Cranbrook Backs Headmaster after Inquiry

By Megan Neil
The Advertiser
February 14, 2017

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/breaking-news/cranbrook-backs-headmaster-after-inquiry/news-story/346e9cad37a24811b2480aec13233b45

Sydney's elite Cranbrook School has given headmaster Nicholas Sampson its full support despite his failure to report a teacher accused of abuse during his time at Geelong Grammar.

Geelong Grammar School's 2001-2004 headmaster organised for Jonathan Harvey to be paid his entire 2005 salary to retire a year early after a staff member complained his brother was abused by the teacher in the 1970s.

Mr Sampson left in July 2004 to head England's prestigious Marlborough College and Harvey remained at Geelong Grammar for the remainder of the year before retiring.

Mr Sampson did not report the allegation to the police or the Victorian Institute of Teaching, the child sex abuse royal commission said.

The commission accepted Mr Sampson attempted to act in the victim's best interests in securing Harvey's resignation without disclosing the former student's identity but said it was clear he should have notified the institute.

Mr Sampson made no written record of the real reason for Harvey's departure, although he did tell others at the school.

The commission agreed with counsel assisting that Mr Sampson's letters praising Harvey for his outstanding service were misleading as they omitted the real reasons the teacher left.

"We are satisfied that Mr Sampson did not make a written record of the real reason that Harvey left the school and that he should have made a documentary record of that reason."

The commission accepted that Mr Sampson would now approach a similar situation very differently and noted he did inform the teaching institute of an allegation that another Geelong Grammar teacher had abused a child while teaching overseas.

Cranbrook School Council president Roger Massy Greene on Tuesday said Mr Sampson had the council's full support.

"The council and Nicholas Sampson believe the prime responsibility for all who work in schools is to protect, uphold and enhance the safety, happiness, health and prospects of students under our care. This guides all that we do."

Mr Sampson, who joined Cranbrook in 2012, said he believed he was acting in the Harvey victim's best interests but would respond differently now and meet the reporting standards that were best practice today.