Dulwich private school fined £80K after ceiling fell onto children

Children were evacuated from Rosemead Preparatory School in Dulwich

An school trust has been fined £80,000 after a classroom ceiling collapsed and injured 15 children and their teacher at a south London private school.

The ceiling of Rosemead Preparatory School in Dulwich collapsed on Year 3 pupils, aged seven and eight, in 2021.

The children and their teacher suffered fractured limbs, cuts and concussion when tables and chairs fell from the attic above.

The teacher and some pupils were taken to hospital.

• Children in hospital as school's ceiling collapses

The Thurlow Educational Trust, which runs the prep school, pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations.

It was also ordered to pay £7,116.31 in costs at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Rosemead Preparatory School and Nursery, which charges up to £5,606 a term, teaches children between the ages of two-and-a-half and 11 years.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found items, such as desks and chairs, were being stored in an area in the attic that was not designed to be load-bearing and caused the ceiling to collapse in November 2021.

The ceiling that collapsed onto pupils at Rosemead Preparatory school in 2021

The HSE investigation also found the trust had failed to undertake any structural or load-bearing capability assessments of the area being used to store the items, and it had also failed to assess whether the area was appropriate to be used for the storage.

'Mental and emotional impact'

HSE inspector Samuel Brown said: "This incident has resulted in injuries to multiple young children due to the failings of the school to ensure that chairs and tables were safely stored above their classroom.

"Schools should be a place where children can come to learn from teachers and one another without having to worry about their safety.

"Fortunately, this incident did not cause any more serious injuries, but the mental and emotional impact of such an event should not be understated."

Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]