Boy missing after ‘falling into Thames on his way to school’

The missing 13-year-old boy "fell into the Thames" according to his principal

A young boy from a South London school has gone missing after he got off his bus early and is believed to have fallen into the River Thames from Tower Bridge, according to his principal. The Ark Globe Academy's Principal, Matt Jones, had told outlets that the missing boy was wearing his full uniform when he and a friend took the school bus together on Tuesday morning. However, it is believed the Year 8 student got off the bus near Tower Bridge - before his usual stop close to the school in Elephant and Castle - and failed to show up at the school. A letter has been sent to parents of pupils at the school and Mr Jones has confirmed that the police are treating it as a "missing persons incident". He went on to describe this as "distressing news" for the school community and that his "hopes and prayers" were with the missing boy's family. Understandably, this is a very personal matter and Mr Jones reinforced that so as not to "compromise the integrity of the police investigation [...] we wish to respect the privacy of the family while the investigation is ongoing". He also wanted to reassure parents and other Ark Globe students that the "academy knows the important role that they play in keeping children safe" and that staff are "well trained to spot concerning signals from students and they know exactly how to escalate issues if external, professional support is needed."