The biggest controversies at NSW’s elite private schools revealed

From serious cyberbullying to deepfake porn and drugs on camp, here are the sordid scandals that have plagued our richest, most prestigious private schools.

Cranbrook was forced to set up an external reporting line for “serious” allegations after claims of a toxic culture, mismanagement and a teacher’s sexually explicit emails emerged.

Some of NSW’s most elite private schools have been embroiled in many scandals in recent years from serious cyberbullying incidents including vile lists targeting young female pupils

Here are the controversies that have rocked many of the state’s most prestigious schools.

Teacher stood down over ‘offensive joke’

In May, it was revealed a male teacher at one of Sydney’s top private schools has been under investigation by NSW Police and child protection authorities after he allegedly made an offensive joke to two female cadets in his care.

The Waverley College staff member was stood down while a “full and robust” investigation into the incident was carried out into disturbing comments he allegedly made during a cadet camp at Holsworthy Army base.

The teacher was on a five-day joint camp with several hundred students from Waverley and neighbouring school St Catherine’s, when he allegedly made an offensive joke to two cadets, while they were camping in the bush.

A police investigation found no offence had been committed.

Deepfake controversies plague schools

In recent months, female teachers were reported to be increasingly being targeted by male students who were caught creating explicit AI-generated deepfakes of them.

The Daily Telegraph was told of a litany of shocking incidents in recent months, where female educators across NSW had nude deepfakes of them circulated in the schoolyard.

Education sources say one of the incidents, which occurred at a private school in regional NSW earlier this year, involved a female teacher and student depicted in fake pornographic images created using an AI app.

Young male students from a Sydney private school were also caught selling explicit deepfake images of their female classmates in online group chats for less than $5.

Reporting line set-up after serious claims of toxic school culture

In March last year, scandal-plagued Sydney private school Cranbrook was forced to set up an external reporting line for “serious” allegations after claims of toxic culture, mismanagement and a teacher’s sexually explicit emails.

Cranbrook School in Bellevue Hill was forced to set up a reporting line to handle staff complaints in 2024. Picture: Richard Dobson

Cranbrook’s school council informed the school community on Monday that it would be taking several immediate steps in response to the allegations which came to light over the past week, including establishing “an external avenue for people to report serious concerns”.

“This will be available to current and former staff, students and parents of Cranbrook, and to anyone else who believes they have relevant information,” Council President Geoff Lovell wrote at the time.

Shock claims of cyberbullying

Claims of cyber-bullying at one of Sydney’s most prestigious schools last December became the subject of a police investigation amid claims the school did not take adequate action to stop it.

A student, who attends The Scots College at Bellevue Hill, had allegedly been subjected to schoolyard bullying and vile online messages on Instagram, screenshots of which were supplied to The Daily Telegraph.

One read: “How are u stupid little fat F...”. Another said: “Does life suck with no mates.”

The Scots College was rocked with a cyberbullying scandal in December last year. Picture: Rohan Kelly.

Educator quits after asking ‘boys to rate girls’

A teacher at a prestigious Sydney private school who organised a sexist activity where boys rated girls based on their virginity was forced to resign.

The Year 10 Christian Studies teacher at St Luke’s Grammar in Dee Why was stood down in June 2021 after he asked boys to rate girls from a list of qualities, assigning more points to girls who displayed strong Christian values.

Boys and girls were separated for the activity, and while boys were assigning more value to girls who were virgins, good looking and conservative, the girls were taught a lesson on staying a virgin as long as possible.

‘Prohibited substance’ seized at co-ed camp

A school camp scandal that engulfed two of Sydney’s top secondary colleges last year forced police to be called in to investigate after students were found to have taken drugs with them on a joint trip away.

Newington College and Methodist Ladies College sent hundreds of boys and girls away on a five-day co-ed cadet camp to Eungai Creek, near Macksville on the state’s mid-north coast, in the last week of Term 1.

A joint camp between Newington College and Methodist Ladies College students last year had led to some students being expelled after they were caught with drugs. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

But even before students had returned back to school, stories were spreading about what had occurred on the camp, with parent chat groups lighting up amid widespread rumours.

The Daily Telegraph had revealed two Newington College students were expelled after drugs were found at the camp.

A spokeswoman for MLC said they would not be commenting on the matter.

TikTok bullying pages

Social media giants are leaving deadly bullying pages to flourish online, taunting NSW students and circulating vile images of them for years despite their tough talk on teen safety.

In some cases, the pages openly boasted about their ability to keep publishing the cruel vitriol.

The social media platforms only took the pages down following inquiries from this masthead.

While another Instagram post, showing a snippet of a graphic video involving students, asked for other pupils to “RB” meaning reply back to the post to receive the “full video” in their inbox. One TikTok account also targeted a female student from Sydney’s west for more than a year.

A Meta spokeswoman said the platform did not tolerate bullying and harassment on Instagram and removed the content as soon as it came to the company’s attention.A TikTok spokeswoman said bullying was strictly not tolerated and all accounts alerted to them had been permanently banned for violating its strict community guidelines.