A number of children have been taken to hospital after a ceiling collapsed at a school in Dulwich, London Fire Brigade has said. Three fire engines and around 20 firefighters were called to Rosemead Prep School in Thurlow Park Road in Dulwich where the second-floor ceiling had collapsed in a Year 3 classroom.

A statement from the London Fire Brigade said: “A number of people were treated on the scene for minor injuries and a number of children taken to hospital by London Ambulance crews.”

“All other children and staff were safely evacuated from the building. Firefighters carried out a systematic search of the building and confirmed with the school that all children and staff were accounted for.

“A specialist USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) team and equipment were also used to confirm the building was at no further risk of collapse. “

“Fire crews from West Norwood and Brixton fire stations attended the incident.

“The Brigade was called at 0922 and the incident was over for crews by 1150.”

FIS Technical Director Joe Cilia said: “Our thoughts are with all impacted by this unfortunate and traumatic event.  We have been in touch with the school to offer assistance. 

It is too early to speculate as to the cause of this collapse.

The reasons that ceilings can collapse or partially collapse can be linked to moisture, issues with the installation or faults that have been introduced during maintenance and ancillary works or simply using the ceiling to suspend additional weight that it was not designed to take.”

FIS provides a range of guidance for specifiers and contractors to support safety in the sector, this is all backed by expert helplines that we encourage clients, contractors and specifiers to utilise.  As with any instance of this nature we remain on hand to interrogate the particulars of this case and ensure that the sector continues to learn and that all future accidents are avoided.”

A spokesman for the Met said: “All children and staff have been accounted for and the school is currently in the process of contacting parents. We await an update on assessment of any injuries.”

London Ambulance Service said: “We sent a number of resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, medics in cars, advanced paramedics, incident response officers, emergency planning resilience officers, our hazardous area response team, and a command support vehicle.

“Our crews treated a number of patients at the scene and have now been stood down.”

Rosemead school said in a statement: “This morning in one of our Year 3 classrooms, a ceiling collapsed resulting in the attendance of the emergency services.

“Some injuries were sustained and some of those involved have been taken to hospital and we are working with our students and families to support them.

“We are working closely with the authorities to understand the cause of the incident and we will provide more information as soon as we can.

“Parents and families can be reassured that the school day is continuing as usual today for the rest of the school.”

Source: https://inews.co.uk/news/dulwich-school-children-hospital-london-ceiling-collapse-latest-news-1301394