Parents have been left furious after their children escaped through a hole in a fence from a primary school for students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (Send).
Three children were discovered around two miles from their Darlington primary school near the River Skerne after fleeing through a gap in the perimeter on June 3.
Durham Police deployed drones and ground officers to locate the pupils, aged between seven and nine, who had left Red Hall Primary School through a hole which had existed "for years".
Officers were contacted at 2.20pm and found the youngsters roughly an hour later, close to Darlington Police Station.
The children, who attend the school's provision for social, emotional and mental health needs, were discovered in heavy rain after no sightings had been reported for over an hour following their disappearance.
One mother, a 36-year-old dental therapist who wished to remain anonymous, arrived at the Headingley Crescent school at 2.15pm to collect her eight-year-old daughter, only to be confronted by police vehicles and drones overhead.
"It was horrific. You don't expect something to happen like that in this day and age," she said.
The woman, whose daughter has autism and ADHD, claimed the school failed to contact her about the incident.
Three children were discovered around two miles from their Darlington primary school
|Another parent, Sammie Daniel, said police officers brought her son home while it was pouring with rain, adding that she did not receive any communication from the school during the search either.
"I don't understand why I wasn't informed when it happened," Ms Daniel fumed.
The gap beneath the fence through which the children escaped has reportedly been present for several years, with the school acknowledging it has been "repeatedly filled in over the last few years".
For one of the pupils involved, this marked the third time she had absconded from the premises within six months. On the two previous occasions, she was located within an hour on the Red Hall estate.
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The children were discovered not far from the police station
|The anonymous mother has submitted a formal complaint to executive headteacher Julie Davidson, questioning why "a known escape route was not secured".
She demanded to know why additional safeguarding measures were not implemented following her daughter's earlier disappearances.
"I don't understand how a school can let this happen, let alone a Send school," Ms Daniel raged.
Ms Davidson insisted that parents were "contacted promptly" when the incident occurred and that police were also informed without delay.
She added: "We take the safety and wellbeing of all our students extremely seriously. When this incident took place, the parents of the children involved were contacted promptly to let them know what had happened, as were the police."
"We will always respond fully to concerns and complaints from families."
However, parents dispute this account, with one mother claiming she only learned of her daughter's disappearance upon arriving for collection, while another parent was reportedly informed by police rather than school staff.
The anonymous mother is now calling for a "serious safeguarding investigation" and has scheduled a meeting with the school.
"Anything could have happened to them," she said.
"It makes you not want to drop your kid off at school. You drop them off at school, and you expect them to be safe."
A Durham Police spokesman said: "Police were called just before 2.20pm on Wednesday (June 3) to assist with a search for three children who had been reported missing from Red Hall Primary School, in Darlington.
"Officers attended and located the children around an hour later."