An 11-year-old pupil from Bedford was left devastated after a long-awaited school trip to Paris goes wrong. Pupil Mohammed Aashir Zabid was left alone at Dover police station by his school Goldington Green Academy after it was discovered he didn’t have a passport.
His mother Sadia Haleema believed the trip was functioning under a collective or group passport, often used for school trips. On arrival at the school before the trip, she said no documents were checked prior to the coach journey to Dover. A few hours later, she had a phone call saying her son didn’t have his passport on him.
The school presented her with two options - to deliver the passport to Dover or pay to have someone deliver it. When it became clear the passport would not be delivered in time, the school phoned Haleema and asked for permission to send him home in a taxi for the 140-mile journey back home while the rest of the school staff and pupils continued on the trip.
Despite Haleema’s objections, the staff left her son alone at Dover police station to wait for her to pick him up.
Although Aashir was picked up, Ms Haleema says the incident has deeply affected his mental health, appetite and sleeping patterns.
Caroline Skingsley, the headteacher at Goldington Green Academy, said that she is unable to disclose any information about individual pupils due to data protection. However, she went on to say: “I can confirm that we worked with the parent, the police and the local authority to ensure that at no point was any child left in an unsafe situation and that all related policies and procedures have been updated in line with relevant advice and guidance as we take safeguarding of all children very seriously.”
