St Hilda’s: Parents allege Coast’s elite schools have a ‘dark side’

Parents at one of southeast Queensland’s elite schools are claiming there is a culture of cliques and recreational drug use common among some families.

A CULTURE of cliques and recreational drug use is common among some families of St Hilda’s School community, claim some parents who say they have raised the issue to staff.

Others say they know of the social scene among students and some parents, but it is not isolated to the prestigious all-girls’ school and does not happen at official functions.

“I think it is a Gold Coast thing,” one mother said.

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Another mother said she was removing her daughter from the school because of it.

“It isn’t what you expect,” the mother told the Bulletin. “It was a shock to me how normal drug use had become at non-school social events.

“In the last few months I have gone to at least three children’s parties and have been offered cocaine at three in the afternoon.

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“When we saw the media at the gate people were freaking out, they were worried it was the drug stuff coming out.”

“There are women in the bathrooms at kick-ons after some lunches doing lines of coke, or vomiting in toilets while wearing $2000 dresses.

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“When we saw the media at the gate people were freaking out, they were worried it was the drug stuff coming out.”

Another mother who spoke to the Bulletin said she was aware of some recreational drug use by parents outside the school but hadn’t been offered anything specifically.

The woman, while not claiming drug use on the school grounds or at official school-organised events, said she was aware of it at “luncheon and high tea” afterparties.

“I raised the issue with teachers but nothing has changed,” she said.

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“I raised the issue with teachers but nothing has changed,” she said

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St Hilda’s did not respond to the Bulletin’s questions on the claims.

“I think the school and (some of) the people that attend it present themselves as one thing but there is a culture of ignoring the dark side,” the mother said.

“To say my child goes here, run in these social circles and drive the same sort of Range Rover — that is what some people pay for.

“We didn’t know any better. There is a lot of bullying among parents as well, they believe they are in a league of their own.”

Other parents told the Bulletin that element did exist at the school. But there were also impressive students and many families considered middle and lower class who worked overtime to pay fees to give their kids what they considered the best opportunities.