Supreme Court Action commenced 19/12/2024

Below is an important update from our friends at the Newington Tradition Supporters Fund emailed 22/12/2024:

Dear Newington Community Members,

After what has been an incredibly busy year, we have the news that has been anticipated.

The Attorney General has finally provided approval for our lawyers to commence legal action and challenge the College Council on their decision to use the funds and assets held in trust by the College Council to move Newington from an established and well regarded all boys school into an uncharted co-educational system.

On Thursday 19th December 2024, in what will be a sad day in the memory for all Newington OLD BOYS and the greater Newington Community lawyers have filed a statement of claim in the Supreme Court of New South Wales against the Council of Newington College and 25 other defendants.

For your reference we now enclosed copies of the following documents:

1. Sealed Statement of Claim

2. Short Minutes of Order (re confidentiality) – Supreme Court of NSW

3. Affidavit and report of Dr Gary Banks

Click here to access the documents.

To provide context in relation to the above documents, we make the following comments:

1. Sealed Statement of Claim – This document describes the action Brown Wright Stein Lawyers (BWS) are taking against the Council of Newington College and the remedies that we are seeking. In short, the claim contends that the College was established for the advancement of education of boys and young men, on the basis of the definition of “youth” in 1873 and the context of the establishment of the College. What may be of interest is that the former solicitors for the College admitted that the trust pursuant to which the property of the College is held (being an indenture dated 1873) for “youth” (although their argument seems to be that the term “youth” in 1873 and in the context of the establishment of the College may have contemplated the education of females at Newington).

2. Short Minutes of Order (re confidentiality) made by the Supreme Court of NSW. In essence, upon commencement of proceedings BWS sought and were successful in attaining orders, that the name of the minor plaintiff not be disclosed when submitting the various documents to court, including on the Statement of Claim but more importantly, that the name of the minor plaintiff not be disclosed to any persons, including the 25 defendants. The Orders being sought were extremely important as without the confidentiality orders, the Tutor and the plaintiff would not have proceeded with these proceedings. An issue to note is that the Court exercised its”… inherent jurisdiction for the welfare of a minor …” in ordering that Student A’s identity be kept confidential.

3. Affidavit and report by Dr Gary Banks – this report and affidavit and others not currently being circulated formed the basis for our application for the confidentiality orders. I suggest you read this report so that you can fully understand why seeking the Confidentiality Orders were so important.

This year has seen protests, arguments, and a school community divided or as some put it, broken. There are clearly two camps at Newington: the PRO -who believe that the College and Executive can make no wrong decisions, even when clearly there have been grave errors made during the past 14 months, and the ANTI – who believe that the College and Executive can do no right, even when some initiatives and efforts deserved credit. The community is no longer “black and white” but is “black or white”.

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.

What seems to have been forgotten is that the Council is a trustee. The College existed prior to the Council, and the Council is the custodian of the College and its legacy. The founders of the College had a clear vision, which has up until recently, been the reason for the success of the College.

The state that we find ourselves in as a community is a direct result of the leadership and executive currently running the College. Leadership guides a community, and ultimately takes responsibility for the state that a community is in; the health of an organisation is a reflection of its leadership. The fractured state of the College community, and the process that has been commenced as well as its’ outcome, is a direct consequence of the leadership.

We are aware of many families, particularly but not limited to multi-generational Old Newington families withdrawing their Sons from Newington, coupled with what in our opinion is the most aggressive advertising campaign ever carried out by a GPS or any private school in Australia and we are again brought back to our initial and in our opinion, unanswered question – WHY?

Success of an educational institution is measured by its culture, not the number of public relations employees it has. That is, success speaks for itself, it is not bought.

From a College boasting a 15 year waitlists, Old Boys being encouraged to put their Sons names down at birth in order to secure positions for their sons, to what now appears to be a College bleeding its student base, a base that has blead black and white for generations, and having to spend millions upon millions of dollars on advertising to encourage new enrolment to fill the holes, again why? How can the school spend so much on advertising and marketing but then send an email to the parents putting the school fees up by 7.5% due to inflationary pressures? WHY?

A question that now arises is whether the College Council will be using your school fees to defend its decision, or whether it will use those funds for the education of the boys. What will the increase in fees actually be used for?

Whilst the outcome of the legal challenge is far from known, we are proud that the Community has rallied together.

We would like to thank everybody who has provided assistance so far, to our lawyers and Counsel and specifically to Student A and his Tutor. Without this brave young man and his Tutor, this action would not have commenced. Student A, his family and Tutor exudes what it means to bleed Black and White.

Over the coming weeks we will send out more details around this matter, including correspondence between BWS and the Attorney General. This information will help explain why it has taken so long to get to this point.

Please feel free to share this information with any like minded Newington families.

Finally, as the year comes to close, we would like to wish your families a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.

Yours Sincerely,

Newington Tradition Supporters Fund