Sandhurst Road School Disaster The Sandhurst Road School Disaster was an air raid on a school in Minard Road , Catford , south east London on Wednesday , 20 January 1943 . A German fighter - bomber dropped a bomb on the school at 12 . 30 pm , killing 32 children and six staff and injuring another 60 people . Many were buried for hours under the rubble , and six more children died in hospital . The attack . The German attack was part of a raid by 28 Focke - Wulf Fw 190A - 4U3 fighter - bombers escorted by Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters , which took off at noon from an airfield in German - occupied France . The planes were to attack any targets of opportunity in what the Germans called a " Terrorangriff " ( " terror raid " ) . The German pilot who attacked the school was " Hauptmann " Heinz Schumann ( born 29 November 1914 , killed in action 8 November 1943 ) from " Jagdgeschwader 2 " . He was flying a Focke - Wulf Fw 190A - 4 carrying a single 500 kg SC500 bomb . It is debated whether Schumann deliberately targeted the school , or simply attacked what looked like a large factory ( the school was several stories high ) . Chris Goss ' s book about the " Mini - Blitz " or the " Tip - and - run " raids includes a Luftwaffe " Action Report " for this raid . The report mentions that a large building was targeted and destroyed in the raid and noted as a block of flats . Goss also says that the RAF had bombed Berlin three days prior to this terror - raid which was a retaliation raid demanded by Hitler . Deaths . The bomb killed ( either immediately or later in hospital ) 24 pupils and two teachers in the dining room . Five more children were killed on a staircase and nine in second floor classrooms . The blast also destroyed the staff room killing three teachers and another was killed in a science room . Roughly 60 others were injured . The teachers who died were : Mrs Connie Taylor , Mrs Ethel Betts , Mrs Virginia Carr , Miss Mary Jukes , Miss Gladys Knowelden and Miss Harriet Langdon . Witness reports suggest the attacking planes first flew past the school and then bombed it on a second run . Another plane is alleged to have also strafed the playground and local streets . Due to inefficiencies of the warning system , the air raid siren had not sounded by the time the German planes arrived . Many children were having their lunch and the attack destroyed the area of the school where they were eating . In the same raid four barrage balloon sites were destroyed in Lewisham , a large gas holder in Sydenham was set alight , a Deptford power station suffered three direct hits , and the President ’ s House at the Royal Naval College , Greenwich . Funeral and memorials . Of the 38 children and six teachers killed by the bombing , 31 children and one teacher were buried together at Hither Green Cemetery in a civilian war dead plot . The mass grave has a rectangular stone surround that contains a raised tablet with inscription . The burial was conducted by the Bishop of Southwark Bertram Simpson , and over 7 , 000 mourners attended . The school now has both a stained glass window and a memorial garden commemorating the event . Aftermath . Shortly after the raid , an inquiry into the events surrounding the attack and the responses of the emergency services was held at Lewisham Town Hall . It was noted that local Civil Defence services arrived at the school quickly and special thanks were made to volunteers , the Heavy Rescue Squads , REME soldiers billeted at St Dunstan ' s College and Canadian forces from Bromley Wood . Some issues were raised about how the police were unable to control parents at the school digging for their children , but given the nature of the incident this was noted to have been virtually impossible to stop . See also . Hither Green Cemetery