A headteacher didn't find out that one of her pupils had died after suffering an asthma attack in class until the day after the tragedy.

Evelyn Leslie, headteacher of Offerton High in Stockport, admitted she was unaware that Sam Linton, 11, had suffered the attack after and only found out he had died 24 hours later. The headteacher also told an inquest at Stockport coroner's court that medical records for Sam had not been updated.

Mrs Leslie admitted there had been a number of failings in the school’s medical procedure.

It meant that Sam, of Dalby Grove, Offerton, was left in a corridor after suffering a severe asthma attack and not directed to staff trained in first aid at the school’s student services department.

Medical records from Sam’s primary school, Vernon Grove, and a letter from his doctor, had also not been added to the school’s online information system or his school journal.

Although Sam was one of 14 pupils listed as having complex medical needs, Mrs Leslie also admitted there was no way teaching staff would have been aware of this.

The hearing was also told that guidelines on how to help children suffering from asthma had been distributed only in a weekly bulletin two months before Sam’s death but staff had not been instructed to retain the guidelines.

A new system to care for pupils who fell ill at Offerton High had been implemented in September 2007, three months before Sam, a year 7 pupil, died on December 4.

Instead of teachers trained in first aid being called from lessons to help a pupil, they were instead supposed to send children who were unwell to staff trained in first aid at the student services department.

Under questioning from Sam’s parent's barrister Daniel Paul, Mrs Leslie admitted that staff had only been informed of the new protocol through a bulletin in the summer holidays and at one staff meeting.

The new procedure had also not been included in that year’s staff handbook which she agreed was seen as a “solid source of reference“.

Mr Paul described the procedures at Offerton High school as having a huge hole in the care that the school provided for those children with complex medical needs.

After Sam had been told to sit in a corridor by form tutor Jan Ford, he was not taken to hospital until school finished at 3.30pm.

Despite being taken to resuscitation at Stepping Hill hospital he died two hours later.

Proceeding.