Piano teacher Rebecca Chambers fights ban from Albert Park Primary School

The education department banned an acclaimed music teacher from her local school, dubbing her a “risk to safety”, but she claims to be the target of a “vindictive” attack.

Albert Park Primary School.

An acclaimed music teacher and former Young Australian of the Year was twice banned from being near a local primary school after the principal deemed her a risk to the students’ safety.

Rebecca Chambers, a former concert pianist, was issued two School Community Safety Orders banning her from approaching Albert Park Primary School for more than a year, after the principal investigated reports of misbehaviour in early 2023.

The orders are rare, and typically used to keep troublesome parents away from schools.

Ms Chambers and her husband run a busy music school, Kidko Music School, just over 100m away.

Ms Chambers said the school had a long history, under a previous principal, of conducting private instrument lessons for students through the school.

She told a recent VCAT hearing she clashed with the school’s new principal almost as soon as she was appointed.

“She’s extremely negative, and I’m extremely positive,” she said, representing herself.

Rebecca Chambers was named Young Australian of the Year in 1996.

Ms Chambers told the tribunal being banned from the school was unfair, and that classroom teachers would have given evidence in favour of her if an independent investigator, rather than the principal, had looked into the claims against her.

“I never had a chance. I was never given a chance to talk about my point of view,” she said.

“All I have had is the principal being vindictive to me when I have done nothing wrong.

“She has been vindictive and said I am harmful to be around children.

“I have never, ever threatened anyone with harm, I have never done anything that I considered bad with regard to child safety.”

The education department says the orders were properly made.

Ms Chambers told the tribunal teaching music was her “life’s mission”, and that the orders tarnished her reputation.

“You don’t become a former Young Australian of the Year without having a really wonderful character,” she said.

“I love children and I love music, you can hear it in my voice.”

She said her music school lost 50 students after she was banned from going near Albert Park Primary.

Rebecca Chambers, in happier times.

Rebecca Chambers, then 21, was named Young Australian of the Year. She is now locked in a legal battle with the Victorian Department of Education.

She said the only positive of being banned from being near the school was “I didn’t have to see the principal.”

Ms Chambers’s challenge to the validity of the orders could be thrown out on a technicality, before it gets to a full hearing.

The orders ran for a total of 16 months, but the tribunal has such a large backlog of cases it is taking up to four years to list hearings.

Education department lawyers said the orders lapsed months ago, and that “vindication of (Ms Chambers’s) reputation” alone was no reason for the tribunal to conduct a hearing.

The department claimed Ms Chamber’s challenge to the order was seeking to “correct the historical record”, rather than deal with an ongoing restriction of her rights.

The department’s lawyers also said she was late in filing her case, that she was responsible for the case being delayed after it was filed and that she could have sought the orders to be stayed if she thought they had an unfair impact on her livelihood.

Kidko music school director and former Young Australian of the Year Rebecca Chambers was banned from being at Albert Park Primary School after the principal issued her two School Community Safety Orders.

Ms Chambers told the tribunal it was not only her reputation that had suffered, but her business.

She said emails from the department’s head office implied they might take action against her teaching music to students from other schools in the area, but was unable to provide copies of them.

“I’m simply a person who is standing up for justice, and for themselves,” she said.

Tribunal member Edward de Zilwa will determine the education department’s application to dismiss Ms Chambers’s challenge to the principal’s orders at a later date.

The school was contacted for comment.