Somerville House in crisis as students allegedly told to pity teachers over leak
Somerville House - which charges up to $30k a year - has hired “cyber experts” to investigate how inappropriate notes written by staff about students and their families was accessed and leaked.
Students at a Brisbane private school where a leaked document revealed shocking staff notes about students and their families were allegedly told to “think of the teachers” at a meeting about the fiasco.
Furious parents also allege the year 11 children were “blamed” for the file being made public, which included comments written by teachers calling kids “rude” or having “superior attitude towards teachers, bordering on rudeness”.
It comes as exams for the impacted year level have been pushed back a day after students were shut out of their laptops while the school investigated the distribution of the document.
The spreadsheet – written by some memebers of Somerville House staff about Year 7 students in 2021 – included comments about children’s appearances, behaviour, and parents’ personalities and marital statuses, as well as learning disability considerations and academic results.
In the document, some children were labelled as “quirky”, “odd”, “disorganised” and “peers think they have head lice”.
Medical diagnoses and treatments were also recorded, which detailed whether the child was taking medication or was seeking a psychologist.
In an email to parents on Friday, the school said it had hired “cyber experts” to investigate how the document was accessed by students.
“These cyber experts are highly experienced in investigating incidents of this nature,” the email said.
“Please be assured that we are treating this situation very seriously, and we are taking steps to ensure the incident is independently and thoroughly investigated.
“We remain committed to making Somerville House an inclusive and engaging Christian environment.
“We’re working through what this incident means for our learning programs and whether there will be any changes to exam timetables”.
One parent, who wished to be anonymous, told The Courier-Mail they were appalled by the lack of action and claimed the school was trying to save their image.
“There really hasn’t been any concern towards the students either. It is all very uncool and (the children) can really see it for what it is, that the school is scrambling to save their own reputation,” they said.
The school’s leadership team called for a meeting with the year 11s on Thursday to discuss the incident, but parents told The Courier-Mail students were allegedly told to “think of the teachers” involved.
It is understood that the leadership team apologised to students during the meeting before saying they were “disappointed” the cohort had shared the document around.
A message sent to parents by the school’s academic staff on Thursday said the exam block would be “pushed back one day” due to the “temporary shutdown of school laptops”.
Students were promised counselling options with the school, but had yet to learn more about how to access them.
Some students had also chosen to take the Friday off in protest to demand a “better apology” from the school.
A second parent demanded that there be disciplinary action for teachers involved in writing notes about their students and parents.
“Has anyone truly turned their mind to the fact that these young girls are so impressionable … where is the care and well being right now for these young ladies? That is what angers me as well,” they said.
“Yes, teachers have to deal with all sorts of aspects of children’s social wellbeing and academics, we understand … it is the manner in which these teachers wrote these comments. They weren’t professional, they were malicious, catty comments.”
Somerville House principal Dr Sandra Hastie said an investigation into the incident was
ongoing and the school would directly communicate with parents and students with any relevant information.
“We sincerely apologise for the distress and hurt many within the School community are experiencing. We are very disappointed by what has happened, as the nature of some of these comments falls short of our standards and values,” Dr Hastie said.
“As soon as we were made aware of this incident, we worked with external experts to help us investigate what had happened.
“We are taking this situation very seriously, and student wellbeing is our priority. We have communicated with our school community and made counselling and pastoral care services available to them. We have also opened our Employee Assistance Program to students and families to ensure they have access to support.”
Dr Hastie thanked the school community for their support and said the school was committed to adhering to legal obligations and had notified the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
