THE parents of a five-year-old girl have withdrawn her from school branding it 'unsafe' after she was left unsupervised as her class went into assembly.

Jamie Rees was 'forgotten' by her teacher at Colham Manor School, in Violet Avenue, Yiewsley, and left alone for over an hour, although the school claim it was more like 20 minutes.

Her parents only discovered what happened when Jamie came home in tears, and despite receiving an apology from the school, they have decided to withdraw her from the school.

Suzie Rees, of Park View Road, Yiewsley, said: "The school has been very vague about what happened. As far as I can understand they asked the children to line up and she was doing her handwriting, the teacher didn't see her or check properly.

"We can't leave her there, we do not feel safe leaving her there.

"We have decided to try and home school her for the time being, but everything is so expensive, books, equipment. Eventually we want to get her into a new school."

Nadine Jackson-Croker, Jamie's grandmother, is fully supportive of her daughter's decision.

She said: "The education department at Hillingdon Council turned around and said to us, 'well it was all right because she was in a safe environment.

"I'm sorry that is not good enough, anything could have happened, she could have fallen over, something could have fallen on her, she could have wandered into the car park, and what would have happened if there was a fire?

"We feel her safety was put at risk.

"She started at the school in nursery two years ago and they did a lot of good for her to bring her on, she had a wonderful time.

"But she was very quiet after this, she was sobbing and thought she had done something wrong.

"I am an ex-teacher myself, so I can help with home schooling her for now, we hope to get her into another school but we have not been impressed with Hillingdon local authority as a whole."

The school met with the Rees family to try and resolve the dispute, but that did not change their stance.

Simon Hawley, Headteacher, Colham Manor Primary School: "We have met with and apologised to the parents of the pupil who remained in a classroom for 15-20 minutes during an afternoon assembly.

"Our main concern is always the safety and well being of our pupils and although this child was not in any danger we are reviewing our processes to ensure that a similar situation does not happen in the future."

Is the situation acceptable- do you think the parents have made the correct decision or overreacted? E-mail editorialuxbridge@trinitysouth.co.uk