Hillcrest Christian College principal Jeff Davis hits out at teachers over NAPLAN results

The embattled principal of the a troubled elite school has hit out at some of his own teachers for poor NAPLAN results, while promoting the school as one of the best in the world.

AN EMBATTLED elite private college has been sensationally accused of buying its way on to a prestigious “Cambridge University” top schools’ list at the same time the principal slammed some of his own teachers for poor NAPLAN results.

Leaked documents reveal Hillcrest Christian College principal Jeff Davis complained that some NAPLAN results were “just a disaster” and teachers’ “lack of performance in just undertaking the basic teaching skills is quite alarming”.

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After months of turmoil, the Baptist Church-owned college has rebranded to promote itself as one of the world’s 100 most innovative schools in a ‘prestigious’ list compiled ‘esteemed’ Cambridge University.

But The Courier-Mail has learned Hillcrest paid £5000 ($9300) to London publisher St James’s House to be on the list — a major fundraiser for the cash-strapped Cambridge University Student Union.

“Cambridge University had nothing to do with the award,” a college source said.

“A third party received a payment of thousands of dollars from Hillcrest as a fundraising venture by the Cambridge University Students’ Union for their beer and skittles nights.”

Hillcrest Christian College principal Jeff Davis.

The rebranding comes at a time when Hillcrest is attempting to put behind a year of turmoil

in which Mr Davis has been the subject of multiple bullying allegations – which he denies – the standing down and mass exodus of senior staff, and controversy over hundreds of thousands of dollars in school loans to a private company set up to sell a reading program.

The school board says an independent investigation cleared Mr Davis of any wrongdoing but has admitted that none of the complainants were interviewed.

Mr Davis blasted teachers in a report to the board after the college paid for the Cambridge accolade.

He said while he had been “quite positive” publicly about the college’s NAPLAN results, ‘’we have some serious issues to address in how our teachers are performing”.

“The lack of performance in just undertaking the basic teaching skills is quite alarming,” he wrote.

“More importantly, it effects (sic) our long-term student learning outcomes.”

Mr Davis, who earns over $400,000 a year, said a graph showed Hillcrest’s 2017-18 NAPLAN results showed the college was being outperformed by rival schools.

He said some of the results were “just a disaster” and “really terrible” while other results “have not changed much from last year”.

“As you can see we are falling behind… and it is a massive problem when teachers are complaining that they are being worked too hard, the kids are difficult and the (school) administration do not understand,” he wrote.

“We are working tirelessly to build quality learning experiences for our students, but our teachers persist in making excuses for the changes that need to be made in order that we can continue to improve as a school.”

In an email to staff, Mr Davis said this year’s NAPLAN results had improved but “writing continues to be the greatest weakness across the college”.

He said overall scores for Year 7 and 9 students were below the long-term average, and consistent with the long-term average for Year 3 and 5 students.

Mr Davis said while the results ‘paint a very positive future … excellence in terms of numerical outcomes takes time.”

Hillcrest finished 153rd in Queensland in this year’s NAPLAN rankings.

The rebranding comes at a time when Hillcrest is attempting to put behind a year of turmoil.

Originally published as Hillcrest Christian College principal Jeff Davis hits out at teachers over NAPLAN results