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A Cambridge student is suing a top boarding school for £300,000 after a drunken fall from a window left her permanently disabled.
Amy St Johnston was a 16-year-old pupil at Oundle School when she got drunk at a Valentine's Ball and plunged from her first-floor room.
Miss St Johnston, now 20, claims the accident happened because teachers allowed a 'drinking culture' to form among senior pupils at the £22,800-a-year school.
Documents lodged at the High Court also state that the window she fell from failed to meet building regulations because it was able to open twelve inches - three times the legal limit of four inches.
The accident took place on February 26, 2005, when Miss St Johnston was in the lower sixth at the mixed independent school in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.
She claims she started drinking a 'combination of alcoholic drinks' with other pupils at 6pm as they prepared for the Valentine's Ball.
She continued to drink after returning to her boarding house, Wyatt House, after supper, before going out at 8pm.
A male teacher at the ball, who noticed Amy was 'under the influence of alcohol', said in an email two days later: 'As Amy went to the toilet she was bouncing off an architrave and didn't look totally in control of her body movements.'
He made her sit in a room for 20 minutes to 'cool off' but the writ alleges she returned to the ball as soon as he had left the room.
The same teacher is later claimed to have sent her back to her room under the supervision of another female pupil.
Miss St Johnston was given a breathalyser test by house mistress Sheila Hipple, which confirmed she had been drinking, and taken to her room.
At some point in the next ten minutes, the writ continues, she 'leaned so far out of the window that she fell out', plunging 15ft to the ground below.
Her spinal cord was damaged in the fall. She now suffers from partial paraplegia, which can lead to loss of limb movement and other complications.
Following the accident, Miss St Johnston, who walks with the help of crutches, left the 1,090-pupil school to continue her studies at a different sixth form.
She is now studying classics at Selwyn College, Cambridge.
Her writ claims the school was in loco parentis, and accuses it of failing in its duty of care by leaving Miss St Johnston in a first-floor room with a window not fitted with a restricter while it was 'known she was under the influence of alcohol'.
Documents lodged at the High Court state the window Amy fell from failed to meet building regulations
Miss St Johnston refused to discuss the case yesterday, saying: 'I don't really want to talk about it, I don't think I should - partly because of legal reasons but also it's just not something I want to discuss.'
Her father James, a 47-year-old millionaire financial sector worker for KNG Securities, and mother Emily, 44, also refused to comment last night at the family home in Woodbridge, near Ipswich.
However, a close friend of Miss St Johnston's said: 'She is a remarkable girl who has come through a lot with incredible determination.
'She has never lost sight of how lucky she is and how supportive her family have been.
'But she and her parents do feel she was failed by the school and that Oundle should bear some responsibility.'
Oundle's rules state that sixth formers can drink beer, cider and wine at social events sanctioned by a house master or mistress where a 'substantial meal' is served.
Since 1969, the British Standard Code of Practice recommends that limiters are fitted on windows above ground level restricting opening to less than four inches, the writ adds.
The 1998 Edition of Building Regulations also made it a requirement they are fitted with limiters or safety guards to prevent falls.
Charles Bush, headmaster of Oundle School, refused to discuss the case yesterday.
However, spokesman Liz Dillarstone said: 'The matter is being dealt with by the school's legal advisors and Mr Bush is not in a position to comment further.'
Amy St Johnston was a 16-year-old pupil at Oundle School when she got drunk at a Valentine's Ball and plunged from her first-floor room.
Miss St Johnston, now 20, claims the accident happened because teachers allowed a 'drinking culture' to form among senior pupils at the £22,800-a-year school.
Documents lodged at the High Court also state that the window she fell from failed to meet building regulations because it was able to open twelve inches - three times the legal limit of four inches.
The accident took place on February 26, 2005, when Miss St Johnston was in the lower sixth at the mixed independent school in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.
She claims she started drinking a 'combination of alcoholic drinks' with other pupils at 6pm as they prepared for the Valentine's Ball.
She continued to drink after returning to her boarding house, Wyatt House, after supper, before going out at 8pm.
A male teacher at the ball, who noticed Amy was 'under the influence of alcohol', said in an email two days later: 'As Amy went to the toilet she was bouncing off an architrave and didn't look totally in control of her body movements.'
He made her sit in a room for 20 minutes to 'cool off' but the writ alleges she returned to the ball as soon as he had left the room.
The same teacher is later claimed to have sent her back to her room under the supervision of another female pupil.
Miss St Johnston was given a breathalyser test by house mistress Sheila Hipple, which confirmed she had been drinking, and taken to her room.
At some point in the next ten minutes, the writ continues, she 'leaned so far out of the window that she fell out', plunging 15ft to the ground below.
Her spinal cord was damaged in the fall. She now suffers from partial paraplegia, which can lead to loss of limb movement and other complications.
Following the accident, Miss St Johnston, who walks with the help of crutches, left the 1,090-pupil school to continue her studies at a different sixth form.
She is now studying classics at Selwyn College, Cambridge.
Her writ claims the school was in loco parentis, and accuses it of failing in its duty of care by leaving Miss St Johnston in a first-floor room with a window not fitted with a restricter while it was 'known she was under the influence of alcohol'.
Documents lodged at the High Court state the window Amy fell from failed to meet building regulations
Miss St Johnston refused to discuss the case yesterday, saying: 'I don't really want to talk about it, I don't think I should - partly because of legal reasons but also it's just not something I want to discuss.'
Her father James, a 47-year-old millionaire financial sector worker for KNG Securities, and mother Emily, 44, also refused to comment last night at the family home in Woodbridge, near Ipswich.
However, a close friend of Miss St Johnston's said: 'She is a remarkable girl who has come through a lot with incredible determination.
'She has never lost sight of how lucky she is and how supportive her family have been.
'But she and her parents do feel she was failed by the school and that Oundle should bear some responsibility.'
Oundle's rules state that sixth formers can drink beer, cider and wine at social events sanctioned by a house master or mistress where a 'substantial meal' is served.
Since 1969, the British Standard Code of Practice recommends that limiters are fitted on windows above ground level restricting opening to less than four inches, the writ adds.
The 1998 Edition of Building Regulations also made it a requirement they are fitted with limiters or safety guards to prevent falls.
Charles Bush, headmaster of Oundle School, refused to discuss the case yesterday.
However, spokesman Liz Dillarstone said: 'The matter is being dealt with by the school's legal advisors and Mr Bush is not in a position to comment further.'
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