A MOTHER has questioned the safeguarding at her daughter's school after she claimed her child walked out of school and came home - and the school didn't appear to notice.

Laura Patten, whose daughter Lily – aged 13 - attends St Joseph Catholic High School in Workington, said her daughter walked out of school to go home after suffering some issues with bullying in class.

This, however, went unnoticed until she called the school to let them know, according to Laura.

Laura said she walked out of school at around 10.30am on October 3 and added: “She said that no one knew she walked out of school.

“Three hours later, I called, and I asked if they knew where my daughter was, but they didn’t.”

Laura said she waited three hours to call the school to ask if they knew where Lily was because she wanted to test them to see if they were on top of her whereabouts, as she had her suspicions that she was being ignored.

She explained: “In the middle of the three hours I left a message with the safeguarding lead at 12.30pm, and it got to just after 1pm when I spoke to a head of year.

“They were quite apologetic and said it shouldn’t have happened.

“The headteacher rang me (on October 4) and said it’s terrible that it happened.

“She’s a lovely girl, they’ve had no problems with her, she’s missing out on an education now.

“She’s lost her faith in her school."

Laura added she is taking Lily out of St Joseph and is looking for a different school.

A spokesperson from the school said: “We cannot comment on any safeguarding incidents or confidential matters. 

“We can say that safeguarding our students is our main priority.

“We always take any complaints very seriously and work with parents to resolve issues and concerns."

READ NEXT: Poem about fare dodging aims to scare 'dodgy geezers' straight