Teachers’ abuse of teens targeted at Sydney’s Cromer High

A law firm acting for six victims will pursue allegations of historical abuse at schools on Sydney’s northern beaches.

Cromer High School.

A law firm has been instructed to act for six people over allegations of historical abuse at schools on Sydney’s northern beaches.

Claims of predatory student-teacher relationships and sexual assaults surfaced in The Australian’sinvestigative podcast series The Teacher’s Pet.

Police set up Strike Force Southwood to investigate, while some former students chose to consult lawyers. Michelle James, a principal lawyer at Maurice Blackburn, confirmed legal ­action was being pursued on behalf of several former students.

“We have so far been instructed to act in six matters relating to allegations of historical abuse at schools in Sydney’s northern beaches region,” Ms James said.

The podcast examined the alleged 1982 murder of Sydney wife and mother Lyn Dawson by her husband, Chris Dawson, a former star rugby league player and schoolteacher. Allegations were aired that a “pack” of teachers from Cromer High pursued teenage schoolgirls for sex when Mr Dawson taught there.

One former student, who later became a teacher, said the relationships were treated like a “fringe benefit” of the job.

In the series, claims were made involving about 20 teachers from three high schools — Cromer, Forest and Beacon Hill.

Maurice Blackburn Lawyers national head of abuse law Michelle James.

Ms James, head of abuse law at her firm, said its cases involved “serious allegations, particularly given the age of our clients at the time the abuse occurred and the duty of care owed to them by the NSW Department of Education”.

“(These) will be a key factor in any claims brought for those ­impacted,” she said.

Citing the sensitivity of the cases, the law firm declined to say which schools were involved in its inquiries or to provide further information about the claims.

As a result of the podcast, separate allegations emerged earlier this year of students from Port Macquarie High being “targeted, groomed and seduced” into sexual relationships with teachers.

Two women, now in their 50s, said teachers from the school drew them into sexual relationships in the 80s when they were 17. A third woman told of a teacher’s sexual advances when they were socialising at a local hotel when she was 15.

The three women set up a Facebook page and are investi­gating their own legal action with Kerin Lawyers.

One of the women, Debra Hood, said the response to the ­online group had been “overwhelming”. She now had a list of more than 40 women and a male “who have been victims to 14 different teachers”, she said.

“We were shocked and sickened by the numbers of women who have bravely told us their ­really distressing stories of sexual abuse at the hands of many teachers at that school ranging over a 40-year period,” Ms Hood said.

Former Cromer High vice-captain Robyn Wheeler, who was the first to speak out about predatory teachers, last year said police were building a “significant ­dossier of information”.