Students quietly back in private classes after expulsions overturned

The elite school at the centre of an alleged bashing and sexting scandal is quietly running ‘five-star, tailor-made’ classes for four students after their expulsions were sensationally overturned.

Brisbane Boys College in Toowong. The suspended students have been told not to attend the school until 2021 but are in one-on-one classes nearby. Picture: Tara Croser

The elite school at the centre of an alleged bashing and sexting scandal is quietly running classes for four students after their expulsions were sensationally overturned.

Brisbane Boys College in Toowong publicly stated the group would not return to the “school campus” until next year, but The Courier-Mail can reveal the Year 9 students are receiving “five-star” personal tutoring just metres down the road.

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The one-on-one tuition with BBC teachers is being held in office space adjoining the school’s governing body, the Presbyterian and Methodist Schools Association, about 400m from the school.

The expulsion of four students over an alleged gang bashing at Brisbane Boys’ College was overturned after their parents filed a lawsuit against the elite school and its principal, and after an online petition began.

The 14-year-olds, who are learning separately and only come together at lunch time, were originally told they could not wear their school uniform and must dress in civilian attire, however the PMSA later overturned this, according to sources.

The classes began on Monday and are being supervised by a PMSA staffer, with a member of the school community describing them as a “five-star, tailor-made” education.

As yet, the boys are not allowed to resume school sport.

The four were expelled on September 17 in separate meetings with headmaster Paul Brown, according to the court claim filed by parents in the District Court seeking up to $750,000 for alleged negligence.

They also claimed school staff tried to force confessions and that sexting allegations were not investigated.

An online post by a student last week after the expulsions were overturned.

The school overturned the expulsions last Wednesday after an independent investigation into what BBC allegedly called the “gang bashing” of another Year 9 boy.

In court documents, the parents claimed the alleged victim had been repeatedly sending “sexually explicit images and texts” online “to girlfriends, female friends and sisters of various students at the school and other schools”.

The initial investigation into the September 8 lunchtime scuffle was conducted by middle school head David Bell, teacher Tim Harris and school discipline officer Trevor “Sarge” Evans.

The later independent investigation was performed by barrister and mediator Ross McSwann.

Court records show the negligence claim was still before the District Court in Brisbane late Tuesday.

In response to 17 detailed questions sent to Paul Brown and the PMSA yesterday Mr Brown said in a statement the lawsuit and school’s handling of the boys’ schooling was “a private matter and no further comment is appropriate”.

“The continued intrusion and speculation by the media around this matter is very distressing for those involved,” Mr Brown said.

The private tuition of the four is set to continue until the December 4 end of the school year.

Two other boys suspended for their alleged role in the scandal are back on campus attending normal classes.