Elite school terminates teacher’s contract after lingerie content discovery

An elite Toowoomba school has terminated a teacher’s contract after photos of her modelling lingerie were found online by students. Details here.

An elite all-boys school in Toowoomba terminated the contract of a young female staff member after students discovered photos of the teacher posing in lingerie online.

It is understood Toowoomba Grammar School told the teacher the photos online were considered serious misconduct and that she failed to adhere to the school’s social media policy.

A source, who has requested anonymity, claimed the photos resulted in her being “harassed” by students.

Toowoomba Grammar School. Picture: David Clark

The source said the school was alerted to photos of the former staffer modelling lingerie online, after students allegedly found them on social media, which led to an internal investigation by the school.

They claimed after investigating the matter, the school then terminated the woman’s contract for the remainder of the term after the investigation deemed she did not adhere to the social media policy and failed to notify the school of a secondary income, which is linked to a social media account.

It is understood after the discovery of the photos online, the former employee informed the school that she had received multiple prank calls from people she believed to be students who had found her contact number.

Toowoomba Grammar School. Picture: David Clark

The source alleged the school said to the teacher that prank calling was unacceptable, but also said it could not be considered stalking as her phone number and images could be easily accessed online.

“A teacher should not be judged for modelling photos from a past life,” the source said.

“The real issue is the lack of respect students have for their teachers – prank calling shows these students don’t value their teachers and they aren’t being punished for this behaviour.”

It is understood the school offered to investigate the involvement of students in the calls and said disciplinary action would be taken against any student found to have engaged in the prank calls.

The source said they were also aware of other alleged incidents at TGS where students had made inappropriate comments, disrespected teachers or bullied others over their physical appearance.

They said they had worked in the industry for years but claimed they had not seen students “behave this badly” at other private or public schools.

“It feels like these students have this sense of entitlement and privilege that means they can do whatever they want and get away with it,” the source said.

“The students treat female staff members with less respect than male staff members – the culture there feels like a boys’ club and the environment is very alpha male.

“I worry about how these students are going to treat women when they leave the school – I don’t feel the school is teaching these boys to respect women so they are going out into the world and continuing to behave like this.”

John Kinniburgh is the principal of Toowoomba Grammar School. Picture: supplied

Toowoomba Grammar School denied these reports but did not specify which information was inaccurate.

It has not been confirmed if students involved in the prank call allegations have been identified or reprimanded, with the TGS spokeswoman stating the school would not comment on individual student or staff matters for privacy reasons.

School headmaster Dr John Kinniburgh said the safety and wellbeing of students and staff remained the school’s highest priority.

“That is why TGS has comprehensive policies and procedures regarding conduct, recruitment, student safety and social media usage in place to ensure we meet all legal obligations,” Dr Kinniburgh said.

“While TGS is unable to discuss individual student or staff matters due to privacy considerations, the school expects all students and staff to adhere to the school’s policies and procedures.

“The school also has strong pastoral care processes, training, and reporting systems in place to ensure that student or staff concerns can be reported and investigated.”

It comes after it was alleged Toowoomba Grammar students intimidated a young adult woman following a school event earlier this year – which the school has also denied.

Do you have a tip-off about a story at a Toowoomba school? Let us know at [e-mail] or email [e-mail]

Originally published as Elite school terminates teacher’s contract after lingerie content discovery