A teenage girl is suing her former private school for allegedly failing in its duty of care after she was left with PTSD following a weekend of drinking and smoking a vape laced with a powerful synthetic drug.
Irune Pedrayes was only 14 and in her first weeks at the £34,000-a-year Buckswood School when she was supplied with vape liquid containing the stimulant mephedrone by senior boys at her school.
Miss Pedrayes, now 19, claims she spent a weekend vaping the Class B controlled substance and drinking with others on the rugby pitch at the school, which is near Hastings in East Sussex.
But the binge landed her in hospital after she suffered an extended ‘psychotic outbreak’ for which she blames the school’s alleged lack of safeguarding – a claim denied by its lawyers.
Her parents were not told and the breakdown continued for weeks until she left the school to return to her native Spain, where she received antipsychotic medication.
She is now suing the school for £145,000 in compensation at the High Court, claiming its failure to properly supervise pupils led to her drug use and resulting psychotic breakdown and PTSD.
Miss Pedrayes’ lawyers say she was a ‘vulnerable’ pupil with additional needs who should have been supported better, while adequate supervision of its pupils would have meant the three-day binge did not happen.
Prior to moving to the school from Spain, she had never used drugs and it was only when she arrived at Buckswood that she succumbed because of the ‘easy access’ to illicit substances there, they say.
Irune Pedrayes is suing her former private school for £145,000 of compensation after suffering a psychotic episode following a weekend of binging on drugs and alcohol
She was a pupil at £34,000-a-year East Sussex institution Buckswood, which she claims failed to properly protect pupils
Buckswood principal Kevin Samson (pictured) said Miss Pedrayes had not been a cause for concern over drugs prior to the weekend binge
However, the school – which caters for children aged 11-19 and calls itself a ‘global school in the heart of the British countryside’ with a ‘safe, supportive and family-like atmosphere’ – denies liability for her psychiatric conditions.
Lawyers for Buckswood say robust anti-drug policies were in place. The school’s behaviour policy states that pupils face exclusion if caught with drugs.
Sitting at the High Court in London, Judge Geraint Webb KC was told that Miss Pedrayes had suffered with ‘psychological problems’ while in Spain, where she failed a year at school before moving to the UK.
But her behaviour when she moved to Buckswood was challenging, with repeated detentions, before being ‘gated’ – confined to school grounds at weekend – at the time of the drug incident.
Her barrister Meghann McTague said the pupil was given ‘magic’, a vape liquid containing mephedrone, by upper sixth boys in September 2019. The other students had allegedly ordered it online – delivered directly to the school.
The drug – known by the street names ‘meow-meow’, bubble and ‘m-cat’ – conjures feelings of euphoria and alertness, but can also cause anxiety and heart palpitations.
‘The claimant spent that whole weekend – Friday, Saturday and Sunday – consuming a Class B drug that was supplied to her by older boys at the school, and drinking alcohol that was also supplied to her,’ Ms McTague said.
‘This drug use took place on the rugby pitch at the school. She was with four other students from the school. Nobody discovered those students.
‘Nobody noticed, despite attending mealtimes and at bedtime, that she was high all weekend.’
The school accepts that Miss Pedrayes suffered a ‘psychotic’ incident as a result of her drug use, which led to her being taken to hospital.
Buckswood has accepted that the former pupil suffered a psychotic episode – but maintains that it had robust safeguards in place
Miss Pedrayes (left) returned to her native Spain to receive antipsychotic treatment. Her parents were never told by the school that she had been using drugs
She complained of visual hallucinations, deja vu, tearfulness and anxiety, but went back to school without her parents being informed. Instead, they were told she had been caught with a vape, Ms McTague told the court.
Her behaviour deteriorated, with a further incident of drug use, and she left Buckswood in November, returning to Spain where she received psychiatric treatment. She continues to deal with PTSD and anxiety.
Ms McTague said the school was at fault because a 14-year-old should not be able to take drugs on school grounds for three days without being seen.
‘Whilst she was under Buckswood’s care, she was able to consume drugs and alcohol with other children, as well as boys aged between 17 and 19 in the sixth form, on the school premises,’ she added.
‘It is Miss Pedrayes’ evidence that there was “easy access” to drugs at the school and that ‘surveillance varied in terms of strictness’.
‘In her estimation, the use of drugs at the school was not something that was “very important” to the school.’
She accused the school of a ‘total failure of supervision’, adding: ‘The students should have been supervised by the boarding house staff. If they had been supervised properly, this never would have happened.’
A 2019 Ofsted inspection report mentioned ‘recent concerns about students using drugs’. The school is now assessed by the Independent Schools Inspectorate, which said in 2023 that safeguarding measures had been ‘strengthened’.
‘The claimant submits that this was far from a ‘one-off’ isolated incident,’ she told the judge.
‘Older students were having drugs delivered to the school and were able to use them in groups on the school premises with younger children.
‘There was an endemic problem of substance abuse and a culture of tolerance.’
Barrister Nigel Edwards, for Buckswood, told the judge that the school denies breaching the duty of care owed to Miss Pedrayes, pointing out that she had been made aware of the school’s ban on drugs and alcohol.
‘The defendant avers that it complied with its obligations and put in place risk assessments, systems and rules to educate, discourage and try to prevent pupils accessing drugs,’ he said.
‘Staff were available night and day within the boarding house. School rules were in place expressly prohibiting illicit drugs.
‘There was a behaviour policy in place. Staff could and did search pupils’ rooms. Staff could and did search pupils.’
Barristers for Buckswood told the High Court that Miss Pedrayes would have been aware of its policy on drugs and alcohol
He added that the school would speak to the police about drug issues in the school, suspend pupils who used drugs and bring in sniffer dogs to check for drugs.
He concluded: ‘The school had in place a reasonably adequate system of supervision…it is for the claimant to establish that the supervision provided fell below the reasonable standard.’
Part of Miss Pedrayes’ case is that there were ‘clear safeguarding risks’ relating to her, including ‘impulsive and negative behaviour,’ but that she had been instead treated by the school simply as a ‘badly behaved child.’
But the school’s principal, Kevin Samson, told the judge there was no evidence before the incident that Miss Pedrayes was ‘a cause for concern regarding vaping, smoking or drinking.’
He said the school had not told her parents about the incident after it happened because she had taken a urine test, which produced a negative result.
Continuing, he said he doubted that the drug use could have really happened on the rugby pitch, which is in plain sight, or whether Miss Pedrayes had really consumed drugs all weekend, as she claims.
He also insisted that adequate supervision was in place for pupils, adding: ‘It’s not realistic to have a member of staff next to every child 24 hours a day.’
Following a two-day trial, Judge Webb reserved his decision on the case until a later date.
