Schools – Non-Delegable Duty of Care

Summary - The non-delegable duty of care owed by a school to its students continues while a student is on an excursion.

In November 2011, his Honour Judge Elkaim in the NSW District Court found both a school and a ski resort liable for a back injury sustained by a school student while the student was participating in a skiing lesson organised by the ski resort during a school excursion (see Harris v Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Archdiocese of Sydney [2011] NSWDC 172). While it may seem surprising that a school could be held liable for an injury to a student sustained during a school excursion in an activity supervised by a third party in a field very different from school studies, this result arises from a legal concept known as a "non-delegable duty of care".