The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has reminded educational authorities of the importance of safety on school trips following an incident in which a child was seriously injured.

Tameside MBC and Clockwork Day Nursery had taken a class of children on a trip to a park in Ashton under Lyne.

However, during the course of the visit, a group of children had been left unsupervised and had wandered down to an uncovered water channel.

One of the children slipped and fell 24 metres into the channel, where he became impaled on debris in the water.

HSE inspector Catherine Willars said the nursery had not carried out a sufficient risk assessment before the outing and had not ensured proper supervision.

"This was a serious incident that could have easily been avoided had simple, sensible precautions been taken by the nursery and the council," she commented.

According to the Department for Education and Employment, teachers and other staff in charge of pupils also have a common law duty to act as any reasonably prudent parent would do in the same circumstances.

Those responsible for children under five should also ensure a staff to child ration of more than one for every six.