The boy who is suing his private school
The school first unveiled its plan to admit girls in November 2023 and has faced a fierce backlash ever since.
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A school spokeswoman said the college and its councillors were confident that their decision was in the best interests of the school, its community and the students.
“The college is disappointed by the proposed legal proceedings,” she said.
“The college will respond to the legal proceedings, and welcomes the opportunity for this matter to be heard expeditiously so that it does not distract the school from the work it undertakes to benefit our students, staff and community.”
The possibility of a second legal action emerged on Sunday after lawyers acting for the parents of boys enrolled at Newington published an open letter noting examples of what it called “misleading and deceptive conduct”. It says it is in the process of obtaining instructions regarding a class action to be commenced in the Federal Court of Australia.
The letter alleged parents’ fees collected by the council had been transferred to the Newington Foundation – the major fundraising arm of the college that provides means-tested scholarships. The letter said the transfer had not been disclosed to parents in enrolment information and meant parents “would be subsidising the education of others”.
“We are further instructed that representations were also made to parents [by certain members of staff in leadership roles] that the college would not become co-educational, with those representations having been made prior to the announcement made by the chair of the council on 20 November 2023.”
An email from the Newington Tradition Supporters Fund, and published on the Save Newington website on Sunday said: “To be very clear, the position we now find ourselves in, having to commence legal proceedings against the college and individual councillors is not our doing. It is unfortunate that the only way that transparency is attained is by having the court’s supervisory jurisdiction for trusts look into the council’s conduct and hold them responsible.”
