The family of a Sydney teenager who drowned on a school camp has been awarded nearly $500,000 in damages, but it is just a fraction of the $100 million they had claimed.

Scots College student Nathan Chaina fell into a flooded river at Kangaroo Valley and drowned on October 23, 1999, when he was 15 years old.

Nathan Chaina with his father. Nathan drowned on a Scots College school camp to Kangaroo Valley in 1999.

He and his older brother, Mathew, who witnessed the tragic accident, were taking part in a hike as part of a school camp.

A subsequent coronial inquest found that the school was liable for the death because it failed to properly prepare the students for the difficult conditions they faced and ignored the weather forecast on the day.