It has not been a good week for day care centres. Just days after two children ended up in hospital with severe sunburn because day care staff ran out of sun cream, another shocking incident has occurred in New Zealand.

 

The country’s Ministry of Education has launched an investigation after two young children broke out of a learning centre and wandered across a four-lane road.

 

The incident occurred on July 24, when two children from The Cubby House early childhood centre unlatched the bolts on a gate and left the grounds through fire exits in the car park. The tots then wandered across a highway, before being discovered in a car park 300 metres down the road.

 

Centre owners Simon and Jane Pervan addressed the incident in a letter sent out to parents, writing: “This appears to have happened quickly…We believed the height of the gates and the four bolts required to be unlatched ensured that children would not be able to open these.”

 

 

They added that the exits and boundaries had passed official safety requirements prior to the incident.

 

Both the police and the Ministry of Education have been informed of the incident, which is now being investigated by authorities.

 

Commenting this week, Ministry head Katrina Casey said: “The centre is taking this incident seriously, and has made some immediate changes to its practice. We will be meeting with the service again as our investigation progresses.”

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