A GIRL of three walked out of nursery unnoticed - only to be spotted in the street by her shocked mother.

Zaina Khan was found in tears by mum Hammida on Stuart Street in Werneth, Oldham, as she drove to pick her up from St Thomas' CE Primary School.

Zaina, who had only started at the school three days earlier, wandered out of the school gates to search for her mum.

Hammida, 29, of Coldhurst, Oldham, who has a son, eight, and daughter, four, at the school, has now taken Zaina out of the nursery.

She said: "At first I thought 'why is there a kid running down the street on their own?' but as I got closer I realised it was my Zaina. I was in total shock. She would have had to go out of the building, through two sets of gates and up a flight of stairs to get to that part of the street from the nursery.

"I went into the school to ask them what had happened and they had no idea she'd run out.

"They can't give me any explanation. I just can't believe that she wasn't noticed. Anything could have happened to her.

"I think as all the other kids were leaving she thought she should go as well.

"When she saw me she was crying her eyes out and was really confused.

"Since then she's been really clingy."

Distressed

The school has now reviewed its procedures to find out how Zaina was allowed to walk out unnoticed.

Headteacher Angela Knowles said: "We have taken this matter extremely seriously. We have had a lot of pupils go through our nursery over the years and this has never happened before.

"All our staff have been extremely distressed by this. We have always had stringent procedures in place but as a result of this we immediately reviewed all our procedures and they are being monitored by senior staff.

"The incident happened over a lunchtime and this has never been a problem before. We're extremely sorry that this has happened and we've now been through everything with a fine tooth comb."