Preschool Escapee Makes Solo Trek Home

Alfie Aldridge, 3, is shown in this Oct. 11, 2011 photo, in the Surbiton section of London.

An intrepid toddler in England took matters into his own hands when he decided on his first day of class that preschool was  not for him.

Samantha Aldridge, 27, dropped her 3-year-old son, Alfie, off at the Knoll Mead Primary School in Surrey on a recent Monday morning for his first day of nursery school and then headed home, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail. The school called her 40 minutes later to let her know that her son was doing just fine.

So when her doorbell rang less than two hours later, she was shocked to see little Alfie standing in the doorway.

“When I opened the door and saw Alfie standing there, I didn’t know what to think,” Aldridge told the Daily Mail. “A wave of emotion came over me.”

To make the 10-minute trek home, Alfie  walked out of  his school building, scaled a 3-foot wall and crossed a busy street.

“Thankfully, I was home to answer the door,” Aldridge said. “It makes me feel sick to think of what could have happened. It’s a terrible thing for a mother to go through.”

Aldridge was upset that Alfie had managed to escape from the preschool unnoticed. She said that when she went back to the school with him, the staff hadn’t even realized he’d been missing, according to the Daily Mail.

“I was happy and relieved that he was OK, but I was also angry and upset that staff at the nursery had let this happen,” Aldridge said.

The school apologized, but Aldridge  enrolled Alfie and his 2-year-old sister, Lexi, in another nursery school that has higher security.