St Paul’s parents, students protest at cathedral after principal removed

A group of St Paul’s School parents is maintaining the rage against the sacking of headmaster Paul Browning, staging a protest outside Anglican Church headquarters.

• Revealed: Principal’s demands before axing
• Inside story: Church breaks silence

A group of St Paul’s School parents is maintaining the rage against the sacking of headmaster Paul Browning, staging a protest outside Anglican Church headquarters and St John’s Cathedral.

On Monday, around 50 parents and students rallied to have the headmaster of 15 years reinstated, chanting “not St Paul’s without Paul” and “our school, our choice”.

It is understood the protest also led to Bishop Jeremy Greaves, chair of the Anglican Schools Commission which oversees the running of St Paul’s, requesting to meet privately with a handful of parents.

The Courier-Mail understands the face-to-face with Bishop Greaves reiterated the Church’s position as outlined in a statement to the school community last Friday.

Bishop Greaves has maintained that the commercialisation of a school-based learning tool called Realms of Thinking was a major factor in Dr Browning’s removal.

This has been disputed by those loyal to Dr Browning, including former school council member Allan Hird who has accused the Anglican Church of acting like a “totalitarian government” and “retrofitting the facts” to suits its narrative.

At Monday’s protest, parent and St Paul’s old boy Simon Skidmore said there had been no transparency from the Church regarding the principal’s termination.

Parents and students from St Paul's School protest the removal of principal Paul Browning at the Anglican Cathedral in Brisbane's CBD. Picture: Liam Cook

“This is a decision that was callous, calculated, arrogant, and we’d like to see the Anglican Church reverse its decision, and a return to accountability,” Dr Skidmore told The Courier Mail.

He said the decision to remove Dr Browning and also the entire school council, which was sacked on August 17, lacked consultation, care, and concern for the school community.

“It’s taken a big bite out of our community and caused great anxiety and distress,” he said.

“As parents we’ve lost confidence in the Anglican Church and it’s governance over, not just our school, but all the Anglican schools in this diocese.”

Year 11 pupil Emily Kremmer ditched the first day of school holidays to attend the protest.

“We’re all out here to bring back our headmaster, he doesn’t deserve to be sacked on petty reasons,” she said.

Ousted St Paul’s principal Paul Browning

Documents provided to The Courier-Mail reveal that one of the reasons Dr Browning fell out of favour with Bishop Greaves and the ASC was because he was no longer worshipping in an Anglican parish, but a Baptist one.

Year 11 student Matija King said a contrasting approach to religious education at the college might have been the reason behind Dr Browning’s dismissal.

“St Paul’s only has one religion class in the Chapel and you can even opt out of religion as a subject, so I believe the Anglican board aren’t happy with this hands-off approach to the religious curriculum and they want to embed that ideology more, but Dr Browning said no to that,” he said.

“All the reasons the Church has provided have not been satisfactory. Why would they be doing this out of the blue at such a hectic time of year?”

Simon Gipson, an Victorian educational consultant and former grammar school has been appointed interim principal from term 4.

St Paul’s School at Bald Hills

It comes as the Church was likened to a “totalitarian government” and accused of “retrofitting the facts” to suit its sacking of principal Paul Browning from St Paul’s School.

A member of the school council – axed in its entirety by Bishop Jeremy Greaves as chair of the Anglican Schools Commission – claims he was told the commercialisation of a lucrative learning tool was not a factor in Dr Browning’s shock dismissal last Monday.

The church on Friday claimed it was a major factor.

However, in correspondence since provided to The Courier-Mail reveals Bishop Greaves, in April, wrote the Realms of Thinking proposal for commercialisation did not form any part of the discussion and had no bearing on the decision of the ASC not to renew Dr Browning’s contract from 2024.

Dr Browning, headmaster of 15 years at the award-winning school in Brisbane’s Bald Hills, was told in March he would not be employed for another five-year term.

As revealed exclusively in The Sunday Mail, on August 21 Dr Browning asked Bishop Greaves and church officials to give him all the intellectual property to the “world-first” Realms of Thinking as part of his severance package so he could commercialise it himself.

The outgoing headmaster proposed to lease the tool back to St Paul’s for at least five years at an estimated saving to the school of $451,000.

Dr Browning requested a meeting to discuss the proposal but said it didn’t happen.

On September 15, after Dr Browning finished up at St Paul’s, Bishop Greaves wrote to the school community to outline “how we came to the decision not to renew Dr Browning’s contract”.

Students protest demanding the reinstatement of Dr Paul Browning.

He said: “Disagreement around policy and procedures and fundamental differences in purpose and vision for the school have been the major factors. This included Dr Browning’s desire to commercialise the school’s education program Realms of Thinking.”

Allan Hird, a member of the St Paul’s council removed by the church on August 17, said Realms of Thinking had nothing to do with the principal’s dismissal.

“Bishop Jeremy Greaves tries to retrofit the facts,” Mr Hird told The Courier-Mail.

“To pretend now that the commercialisation of Realms of Thinking was a factor in Paul’s sacking when clearly it was not reminds me of the actions of totalitarian governments.”

In a letter on April 18 this year, just weeks after Dr Browning was told his contract would not be renewed, Bishop Greaves wrote to then-council chair Reverend David Ruthven.

Bishop Greaves referred to an earlier April meeting between himself, Rev Ruthven, Mr Hird and ASC executive director Sherril Butterworth which tried to “assist the council in their understanding of the reasons for not offering a further contract to Dr Paul Browning”.

“I confirm the advice provided to you at the meeting, that the Realms of Thinking proposal for commercialisation did not form any part of the discussion and had no bearing on the decision of the ASC,” Bishop Greaves wrote.

The ASC considered whether a new contract should be offered over a number of months so it was not a decision made in haste,” he said in the letter, a copy has been obtained by The Courier-Mail.

“After 15 years under one principal, there was a prevailing view among members of the commission that it was time for fresh leadership: this is a matter of good governance as well as the broader health of an institution such as St Paul’s,” he said.

Bishop Greaves said areas that “will need to be addressed by the new principal” included being “an active member of the Anglican Church” and working “constructively with the Diocesan leadership”.

Dr Browning worships at a Baptist church.

Simon Gipson, an education consultant and former head of a Melbourne grammar school, will step in as interim principal from term 4 on October 3.

On Monday a group of parents will take their fight to have Dr Browning reinstated to Anglican Church headquarters, St John’s Cathedral, in Ann St.

Dr Browning and the Anglican Church have declined to comment.