Good Shepherd Lutheran College porn scandal: Everything we know

What is the timeline of events? What has been the reaction? This is everything we know from the Good Shepherd porn scandal.

A mother at the school has blown the whistle on the scandal. Picture: Patrick Woods

Good Shepherd Lutheran College is the latest Queensland school embroiled in a pornographic social media scandal.

Following the recent incidents at Brisbane Boys’ College and St Joseph’s Nudgee College, the drama at the elite Christian college adds to Queensland’s sorry recent past.

So what has happened and what is being done about it?

This is everything we know so far >>>

What is the timeline of events?

Offensive material was posted and possibly created by a dozen 12- and 13-year-olds from Good Shepherd Lutheran College last year.

Parents are calling for a “full and independent” investigation into why – when a parent advised the school and LEQ on February 27 about the “disgusting and disturbing” nude imagery on TikTok and Snapchat – it took almost three months for the LEQ to report it to police, on May 16.

Following an exclusive investigation by The Courier-Mail on June 7, it was revealed parents are marshalling a lobby group to personally meet with the Noosaville school’s governing body, Lutheran Education Queensland, about the matter.

Several key staff and many students were absent from June 9 assembly.

Additional administration staff have also been hired to deal with mounting phone calls from furious parents demanding answers from the Christian school about why it took months for the potentially illegal online content to be reported to police.

Late on June 9 it was revealed students at the centre of the scandal had been expelled.

Good Shepherd Lutheran College also sensationally stopped parents posting on their year-group Facebook pages and removed posts that criticise the school’s handling of the scandal.

Good Shepherd Lutheran College at Noosaville

What was in the videos?

Offensive material – which depicts pedophilia, bestiality and other hard-core pornography as well as covert videos of teachers in class – was posted and possibly created by a dozen 12- and 13-year-olds last year.

What are police doing now?

Police officers from the Sunshine Coast Child Protection and Investigation Unit have begun initial investigations.

The offensive material was posted and possibly created by a dozen 12- and 13-year-olds last year. and was only taken down on June 8 following this masthead’s investigations.

Premier David Crisafulli. Picture: Tertius Pickard/NCA NewsWire

What has the Premier said?

Premier David Crisafulli expressed his disgust at the slow response of schools and tech giants to address potentially illegal content being shared by students.

“The thought that somehow we can live in a society where the big tech giants can allow things like that on their platform and there’s no accountability to remove them, there’s no swift action, and yet they can continue to cream millions from people on things like advertising and racking up users, I find that sickening, and I think it needs to be called out,” he said on June 8.

What have parents said?

Parents have also expressed their outrage on a Good Shepherd social media page.

“This is not just a scandal. It is a betrayal of trust, of responsibility, and most damningly, of the Christian mission the school claims to uphold: ‘To offer a Christian education in a caring environment’,” one parent said.

“Lutheran Education Queensland must act. A full and independent investigation is warranted. This failure is not something that can be quietly managed away.

Parents have been quick to speak out after the latest incident.

“Where was the care? Where was the moral compass?”

The parents also said it was “not enough to claim Christian identity while remaining silent when vulnerable children are being harmed”.

“For months, one parent raised the alarm. They emailed. They pleaded. They followed every proper channel in good faith,” they said.

“The response from the school was slow and defensive. In that time, students were exposed to explicit content, ridiculed and bullied by their peers, and abandoned by those charged with protecting them.”

Angry parents also claimed their views were being “censored” as the school goes into “full damage control” over the fiasco.

How has the school responded?

Good Shepherd Lutheran College and Lutheran Education Queensland have been contacted for further comment.

They expelled some of the students at the centre of the scandal.

Previously, in a statement, LEQ acting executive director Nick Verreynne said: “Following the matter being reported to the police by Lutheran Education Queensland, the matter is now the subject of a police investigation, and both the college and Lutheran Education Queensland are co-operating fully with authorities.

A mother is blowing open the porn scandal at Good Shepherd Lutheran College, Noosaville. Picture: Patrick Woods

“As the matter is under police investigation, we are unable to comment further at this time.”

The school has not responded to repeated questions by The Courier-Mail since June 6.

On Friday evening, shortly after 6pm, principal Anthony Dyer sent a letter to parents saying the college “is aware of online material that appears to have been created or shared by students, including images of some staff members taken without their awareness”.

“We are deeply concerned by the sharing of the alleged material and share the community’s abhorrence of such content, and the unauthorised manner in which it was obtained.”

What happened at BBC and St Joseph’s Nudgee College?

A parent in May revealed shock new details of content shared to a group chat by students from Brisbane Boys’ College including alleged child pornography and “very graphic” images of a dead person.

The Snapchat group is understood to have included up to 40 students, with a parent whose child attends the elite school claiming it first became aware of the incident on May 16 before contacting them four days later.

BBC Headmaster Andre Casson said in a letter sent to the BBC community the school had only been made aware of the incident “earlier this week”.

St Joseph's Nudgee College.

Meanwhile a week later netball matches between two schools were sensationally scrapped at the last minute, with a “disgusting and degrading” video the reason.

Students from St Rita’s College and St Joseph’s Nudgee College were due to face off in the friendly games at the girls’ Clayfield campus.

St Joseph’s Nudgee College principal Scott Thomson said the school had been made aware of a claim that an inappropriate video had been made by some students.

“Nudgee College immediately began to investigate this matter,” Mr Thomson said.

Originally published as Good Shepherd Lutheran College porn scandal: Everything we know