‘Mean boys’ missive upsets parents at Newington College

‘When you are kind, Newington is kind. When you are mean, Newington is mean.’ The headmaster’s odd message to boys attending an elite private school.

A “mean boys’’ missive from a besieged headmaster has upset parents at a Sydney boys school.

Newington College headmaster Michael Parker has issued an edict to parents to stop using social media to air “angry views’’ about the school’s controversial decision to admit girls.

“I say to the boys, ‘When you are kind, Newington is kind, when you are mean, Newington is mean,’’ he wrote in his newsletter to parents on Tuesday.

“I think this is something that goes beyond just the classroom and school ground.’’

One parent, who did not want to be named, criticised the missive as “a pretty horrible thing to say to boys, and to parents as well’’.

In his newsletter, Mr Parker said WhatsApp and Facebook groups set up for year levels had morphed from “helpful news to angry views’’.

He singled out parents’ social media posts based on “anti co-ed agitation’’.

Newington College headmaster Michael Parker has defended his school’s academic performance. Source: newington.nsw.edu.au

“I would like to remind everyone of the Parent Code of Conduct which applies to online, including WhatsApp, as well as in person behaviour,’’ he wrote. “(It states) that parent communication, with other members of the college community, must be courteous, considerate and respectful; and accepting and respectful of individual, cultural and social differences. We are struck by the number of issues that have been raised in the first five weeks of this year already.

“Whilst some of the concerns have raised genuine and heartfelt issues about personal beliefs and cultures, it has also sometimes been strikingly aligned to anti-co-ed agitation.’’

Newington College, a $42,201-per-year Uniting Church school which has educated boys for 161 years, caused an outcry last November when it announced plans to admit girls in a decade-long transition to coeducation.

Donors cancelled million-dollar bequests in protest, and a network of influential “old Newingtonians’’ threatened legal action to block the move.

More than 2500 critics of the co-ed move have signed a Change.org petition to “overturn the decision to become co-ed, and bring back Newington Culture’’. The school has already changed the gendered language on its website from “boy’’ and “son” to “child’’ or “young person’’.

One signatory to the petition, Jack Hewitt, complained about the “renaming of our beloved and revered facilities’’.

“What will become of the Old Boys lecture theatre and the Old Boys ovals? Are they set to be renamed to Old Peoples Oval?’’ he wrote.

Parents holding placards during a silent protest against Newington College’s transition to a co-ed school, at the Sydney campus in Stanmore. Picture: Richard Dobson

In his newsletter, Mr Parker defended the academic performance of the school, noting that students’ mean ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) in 2023 was 83.51. “We currently add more value to a student’s ‘raw’ academic ability than we have previously,’ he wrote.

“We want to improve further academically. Every time we talk about curiosity, open mindedness and rigour, we are working on raising the academic temperature.’’

A Newington College spokeswoman defended the reference to being “mean” in the headmaster’s latest newsletter. “The quote has been used over a number of years in a pastoral, not a disciplinary, context with students,’’ she said.

“The full passage, which has taken on the short form used in the newsletter is ‘Newington is not just somewhere you go – right now you are Newington. So when you are kind Newington is kind and when you are mean Newington is mean.’ “This was explained further in the newsletter, and was well received by the school community.’’