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Elite private girls' school's nightmare Year 10 camp.

It should have been the excursion of a lifetime, but for the St Catherine’s students who signed up for the school‘s March trip to Fiji, it quickly became an experience they’d rather forget.

According to The Age, the elite Melbourne school’s optional Year 10 camp saw the girls staying in inadequate “backpacker-style” dormitory accommodation where they were leered at by older men. One room also flooded during heavy rain, while several students were forced to eat their meals on the floor due to a lack of seating.

To add insult to injury, half of the group was also reportedly struck down by a “virulent strain of conjunctivitis”.

Oh, and there was a cyclone.

The calamitous nature of the camp didn’t stop once they were all safely back in Toorak though. Well, not for the school’s deputy principal anyway.

Rosmary Ward is suing the school over its handling of her complaints about the trip’s management, claiming that her concerns were answered with pressure to resign.

One week after presenting her complaint at a meeting on April 22, Ward alleges that she was informed the principal had lost confidence in her abilities and was asked to consider resigning. If she refused, she was reportedly told that things would “implode” around her. This was despite a positive performance review just weeks prior.

Ward’s lawyers are claiming the school have acted in breach of the Fair Work Act. She is seeking $250,000 in damages and other costs.

According to The Age, St Catherine’s has denied encouraging Ward to resign.