Winchester student collapses and dies (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Winchester student collapses and dies

10:25am Friday 14th September 2012 in Winchester

A 17-year-old schoolgirl at a Winchester public school has collapsed and died.

The teenager was a boarder at St Swithun's School for girls on Alresford Road, when she was taken ill at 1.30pm yesterday.

She was taken by ambulance to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester but died an hour later.

Police were called to the school but confirmed the death is not being treated as suspicious.

It is understood the girl, who has not been named, did not have any underlying health problems and the coroner has been told.

A school spokesman said today: ''This has been a complete shock as she was only 17 and we are currently talking with her parents.''

St Swithun's School, whose headmistress is Jane Gandee, charges £9,070 a term for boarders and educates girls aged 11 to 18 on a boarding and day basis.

It has about 440 pupils of whom about 200 are boarders. It also runs a co-educational prep school.