Scotch College staff ‘told to go jump’ as pay deal sours

Rumblings of industrial action are growing at the elite boys’ school with staff unhappy with a new pay deal, while further frustrations are simmering over several new senior appointments.

Staff at Scotch College are upset after pay negotiations went sour. Picture: Tony Gough

Discontented staff at one of Victoria’s oldest and most prestigious schools are unhappy with a new pay deal, prompting rumblings about industrial action.

Sources at Scotch College in Hawthorn said there had long been “no negotiations” between school leaders and staff and instead the principal decided what pay increases were awarded.

The staff association representatives recently quit after a low 2023 pay deal following years of pay increases of less than three per cent.

“The school offered 3.5 per cent this year after staff asked for 4.5 per cent. We were basically told to ‘go jump’,” one insider said.

The prestigious Hawthorn boys’ school is one of the wealthiest in the state, pocketing $78m in income for 2022 and posting a $4.4m surplus.

Five top managers were paid a total of $1,731,160 in salary, which averages out to $346,000 each.

The school charges parents fees of more than $40,000 annually for year 12.

Staff were offered a raise of 3.5 per cent. Picture: Tony Gough

Staff are also frustrated over a raft of new senior appointments, including the former principal of Shelford Girls’ Grammar Katrina Brennan who is Scotch’s new deputy principal and head of senior school.

Since Ms Brennan started at Shelford in 2020, the school lost more than 100 students, making it unviable and forcing a take-over by Caulfield Grammar in 2025.

A few years ago, more than 60 staff warned Shelford’s board about the school’s “toxic culture”.

The renovation of Ms Brennan’s office at Scotch has added to staff discontent, with another source saying it “set a pretty poor tone”.

Salaries at the Hawthorn school, which has been educating the sons of elite Melbourne families for more than 170 years, start at $91,000 for level one teachers and go up to $135,410.

This is in line with some private schools, but considerably less than other elite colleges which place heavy expectations on staff in terms of sporting and extra-curricular roles.

“Staff are sick of two sports and activities but at the moment I think people are too scared to stand up and say that,” one Scotch College source said.

“There has been no talk about addressing the salary insufficiency.”

“Along with the not sufficient increase in salaries there has almost been a decline in staff conditions … a staff action research program was wound back and teachers given two ‘extras’ in its place,” they said.

The source said industrial action had been discussed but “wouldn’t happen” because staff were too scared.

Unlike the majority of educational institutions, the school does not have an enterprise agreement ratified by the Fair Work Commission.

The Herald Sun understands not all Scotch College staff share the frustrations about the 2023 pay deal, but concern is widespread.

Other similar schools include Carey Grammar which pays leading teachers on the top band $143,753 in 2024 – up from $136,162 in 2022.

At Trinity Grammar, also in Kew, the 2023 enterprise agreement granted teachers a 3.5 per cent pay rise in 2023, followed by 3.25 per cent in 2024 then 3.1 per cent in 2025. This takes leading teachers on the top level from $132,824 in 2022 to $146,341 in 2025.

Xavier College’s recent agreement awarded teachers three per cent pay rises each year, bringing the most senior teachers to $127,743 by 2026.

Xavier’s bargaining process stalled last November over concerns from staff about excessive workloads, the burden of extra-curricular duties and the loss of more than 200 staff since 2021. The agreement was eventually ratified by late last year.

Scotch College declined to comment.