Students from an exclusive Melbourne girls' school were stranded by a cyclone, hospitalised with gastro and caught an aggressive strain of conjunctivitis during a "calamitous" school camp, court documents claim.
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The St Catherine's Year 10 camp to Fiji also ended in misery for deputy principal Rosemary Ward, who says her relationship with superiors soured after she escalated concerns about the trip's mismanagement. She claims she is being pressured to resign and is now seeking up to $250,000 in damages and other costs from the Toorak private school.
Ms Ward claimed the camp's "backpacker-style" accommodation was unsuitable for young females, who were leered at by older men.
Drunk backpackers woke the school group when they stumbled past the dormitories late at night, one room flooded due to the wild weather and some students ate their meals on the floor because there were not enough seats.
Thirty girls attended the optional camp, which ran from March 25 to April 10.
Ms Ward, who was the emergency contact, said half the students came down with a "virulent strain of conjunctivitis". Sick students were evacuated and a cyclone hit the area where the group was staying.
These events rendered the camp "disastrous and calamitous" and traumatised some students and staff members, Ms Ward said.
She raised concerns about the planning and management of the camp in a meeting on April 22.
She claimed the company contracted to run the trip were also to blame.
Ms Ward alleges that she was hauled into a meeting with the principal the following week and accused of "four failures" which included incorrectly addressing an email, attending the wrong address for a parent evening and her conduct as the emergency contact for the Fiji camp. Later that night, Ms Ward was told that the principal had lost confidence in her.
She was asked to consider resigning and allegedly told "if you do not, things will implode around you". Ms Ward said the principal had praised her at a performance review just weeks earlier.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn is alleging that the private school breached protections under the Fair Work Act.
The deputy principal has been unable to return to the school since May 5 due to a medical condition and is currently receiving treatment.
Clare Cannon, the chair of St Catherine's school council, said Ms Ward was not asked to resign.
She said the school did not comment on matters before court but said there were "inaccuracies in the claim and these will be addressed at the appropriate time".
School camps often run into difficulties. Last month, students at Brauer Secondary College in Warrnambool found themselves stranded at sea in waves of up to five metres.
