A spokesman for the Fire Service said, “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.” Labour’s Helen Hayes, the MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, said: “Very concerned to hear of the collapse of a ceiling at Rosemead School this morning. My thoughts are with the children, staff and parents. I hope no one is seriously injured. I’ve contacted the school to offer my support. My thanks to the emergency services who attended the scene.”

The alliance members, including Ofsted Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman, Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel De Souza and Chief Social Worker Isabelle Trowler, issued a joint call on all those that engage with children, whether as a parent, teacher, GP, police officer, social worker or anything else – to work together to break down any barriers they find to them being in school for every possible day. Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said, “Where children aren’t in school without good reason or don’t want to be in school something has gone substantially wrong and needs fixing. This new attendance alliance includes the people with the power to do just that.” Isabelle Trowler, Chief Social Worker for Children and Families will be working with all social work leaders and local authorities that have had particular success driving high attendance rates amongst children with social workers to share their innovation and best practice widely SOLACE and the Association of Directors of Children’s Services are to work together to better understand and formalise how the best results can be achieved when multiple organisations need to work together to address persistent and entrenched disengagement from school. The Northern Education Trust and Confederation of School Trusts, supported by leaders of special schools and alternative provision, will convene a working group of trust leaders to sit beneath the alliance to identify the best practice in supporting children to attend school regularly

Randstad was awarded the contract to run the programme in June after it submitted a £25m bid, which was considerably lower than rival bids and far below the £62m maximum suggested by the government. Nick Bent, the chief executive of the Tutor Trust, one of the partners providing tutoring in schools, told the committee: “I’m afraid all the evidence we’ve seen so far about Randstad’s performance in delivering this contract suggests this is a massive false economy and that the previous secretary of state [Gavin Williamson] made a mistake in awarding this contract to Randstad. Our day-to-day experience of working with them is they simply do not have enough staff or the right expertise.” The DfE maintains the programme is on target and the 28,000 figure does not take into account the school-led tutoring arm of the programme, which is the largest component. Data will be published next year to update progress. In a statement, they said, “The NTP is on track to reach hundreds of thousands more pupils this year, as part of a significant expansion to give schools more flexibility to deliver tutoring that works for them and families, and ensure no child is left behind. We have set high standards for the programme and feedback from schools shows the positive impact it is having in helping pupils to catch up.”

Ofsted found that despite the best efforts of many thousands of parents, teachers, social workers and carers, the challenges of the pandemic were so great that nearly all children fell behind in their education. The report said: Further education (FE) students and apprentices saw their classroom doors closed, their placements curtailed and their job prospects limited. Many SEND students have struggled and have been unable to access the local support services they rely on, while many vulnerable children have been overlooked, the report said. In its annual report, Ofsted also raised concerns about children in care feeling less safe due to lockdown restrictions and broken relationships with staff. It also revealed that some children in alternative provision (AP) settings had become more involved in criminal exploitation, including gang violence, and child sexual exploitation amid the pandemic. The watchdog is calling for the support for the most vulnerable children and those with SEND to rapidly return to pre-Covid levels. Spielman concluded; "Every generation gets one chance to enjoy its childhood and fulfil its potential. We must do all we can to make sure this generation is not denied its opportunity."