Teenage girl, 16, is found dead ‘in a wooded area close to playing field’ at £44,000-a-year Wycombe Abbey School
- Thames Valley Police called to Wycombe Abbey School at 11.40pm on Friday
- The 16-year-old’s death is being treated as unexplained but not suspicious
Parents of pupils at one of the UK’s top all-girls schools have claimed the establishment is in the grip of a ‘culture of fear’ after a 16-year-old student was found dead.
Caitlyn Scott-Lee is understood to have been discovered in a wooded area close to a playing field at £44,000-a-year Wycombe Abbey School on Friday evening.
Concerned parents of pupils at the school – whose alumni include Dominic Cummings’ wife Mary Wakefield and King’s Speech actress Eve Best – have now voiced the concerns of an alleged culture of prioritising grades over welfare at the school.
One told the Mail the 16-year-old had been an ‘everyday girl’ who had always tried not to ‘disappoint her parents’.
He added: ‘I’m in shock and grief. This is a dereliction of duty by the school.
A 16-year-old schoolgirl has been found dead ‘in a wooded area close to the playing field’ at a £44,000-a-year boarding school (pictured, Wycombe Abbey School)
‘My daughter was talking to her (Caitlyn) over WhatsApp in the recent days.
‘There is a culture of fear in that school. It’s all about attracting the best students. It’s almost like a factory where collateral damage is just part of the game.
‘This was preventable. It was common knowledge among the parents that she was struggling mentally. This girl had cried for help before.’
The girl’s death is the latest tragedy to hit the renowned school.
In 2019, 17-year-old violinist Katya Tsukanova, daughter of Russian banker Igor Tsukanov, was found dead in the bathroom of her father’s £9.5million home.
The inquest heard that she had self-harmed and drank alcohol to cope with GCSE exam stress, and had not intended to kill herself.
In the same year, 15-year-old pupil Iris Goldsmith – daughter of financier Ben Goldsmith – was killed in a quad bike accident on the family farm in Somerset.
A spokesman for Thames Valley Police told MailOnline: ‘Thames Valley Police was called to the Wycombe Abbey School at around 11.40pm on Friday [21] after a 16-year-old girl was sadly found to have died.
‘Her death is being treated as unexplained but not suspicious and a file is being prepared for the coroner.’
The school, which was founded in 1896, has a population of 656 pupils with 591 who board in the High Wycombe location boasting 160 acres of conservation grounds.
It is a prestigious institution, with 13 per cent of students said to go on to attend Oxford and Cambridge universities.
A Wycombe Abbey School spokesperson was approached for comment.