A father of an eight-year-old girl with autism has lashed her primary school after she was accidentally locked inside a sports shed in 31C heat.
Matthew Everingham went to collect his daughter Ruby from Manning Gardens Public School in Taree, about 80km from Port Macquarie, about 2.30pm on October 15.
But when he and his partner Brooke arrived at the school, they were horrified to find their daughter wasn’t lined-up at the gate like she normally was.
‘Heaps of kids were rushing past myself and my partner telling us “they are looking for Ruby” and “Ruby can’t be found”,’ Mr Everingham told The Daily Telegraph.
‘(The school) didn’t even ring to say she was missing.’
He found Ruby being led out by a teacher and an aide for special needs children ‘bawling’ her eyes out.
Mr Everingham said the teacher apologised and said Ruby had been found inside a sports shed after being locked inside for five minutes.
He said with no air conditioning or ventilation, making conditions inside ‘scorching’.
Eight-year-old Ruby (pictured with her mother Brooke), was locked inside an outdoor shed at her primary school for five minutes on a 31C day on October 15
Mr Everingham believes Ruby went missing during outdoor games on ‘pirate day’.
‘They put all the kids with higher needs all in one group, so it made it extremely challenging for the teachers and SLO (special needs aide) supervising,’ he explained.
As Ruby has been watching survival TV shows and has a photographic memory, the father surmised that she had chosen to ‘hide’ in the shed and was locked in.
Mr Everingham added that one member of staff claimed they had checked the shed was empty before they subsequently locked it.
But after looking at photos of the shed, he can’t understand how she was able to hide in there unless she was in the cupboard with the door shut.
Since Ruby’s ordeal, her father has said he was not directly contacted by the public school, not even a welfare call on the phone.
Instead, Mr Everingham said he was contacted by the NSW Department of Education to organise for his daughter to be enrolled at a separate school in Taree.
‘Department of Education staff have met with and apologised to the family following this incident,’ a spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education said.
Ruby’s father Matthew Everingham said she had hidden in a sport shed when she was accidentally locked in on a 31 degree Celsius day
‘Thankfully, the student was uninjured and did not require medical attention. The matter was reported to police by the school.
‘The school has reviewed its student safety and supervision processes and has taken steps to ensure the door of the sports equipment room can be opened from the inside.
‘The safety and wellbeing of students is our highest priority and we are providing the family with access to counselling services.’
Ruby is understood to be doing well at her current school.
The department remains in regular contact with the family to ensure their needs are being met and they have access to all relevant supports they need.
The Daily Mail has contacted Mr Everingham and Manning Gardens Public School.