Three pupils were involved in a crash which killed the driver of their car as they returned to their independent school in west Oxfordshire following a weekend away.

A 19-year-old man died and a 16-year-old boy was seriously injured in the car crash on an unclassified road outside Kingham Hill School in Kingham, near Chipping Norton, on Sunday night.

The victim was not a pupil or a former pupil, but had invited three friends male twins and a girl all in their GCSE year, to his parents' Gloucestershire home for the weekend.

They were on the journey back to the boarding school, at about 9pm, when the blue Renault Clio they were travelling in was in collision with a green and grey Daihatsu Fourtrak Estate close to the building's gates.

Headteacher Martin Morris said yesterday: "It has been very hard to deal with, but all the pupils have rallied, and they have been supporting each other."

The driver of the Clio was taken to The Horton Hospital in Banbury, but died shortly after 6am yesterday.

One of the male passengers, a rear seat passenger, was taken to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, where he remained in a serious condition last night.

The other passengers, the 16-year-old's twin brother and a female teenager, did not have life-threatening injuries. The male driver of the Daihatsu was not seriously hurt.

Kingham School is home to 230 boarding pupils aged 11 to 18.

Mr Morris said the 19-year-old who died was from Upper Slaughter in Gloucestershire. He has not yet been identified by police or the coroner's office.

He added: "Two of the pupils involved are in the Horton Hospital but one of the twins, who is seriously ill, is in hospital in Bristol.

"We have our own chapel, where we have kept a vigil all day, and the chaplain and school counsellors have been talking to pupils. A German oral examination was due to take place today, but it has been postponed because some pupils are too distraught. The chaplain has been visiting parents in the hospitals and I am also visiting.

"The pupils have been fantastic, supporting each other there is a very close family community here and it is at times like this that the strength of the school shines."

The road was closed for several hours while emergency services worked at the scene. Witnesses to the collision should call Pc Bob Merrill on 08458 505505.