Two very young children escaped from The Grove School in Totnes and were found by a member of the public a quarter of an hour later at Morrison’s supermarket.

The children were from Year two which is six to seven years old.

According to a report from the BBC, the two left through a push-button rear gate around 12.45pm on October 9 during their lunch break.

In an e-mail to parents Head teacher Hilary Priest said she was ‘devastated’ by the incident and felt ‘wholly responsible that we hadn’t had the foresight to prevent this in the first place.’

An investigation by the school governors found that staff acted ‘’calmly and efficiently’’ to identify the missing children.

The report said the back gate needed to be made more secure with a code system. and that the incident was not reported to the board or Devon County Council as quickly as it could have been.

Devon County Council are providing safeguarding advice to the school and governors.

We have contacted The Grove School to ask for a comment but none has so-far been received.