Anna Harte sues St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School and principal for scholarship ‘without consent’

A St Margaret’s mum whose star daughter was “signed up” on a sports scholarship “without consent” has failed in her bid to have her identity kept secret after she sued the elite school and its principal.

Estranged mother Anna Harte outside the Brisbane Supreme Court. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

The mum of a student who graduated from one of the state’s elite private schools has failed in her bid to have her identity kept secret after she sued claiming damages from the school and principal for giving her daughter a scholarship “without” her consent.

Anna Harte appeared in the District Court in Brisbane on Monday before Judge Bernard Porter KC, where she said she is suing the trust that operates St Margaret’s Anglican Girls school in Ascot and principal Ros Curtis.

She told the court that she alleges Ms Curtis “signed up” her teen daughter Isabella for an academic and sports scholarship for 2023 on November 21, 2022 without getting her “parental consent”, which caused her to suffer a “psychological decompensation” and subsequent financial loss.

Anna Harte posing at the Quest Local Sports Stars Awards, Queensland Cricketers Club, Brisbane 22nd of October 2019. Photography: J&A Photography

Judge Porter described Ms Harte’s legal claim as “a little unusual”.

“It is not to say that you can’t succeed at trial, I just don’t know, but it is a little bit unusual,” Judge Porter said.

Judge Porter quizzed Ms Harte about how the school signing her daughter for a scholarship could have caused her to suffer financial loss.

“I was very, very, very, very affected by it,” Ms Harte said.

Anna Harte outside the Brisbane Supreme Court. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

“She intervened in that process and subverted my parental rights,” Ms Harte said of Ms Curtis.

“My daughter had a six year scholarship and she was an elite athlete,” she told the court.

Details of the claim were revealed during a pre-trial hearing about whether Ms Harte must disclose details to the school about her past employment including her previous salary, leave taken and tax returns as part of her claim for alleged losses suffered due to personal injury.

“How you perform at work also informs the extent of your likely future economic loss,” Judge Porter told Ms Harte when she questioned why she should have to hand over employment records.

Solicitor Brett Heath, for St Margaret’s, submitted that Ms Harte has previously told the court in documents that she had sought medical treatment “in respect her dissatisfaction with the school” from clinical psychologist Vanessa Bruce, from the Hamilton Psychology Clinic, as early as May 2022 which predates the alleged date of the November scholarship.

St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School principal Ros Curtis. Picture: David Kelly

He summarised the background to Ms Harte’s claim as that she “became estranged from her daughter Isabella” who was a student at St Margaret’s in 2022.

“The daughter Isabella moved out of Ms Harte’s home in about May 2022, to live with her (Anna Harte’s) sister from whom Ms Harte is also estranged,” Mr Heath told the court.

“After that in November 2022 the daughter is offered an athletic scholarship by the school, apparently without Ms Harte’s knowledge.

“The daughter brings it to Ms Harte’s attention on 17 December 2022. And that is the event that is stated in the notice of claim that precipitated the psychological decompensation,” Mr Heath told the court.

Ms Harte, from Ascot, asked Judge Porter to suppress her name and her daughter’s as she feared embarrassment for her daughter.

“Everyone will know that ‘St Margaret’s versus Harte’ is her, and she is an elite athlete,” Ms Harte submitted referring to the name of the case on the court list.

She conceded that her daughter was now aged 18 and she had not sought her daughter’s permission to seek a court order, suppressing her name from publication, on her behalf.