A FOUR-year-old boy was left standing in the cold when teachers forgot to bring him inside after dishing out a school punishment.

Now his furious parents are demanding to know how staff failed to notice that their son was missing for 40 minutes.

The head teacher at Radcliffe County Infants says she regretted what had happened. She promised that measures would be taken to stop a similar incident happening in the future.

Aaron Bates, of Higher Dean Street, Radcliffe, was found alone in the playground by his child-minder when she came to pick him up at 3pm.

He had been told to stand against a wall for playing on the school fields during afternoon break. The frightened toddler tried to get back inside the school but the doors had been locked for security reasons.

His angry mother, Mrs Dawn Bates, said: "He was found frightened, confused and freezing. I couldn't believe it."

She added: "His teachers completely forgot about him when the rest of the children were brought inside after playtime. Aaron wasn't told that he could go inside.

"Even inside no one missed him - not even his class teacher!"

She added: "Anything could have happened. He could have wandered off and there are lodges near the school."

Aaron's parents contacted the school to find out why staff did not notice he was missing.

"We were simply fobbed off. The deputy head tried to blame it on Aaron for playing on the fields in the first place," said Mr John Bates. "All we wanted was an apology and to be told that measures would be taken to stop anything like this happening again. There should be a head count after break."

The concerned couple took the matter to Bury's Education Authority, who have been in touch with the Coronation Road school.

Mrs Chris Heald, head of the school, said: "The child had moved from the place he had been told to stand. Teachers had presumed he had gone inside.

"We regret what happened but will be changing school procedures to ensure it does not happen again."

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