Parents pulling kids from elite college in wake of alleged porn scandal

Parents have spoken out over claims of a “toxic culture” at an elite South East Queensland school, with some taking drastic action.

Families are removing their children from Good Shepherd Lutheran College in Noosaville as it faces fresh claims of “a toxic culture” amid a pornographic social media scandal.

• Explained: What’s in the videos, who’s involved?

Families are removing their children from Good Shepherd Lutheran College in Noosaville as it faces fresh claims of “a toxic culture” amid a pornographic social media scandal.

The Courier-Mail can reveal a number of parents have secured or sought enrolment at other private schools, including St Andrew’s Anglican College in Peregian Springs, Sunshine Coast Grammar School in Forest Glen and St Teresa’s Catholic College in Noosaville.

Others have withdrawn their children already and are homeschooling or using distance education.

One mother said anti-social behaviour, including violent brawls on school grounds, was rife at the prep to Year 12 religious college.

“So many of us have reported really serious bullying to the school over the past few years; it’s a toxic culture,” she said.

“Many kids are leaving the school – or have already left – because of it.”

A father said the school “would rather ignore what’s really going on than work with families to deal with it – the culture is underpinned by rampant bullying, and not the religious values it claims to uphold”.

A number of parents have contacted this newspaper since it revealed on June 8 that Good Shepherd Lutheran College knew about potentially illegal online material – which depicted pedophilia and bestiality and other disturbing imagery – three months before it was reported to police.

A parent first notified the school of the material on February 27.

On March 17, the parent emailed the school and its governing body, Lutheran Education Queensland, and provided a Dropbox link to the imagery posted by a dozen 12 and 13 year old students.

Two months later, on May 16, the LEQ reported the material to the Sunshine Coast Child Protection and Investigation Unit. Police investigations continue.

In addition to imagery depicting porn posted by Year 7 and 8 students on Snapchat, there were covert videos of teachers and students taken in class then uploaded to TikTok in a bid to humiliate and harass.

Students who refused to join in the viewing and sharing of content were bullied, parents claim.

The offensive material has since been taken down and police have charged a teenage boy.

The child, from Noosa Heads, is facing one count of use of carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.

On Tuesday night, principal Anthony Dyer emailed parents and said “Whilst there are a range of matters where there is progress towards clarity, we are committed to doing what is necessary across the coming period to work through remaining issues and concerns.”

Regarding the “alleged creation and sharing of inappropriate online content by some of our students”, Mr Dyer wrote: “There are a number of policies and procedures related to this matter, including the use of electronic devices at school.

“The college has an established program of esafety, wellbeing and respectful relationships programs in place.

“We understand the need for ongoing information and will seek to provide that when possible and where appropriate.”

Mr Dyer confirmed the school “took the unprecedented step on Monday evening of moderating college year-level Facebook pages” which included temporarily disabling the ability to create new posts and removing content “containing factual inaccuracies”.

Meanwhile, furious parents continue to call on the LEQ for a “full and independent” investigation into the social media scandal.

On Wednesday afternoon, Mr Dyer addressed questions from The Courier-Mail about alleged bullying at the school. To date, he has declined to respond to questions around the social media scandal.

In a statement, he said: “Bullying is not tolerated at Good Shepherd Lutheran College.”

“Our college is guided by clear policies and we proactively reinforce expected behaviour standards, including via our pastoral care programs.

“We also communicate regularly to students, parents and carers about expected behaviour standards.”

Mr Dyer also said: “The college responds to all instances of misconduct once made aware, in line with our behaviour management processes.

“Consequences for inappropriate behaviour and misconduct are dealt with privately with the relevant individuals and are not publicised.”

Originally published as Parents pulling kids from elite college in wake of alleged porn scandal