"Ms Pedrayes, who was 14 at the time, claimed the school had breached its duty of care towards her because staff did not inform her parents, who were living in Spain, of her drug use. Mr Webb agreed, saying the school fell below the requisite standard of care and was negligent. The school must pay 145,000 in damages as a result."
"In my judgment, it is clear that the symptoms noted by the school nurse amount to a personal injury of a type which should have been reported to the claimant's parents as soon as possible under the school's first aid policy. He said it was evident Ms Pedrayes struggled to comply with school rules and her behaviour was challenging and disruptive."
A 14-year-old pupil smoked mephedrone in a vape at boarding school and developed paranoid and manic symptoms, prompting hospital admission the next day. The school nurse recorded psychotic symptoms that met the school's first aid policy threshold for notifying parents, but the parents in Spain were not informed. The school's failure to notify parents and its handling of the incident were judged to fall below the requisite standard of care, resulting in a finding of negligence and an award of 145,000 in damages. The pupil had begun using drugs after arrival, was given mephedrone by an older student, continued drug use after hospitalisation, and was later withdrawn by her parents after a threatened expulsion.
Read at www.independent.co.uk
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]