Maths teacher Justin Farrugia, The Lakes South Morang College teacher Adam Jensen suspended

A maths teacher from a Catholic high school in Melton and a northern suburbs P-9 school educator are the latest to be suspended by the Victorian Institute of Teaching.

St Francis Catholic College teacher Justin Farrugia has been suspended on an interim basis by the teaching regulator. Picture: St Francis Catholic College

Two more Victorian teachers from schools in the state’s west and north have been suspended on an interim basis by the teaching regulator.

The first is St Francis Catholic College maths educator Justin Farrugia who was given an interim suspension by the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) on May 15.

The Herald Sun understands the suspension was in relation to allegations of an incident involving inappropriate conduct with a student who is no longer at the school.

The second is Adam Jensen, who taught at The Lakes South Morang College, a P-9 school in Melbourne’s north. He was given an interim suspension on May 16.

Mr Jenson stopped working at the school before his suspension and the Department of Education is conducting an investigation into his conduct.

The Lakes South Morang College teacher Adam Jensen was suspended on an interim basis by the teaching regulator. Picture: Supplied

The Commission for Children and Young People and VIT have been notified.

Mr Farrugia was employed by St Francis Catholic College as a mathematics teacher in 2018, back when it was still called Catholic Regional College Melton.

The school became St Francis Catholic College in 2023 after it disassociated from the CRC Federation – a network of other Catholic schools in the western suburbs.

School newsletters indicate Mr Farrugia was also a Year 8 homeroom teacher for the Francis house in 2021 and was the Mathematics Domain Leader in 2022.

He also worked at the school in 2023 and 2024.

It’s understood Mr Farrugia was directed not to teach at the school at the start of this year as investigations into allegations made against him continued.

A Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools spokeswoman confirmed the VIT has suspended the registration of a staff member from St Francis Catholic College on an interim basis.

“The care, safety, and wellbeing of students is our highest priority, and we take all allegations of misconduct extremely seriously,” she said.

“MACS has clear policies and procedures in place for responding to such matters and acted immediately upon being informed of allegations to remove the teacher from the College.”

Mr Farrugia was also a Year 8 homeroom teacher for the Francis house in 2021 and was the Mathematics Domain Leader in 2022. Picture: Google maps

The VIT has suspended four other teachers so far this year, including Richard Barren, Laura Hill, Justin Marks and Troy Ollis.

Mr Ollis was an English teacher from MacKillop College in Werribee before he was stood down and arrested and charged by police earlier this month.

The charges related to his alleged possession and production child abuse material, and sexually abusing a 16-yer-old child in his care.

Yu Blake has also been suspended on an interim basis along with Ciara Browne, Nakate McKay, Hayden Cooper, Christopher Powell and Raffaele Scarfo.

The latest VIT annual report notes the education regulator in 2023/24 suspended 44 teachers on an interim basis, refused the registration of seven individuals and received more than 600 reportable allegations against teachers involving physical or sexual abuse. It also prosecuted one person who was working as a teacher without registration.

As at June 30, 2024, the VIT had 2252 open matters for investigation originating from complaints or notifications about teachers.

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Originally published as Maths teacher Justin Farrugia, The Lakes South Morang College teacher Adam Jensen suspended