School head says he acted on sex claims
12:00a.m. 11th October 2008
A Sunshine Coast headmaster who was at the helm of a Warwick boarding school facing indecent sexual assault claims has denied suggestions the school failed to take action at the time.
Sunshine Coast Grammar School headmaster Nigel Fairbairn took the extraordinary step of making his link to the scandal known to the Daily yesterday, saying he did not want the controversy surrounding Scots PGC College to tarnish the good work that had been done at Forest Glen’s Grammar school.
Mr Fairbairn said contrary to reports in a Brisbane newspaper this week, both he and Scots acted immediately to address incidents which occurred in 1996 and 1998.
Mr Fairbairn said the 1996 allegations against a staff member were reported to both the chairman of the school council and police at Warwick.
He said the allegations were brought to his attention about 10pm on a Saturday and were referred to police the next morning.
“Parents and staff were contacted and support was provided for students,’’ Mr Fairbairn said.
It was alleged that the development officer at the college had interfered with a student.
The car of the accused was found by police at the airport about a week later after he left the country. It is understood he fled to Thailand and later moved to Bangkok.
Mr Fairbairn said in a second incident, in 1998, he expelled a student accused of showing another younger boy pornography and interfering with him.
“I again acted immediately and decisively, referring the allegations to the police and maintaining open communication with both the police and the school community,’’ he said.
Mr Fairbairn decided to go public amid concerns unsubstantiated rumours may result from the media coverage.
Sunshine Coast Grammar was embroiled in its own scandal in the 1990s when it was revealed that its founder, the late John Burgess, pleaded guilty in 1979 to two counts of carnal knowledge involving a 13-year-old girl when he was a 27-year-old teacher.
In 2002, the Board of Teacher Registration cancelled the registration of Mr Burgess after he was found to be an unfit teacher following a four-day inquiriy.
Mr Fairbairn said there had been a great deal of work done since then to rebuild the school.
“We have got a school that is looking ahead,’’ he said.
Foundation students from the school’s first days in 1997 are among those who will graduate from Year 12 in eight weeks’ time.
The college has grown to 1340 students, plus 150 in its early learning centre, and it has 230 staff.
“I don’t want this to derail all the good work that has gone on at Grammar,’’ Mr Fairbairn said.
He said anyone who knew him knew he had “zero tolerance” for any form of abuse, saying it went against his morals, values and ethics.
The allegations at Scots span more than 20 years, with the first alleged incidents occurring in 1972.
Mr Fairbairn said he was never aware of the allegations in the 1970s during his time at the school from 1995 to 2001.
Police confirmed this week a former teacher had been charged with sexual offences from 1972.
Mr Fairbairn said he was disturbed by reports that the accusations in the 1990s were “hushed up”.
He said once he referred the 1996 allegations to police he was advised by police to let them handle the investigations.
