A GIRL seriously injured when she fell out of a moving school bus is recovering at home and 'doing well'.

Gemma Wilkes, 11, fell from the emergency exit in a bizarre incident on her way home from Cheshire Oaks High School.

Her dad Paul cannot believe it was only a month ago that she was lying gravely ill in hospital with serious head injuries.

'We all feared the worst but we are just so glad the way she is recovering,' said Paul, whose daughter sometimes stays at his Bromborough home and the rest of the time at his ex-wife Jackie's house in Elton.

'If someone had told me four weeks ago she would be at this stage I wouldn't have believed it.'

Because Gemma was immobile for so long she has lost fitness and must use a wheelchair at times.

Paul, who has another daughter Becky, 14, explained: 'She can walk for half an hour or an hour or so and then feels tired. It's more precautionary. There's no long term damage. She's not going to be in a wheelchair.

'I would not say she's 100% how she was, but she's still as lively. This morning she was counting how many grey hairs I have!

'One of our friends asked her how her sister was and didn't realise it was Gemma who had the accident then she peeled her hair back to reveal the scars.'

Paul said friends and teachers had visited Gemma and homework had even been sent.

However, he said the summer holidays were only a few weeks away which was 'good timing'.

Paul, who has been given time off work by his company Nestlé, said Gemma remembers everything up until the accident and even arriving in hospital.

He said the family was still awaiting the outcome of a report by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) who are assessing whether there was a technical fault on the vehicle.

Paul said the possibility of legal action by the family would be discussed 'in the next couple of weeks' and would probably be dependent on the outcome of the VOSA report.

He said friends and family were collecting money for Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool where Gemma was treated and the adjoining Ronald McDonald House which provides hotel-style accommodation for families of young patients free of charge.