SENIOR staff at Canford School have paid tribute to an "exemplary" former student killed in a landslide during a holiday in Nepal.

Lottie Fullerton, who was reading medicine at Oxford University, suffered a fatal head injury as rocks rained down while she was trekking the country's Mustang region on August 10.

The 22-year-old was about to start her fourth year at Jesus College, Oxford, after a hugely successful education at Canford.

A spokesman for the school said: "The Canford School community is shocked and saddened by the news. Lottie joined Canford as a scholar in the Sixth Form from St Catherine’s Bramley and was an exemplary pupil both inside and outside the classroom.

"An A* student, it was no surprise to either her teachers or her peers that she was awarded a place to read medicine at Jesus College, Oxford. In sport she represented the school at both lacrosse and squash. She was dedicated to pursuing a career in medicine and developed her passion through community work locally in a care home and in a centre for children with disabilities, and abroad as part of a school partnership trip to an orphanage in Argentina.

Lottie's former house mistress, Marianne Marns, said: "Lottie was bright, fun, warm, humble in success and invariably polite. Staff and school friends will cherish their memories of her."

Ben Vessey, Canford Headmaster, added: "On behalf of the entire school, I would like to express our great sadness on learning the news of the untimely death of one of our former pupils, Lottie Fullerton. She was such a talented young woman who cared for others and had such an important career in the medical profession ahead of her. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends at this difficult time."

Hundreds have died in landslides and floods in Nepal, India and Bangladesh in recent weeks.