Government to overhaul staff-student ratios after Ringwood teen dies on school trip

A principal has addressed parents after school staff thought a teen who died on an overseas tour was “trying to avoid doing planned activities” when he claimed to be ill and asked to go back to hospital.

A teen on the overseas school trip of a lifetime died after overstretched staff and a hospital wrongly thought his illness was homesickness.

The death of Blackburn High School student Timothy Fehring, 15, has forced the state government to overhaul school staffing requirements for international tours.

His shattered parents have detailed their heartbreak at losing their loving, energetic and bubbly son, who died just a week after he jetted off on the European tour, full of hope and excitement.

“He was very, very sick, but he wanted to soldier on,” his mother Barbara Fehring said.

“He didn’t want to let anyone down, so he was trying to please everyone. He was trying hard not to disrupt the trip for the other students.”

Coroner Simon McGregor found school staff made the “wrong judgment call” in handling his illness, urging him to continue taking part in walking and cycling tours, ­despite his lethargy, weight loss and repeated vomiting in street bins.

In an email sent to the school community on Monday, Blackburn High School principal Joanna Alexander said the staffing levels on the trip were in line with the Department’s requirements in 2019, though the minimum staffing requirements had since been increased.

She added the Department was “satisfied” school staff acted appropriately to support Timothy when he became unwell by seeking medical attention.

Ms Alexander also extended her “deepest sympathies” to Timothy’s loved ones.

“As a school community, we remain terribly sorry for their tragic loss,” she said.

“It is important to recognise that this tragedy continues to have a profound impact on all of our school community – students, staff, and parents.”

The two school staff members chaperoning 17 students on the cultural tour initially believed Tim was “suffering the effects of jetlag, different food, the heat, and change of climate” when he was sick upon arrival on June 23, 2019, the coroner’s findings state.

Timothy, pictured with his sister at the airport, as he left on his big trip in 2019.

Timothy Dale Fehring died while on a school trip in Germany. Picture: Jason Edwards

With his symptoms persisting a few days into the trip, Tim was taken to Munich Children’s Hospital, where he was “thoroughly examined” by a doctor, who diagnosed his illness as a combination of homesickness, constipation and gastro.

Slumped over, clutching his stomach and still barely able to walk the next day, Tim asked to go back to hospital, but staff denied this request as they thought he was “trying to avoid doing the planned activities”.

After vomiting his dinner that night, arrangements were made for him to fly home and on the morning of June 28 he was taken to see a GP to secure a fit-to-travel certificate so he could make the journey home alone.

Telling his teacher it was “hot and stuffy” in the office, Tim stepped into the hallway while the bill was being paid.

Moments later, he was found unresponsive on the ground, covered in vomit and with blood trickling from his nose.

Unable to rouse him, a doctor began heart massage and CPR before he was flown to a paediatric intensive care unit. There, doctors noted his pupils were at “maximum ­dilation”, indicating a lack of oxygen leading to brain ­injury.

A CT scan was performed while the doctor tried to ­restart his heart, revealing ­severe brain swelling.

Tim’s shattered family say they were unaware how sick he was. Picture: Jason Edwards

Tim died about 1.30pm that day – less than a week into the trip he had been “over the moon” about.

Autopsies revealed he had a “highly acute” infection in his stomach and lungs – gastroenteritis and bronchopneumonia – which probably led to heart failure.

His close-knit family, from Ringwood North, remembered him as an energetic, sport-loving, bubbly boy who always wore a bright smile and derived great joy from telling jokes and making those around him, including his many friends, laugh.

His parents say they were unaware of how sick their son was and believed if he had been admitted to hospital when he was taken for a check-up then the illness might not have progressed, but stretched school staff might have felt pressured to keep the group’s itinerary on track.

Ms Fehring said this was compounded by the fact staff did not know her son “at all” so were unable to “gauge how sick he was”.

“These staff members took a group of kids they’d never taught … that they didn’t really know from a bar of soap,” she said. “If they knew him they would have realised he was not the type of child to make a fuss.”

Timothy, pictured with his older sister, Emma and dad Dale, has been described as a bubbly boy who was not the type to make a fuss. Picture: Supplied

It was her family’s opinion that Tim – who had been so excited about practising his German language skills, ­immersing himself in the culture and trying an authentic schnitzel – was never homesick, but rather was seriously unwell.

While staff on the trip were first-aid trained, they believe they weren’t “well equipped to deal with an emergency situation”.

They therefore believe that in addition to better staff-student ratios, somebody with a medical background, such as a school nurse, should be present on school trips so no other family was forced to endure what they had.

In two recommendations, coroner McGregor called for the Department of Education to increase its ratios on overseas trips to ensure enough resources in the event somebody becoming sick.

He also recommended the department review its excursions policy after determining teachers should have sought, then followed, medical advice about Tim’s wellbeing, rather than restricting it to advice about travel anxiety.

The department confirmed it had accepted the coroner’s recommendations.