The Curious Incident Of…

...the two 'missing' children:

Two boys aged seven and six who went missing from outside their school for two hours walked two-and-a-half miles along busy roads.

The boys, named only as Kobi and Ryan …

Chavname alert!

...were found by Tasha Weston and Pete White outside a pub miles from their East Sussex County Council school.

Google Maps estimates it would take adults nearly 50 minutes to walk the distance the boys did from outside Silverdale Primary in Perth Road, Hastings, to East Beach Street, Hastings, where they were found around 5.30pm.

Ms Weston said on Facebook on Friday: “Wow just found the two little boys from Silverdale who were missing...so glad they are safe and on their way home. Can't imagine how worried the parents would have been.”

Mr West added he would not know it was the two boys who were missing if it was not for social networking.

Hurrah for social media, right?

The school denied it was in any way responsible for the boys going missing at 3.15pm as they were handed over to their parents.

Other parents said the boys ran off.

What, are they mutants? Could no one run after them? If not the teachers (heaven forfend!), then the parents?

Executive headteacher John Smith said yesterday: “As you will be aware, after school on Friday two of our children went missing.

“They were subsequently found and returned by the police to their parents at school.

“Was the school at fault? Were protocols not followed correctly? The answer to this is no - the children were handed over to their parents at the end of the day. It was after they were handed over to their parents that they went missing.”

Placing the blame squarely where it needs to be. Because this is the flip-side of the modern technology genie - the ease with which panic and rumours spread...

He added the school went “above and beyond” in searching for the children.

“Staff were out looking for the children, CCTV was reviewed, parents and police informed,” he said.

The school used its 'texting system' to contact all parents and co-ordinated actions appropriately.

“The school systems are effective. Everything was handled appropriately. The school already has plans in place to improve its security but this incident happened after the children were released to parents at the end of the school day so fences/gates would be open.

“As a school we will be using this incident to highlight the importance of safety at handover times. I am satisfied that the school was not at fault and that it has effective systems to deal with incidents like this.”

All of which must now be stated and on the record. How sad...