PMSA scandal: Elite schools’ damning fall from grace
FOUR elite Queensland private schools run by the scandal-plagued PMSA church body all posted alarming falls in top OP scores in 2017, it can be revealed.
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- Clayfield College’s big drop in top OP scores revealed
- Scandal engulfing four private schools has cost careers and smeared reputations
- New agencies investigate PMSA
- Elite school Clayfield College in shock debt crisis
NOTE: The Press Council has partially upheld a complaint by Presbyterian and Methodist Schools Association. Read the full adjudication here.
FOUR elite private schools run by a scandal-plagued church body all posted alarming falls in top OP scores in Queensland in 2017.
The Presbyterian and Methodist Schools Association (PMSA) is under huge pressure to be axed over a litany of alleged cover-ups, financial mismanagement, and shock exodus of leading educators and staff.
Latest figures show an embarrassing decline in the top bracket of OP-eligible students at the PMSA-run schools.
Parents who pay more than $22,000-a-year for a child to attend the elite schools are deeply concerned at the sharp drop in standards by the number of students eligible for the top OP 1-5 scores.
But PMSA Council chairman Greg Adsett and his fellow eight councillors refuse to apologise for presiding over what critics have described as a “toxic culture” of incompetence and corporate governance failings.
“In PMSA schools, a good education includes academic excellence as well as a foundation in Christian values, extensive co-curricular programs and opportunities for personal growth,” Mr Adsett said in a statement when questioned about the fall in top OP scores. “Our schools are outstanding in all of these areas. Our teachers and resources enable all of our students to achieve their potential.”
Beyond PMSA, which represents 4500 parents and alumni, are demanding church moderators immediately dismantle the archaic 100-year-old church body and allow the schools to be run by 21st century standards.
The PMSA’s flagship all-male Brisbane Boys College at Toowong had a big fall (-12.09%) in OP 1-5 eligible students last year.
This compared with nearby rivals St Peter’s Lutheran College at Indooroopilly (up 8.78%), Brisbane Boys Grammar (up 3.63%) and St Joseph’s Nudgee College (up 4.12%).
The PMSA’s all-girls Somerville House — where school principal Flo Kearney was summarily dismissed and forced to resign after she questioned the PMSA’s alleged cover-up of a data security breach — also posted a drop (-6.94%).
Other elite all-girls schools such as All Hallows (up 4.42%), Brisbane Girls Grammar School (2.89%) and St Margaret’s Anglican Girls Grammar School (1.34%) all improved their numbers of top achievers.
The PMSA’s Sunshine Coast Grammar School also fell (-7.68%) while its embattled Clayfield College suffered another blow after recording one of the biggest drops in top OP scores in Queensland in 2017.
The college, which lost 100 students in a year and is at the centre of a management controversy with the church governing body, dropped from scoring 22 OPs between 1-5 in 2016 to 13 in 2017 — the second lowest improvement level for schools with more than 10 OP-eligible students in the state.
Clayfield principal Kathy Bishop yesterday said every Year 12 cohort had different outcomes.
“A number does not define a student and our Clayfield College young women have so many more attributes and skills,’’ she said.
“While our 2016 cohort achieved highly, we acknowledge the 2017 girls for their achievements.
“We congratulate our 2017 Year 12 students on the results achieved for Overall Positions, Core Skills, Diploma courses, VET qualifications, Queensland Certificate of Education, and 100 per cent first round QTAC offers.”
The comments comes after The Courier-Mail revealed last week the PMSA had been using sister school Somerville House as a cash cow to prop up ailing finances of Clayfield College.
Brisbane Boys College, and Sunshine Coast Grammar School have all been contacted for comment.
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