Teenage boy charged by police over Good Shepherd Lutheran College’s porn scandal

A student at a prestigious Queensland private school has been charged by police in relation to a social media scandal that engulfed the college.

A student at a prestigious Noosa Heads private school has been charged in relation to a social media scandal that engulfed the college.

Police have charged a teenage boy in relation to a pornographic social media scandal engulfing Good Shepherd Lutheran College.

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

It comes as the Noosaville prep to Year 12 school faces fresh claims of a “toxic culture” and mounting pressure over its handling of the year 7 and 8 scandal revealed by this newspaper on Sunday.

Parents want to know why – when the school was made aware of the potentially illegal online material by a mother on February 27 – it took almost three months for it to be reported to police by its governing body, Lutheran Education Queensland, on May 16.

The disturbing material, which depicted pedophilia, bestiality and other hard-corn porn, was posted on Snapchat.

The students also took covert videos of teachers and students in class and posted them to TikTok.

Parents are also furious that on Monday night the college took the extraordinary steps of preventing them from posting comments on their year-level Facebook pages and deleting comments that criticised the school.

The fallout continues, with families removing their children from the college.

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Others have withdrawn their children already and are homeschooling or using distance education.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 Good Shepherd Lutheran College.

A mother who spoke up regarding the porn scandal at Good Shepherd Lutheran College, Noosa Heads. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“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”.

Queensland Police Service confirmed on Wednesday that detectives from the Sunshine Coast Child Protection and Investigation Unit “have investigated reports of alleged explicit content circulating online in connection with a Noosaville school.

“A Noosa Heads boy has been dealt with under the provisions of the Youth Justice Act for one count of use of carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence,” a spokesperson said.

On Wednesday afternoon, Good Shepherd Lutheran College principal Anthony Dyer addressed questions from The Courier-Mail about alleged bullying at the school but declined to address 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.”

Email Kylie Lang

Originally published as Teenage boy charged by police over Good Shepherd Lutheran College’s porn scandal