Annette Sharp: Cranbrook parents in bun fight over plan to enrol girls

Parents at one of Sydney’s most exclusive boys’ schools are embroiled in a war of words over a plan to turn co-ed — and they’re not holding back, writes Annette Sharp.

A year after the Bellevue Hill campus of prestigious Anglican school Cranbrook was rocked by bombshell secret plans to take Kerry Packer’s alma mater co-ed, the school’s influential community remains deeply divided on the proposal which pushed for the transformation to proceed next year.

Leading the charge towards a mixed-sex campus is the school’s principal Nicholas Sampson and high-profile rich-list couple Scott Farquhar and his wife Kim Jackson, who are said to have sons at the school.

Atlassian co-founder Farquhar has kept his head down during the bungled first year of planning and consultation.

However Jackson, an engineer and accomplished businesswoman in her own right, has become an outspoken proponent of the plan — something that has made her an easy target for critics.

Jackson’s decision last Monday to engage with a Year 6 WhatsApp group and lobby parents to participate in a school community forum concerning the proposal went down like a lead balloon with many concerned “no” voters.

Kim Jackson and Scott Farquhar are staunch supporters of making Cranbrook co-ed. Picture: Christian Gilles

“Hi All. Reminder – Tonight is the Cranbrook community forum about co-education,” she wrote to a parents’ WhatsApp group using the name “Class of 2028”.

“From our informal polling, the vast majority of parents are in favour of co-ed and assume tonight’s consultation is about the ‘how’.

“However, from our dealings with the school board, the session tonight is actually ‘whether’ co-ed should happen at all.

“So if you are in strong support of co-ed, your attendance tonight (in person or virtual) is needed to ensure it happens.”

She ended the post by inviting parents in favour of admitting female students at the 104-year-old institution — one of the most expensive boys schools in Sydney, and whose alumni include the entrepreneurial James Packer, David Gyngell, Nick Tobias and Atlassian’s own Mike Cannon-Brookes — to message her privately.

“If you are looking for other ways to support co-education at Cranbrook, please message me privately,” Jackson signed off.

Cranbrook School, in Bellevue Hill, attracts the sons of Sydney’s rich and famous. Picture: Richard Dobson

The post drew a stern rebuke from another parent who chastised Jackson — who, with Farquhar, is keen to sponsor scholarships for girls keen to attend the school — for hijacking the platform.

“Hi all. Unfortunately there are many families who are strongly opposed to this proposal and feel betrayed by it,” another parent wrote moments later in response to Jackson’s post.

“Your voice also deserves to be heard. Please make sure you attend and let your voice be heard.

“The decision to go co-ed is not finalised and you are welcome to stand against it,” the fellow Class of 2028 parent wrote before laying down the law.

“This platform is not to be used any further to lobby for or against the proposal.”

The proposal, which would see 70 senior girls join male students in Years 11 and 12 from 2023 with more girls to follow in future years, was finally presented to the Cranbrook school community in a series of town hall briefings last week some 13 months after it was first leaked to the media.

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