they do, that child would be dead."
Shortly after the youngster was stopped, Maggie said teachers caught up with the child and tried to walk them back to school.
"They grabbed them away from us silently, and I thought, Who are you?' They tried to hide the fact that they were teachers.
"And they were too late; if we weren't there, it would've been too late for him."
After the incident, Maggie went to the school and asked to fill in an incident form. She then says she was given conflicting suggestions of why the child had been able to escape.
She claims a member of staff told her that a door was left open by another child, but then someone else said staff were trying to work out which teacher had accidentally left it open.
Maggie said: "That's how I knew they were lying. They kept getting mixed up."
To Maggie, these incidents are only becoming more frequent due to a lack of support in schools.
In November of last year, she was out in Pittencrieff Park in Dunfermline when she spotted a small child, later confirmed to be a 5-year-old schoolboy, Robbie, who had escaped from Pittencrieff Primary School, across a busy road.
She said: "Children are getting let down. They're not putting the support there. They don't have enough support to look after these children."
"Look what happened in Dunfermline in the Glen, too. I reported that, I was there. They said he was out for five minutes, he was out for 30 minutes."
It comes as Fife Council are to launch a review of school safety following recent incidents where children have managed to leave school grounds.
SNP councillor Alycia Hayes had expressed concern after hearing about one child with additional support needs who had managed to get out on eight occasions over two years.
The Times approached Fife Council for comment on the latest incident in Hill of Beath.
They issued a statement on behalf of the school's headteacher, Maureen Lewis, who said: "We can confirm the matter was resolved quickly, and the young person is safe.
"We won’t be going into further detail, to protect their privacy and wellbeing, and we would ask that this is respected."
Share