Child left alone for hours during school holiday program

Four staff members have been stood down and a family is reeling after a child was accidentally abandoned during an excursion.

A seven-year-old boy was left alone on school grounds during a school holiday program. Picture: File image

A seven-year-old boy was left alone on school grounds during a school holiday program when co-ordinators in charge of his care accidentally abandoned him while taking a group of kids on an excursion.

The Herald Sun understands William was at a school holiday program run by TeamKids at Dingley Primary School when he was left alone for several hours after the bus took off without him last Wednesday.

Organisers failed to do a headcount before heading off on the rock climbing excursion with the dozens of students.

It wasn’t until William’s nine-year old sister raised the alarm about his absence that staff members returned to the school to find the boy alone but safe.

William’s father, Nathan Cummings, told 9NEWS he was “absolutely shocked” when he heard about the incident.

The boy was at a school holiday program run by Team Kids at Dingley Primary School when he was left alone for several hours.

“The first question I asked wasm ‘is he OK? Where is he? What is going on?’” he said.

“Pretty daunting to think what could’ve happened, cause even if he fell off the playground, he is there by himself.

“That night I had a lot of trouble sleeping … a couple of nights after (I was) just constantly thinking, ‘What if? What if?’”

Mr Cummings said the incident has impacted his entire family, with his daughter needing counselling over the traumatic incident.

“My daughter was really anxious about it … my daughter does blame herself about it a lot.”

It’s understood four staff members were stood down over the mistake.

A Department of Education spokesman said an investigation into the incident was underway.

TeamKids chief executive James Taylor on Wednesday assured parents it was an “isolated incident” and said the group was working closely with the Department of Education’s investigators.

In a letter to parents, Mr Taylor confirmed several staff members were stood down over failing to follow safety procedures, which include conducting a head count of children.

“We are working closely with the Department of Education and Training, and all staff members involved have been stood down, and the matter is being dealt with seriously,” Mr Taylor said.

“Our policies, procedures, and training are in place to prevent these incidents from occurring. However, our staff in charge did not follow these on the day.

“I can assure all families that this was an isolated incident, and we have acted swiftly to ensure that all our teams are aware of our commitment and processes for child safety.”

TeamKids is believed to have offered the child counselling, and he has since returned to the holiday program.