Cranbrook School headmaster Nicholas Sampson resigns
The headmaster of Sydney’s prestigious Cranbrook School has resigned following revelations he kept a teacher on staff despite knowing he'd sent graphic emails to a former female student. It comes after a Four Corners investigation exposed allegations of a toxic culture at the boys' school. (Warning, coverage includes the content of some of those emails.)
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00:00 Pick up this afternoon at Cranbrook School was a tense affair. A community that supported
00:07 its leader, including the school council, is now feeling betrayed.
00:13 These circumstances and the headmaster Nicholas Samson's failure to disclose the matter to
00:19 the current school council in the context of this week's ABC Four Corners broadcast
00:25 led to an irrevocable breakdown of trust between the headmaster and the school council.
00:32 The council was forced to withdraw its support after Four Corners approached it yesterday
00:37 with disturbing revelations. A current Cranbrook teacher had sent emails to a former female
00:44 student revealing his sexual fantasies about school girls.
00:49 I fantasised about you and another girl in the class, three of us together, very hot.
00:55 Used to sit really low in her chair, legs so far apart, always could see what colour
01:00 undies she had.
01:02 Four Corners obtained a letter from headmaster Nicholas Samson to the teacher saying the
01:07 emails did not amount to reportable conduct. The teacher was promoted by Mr Samson and
01:14 has now been suspended. Former Cranbrook student Travis Matthews criticised the school's handling
01:22 of his allegations of sexual abuse by an older student when he was 13.
01:27 I thought the acts that I went through was abhorrent but to hear these fantasies come
01:32 out and for that teacher to be allowed to stay and be promoted was just disgusting to
01:38 me.
01:39 We've got a school that's gone through the darkest chapter in its history and I think
01:45 it might be time for an entire refresh to rebuild the reputation of the school and get
01:50 it prepared for co-ed in two years' time.
01:53 The current head of the junior school, Michelle Marquette, has stepped up as Cranbrook's acting
01:59 head.
01:59 The school council deeply regrets the distress to our students, our staff, our parents, our
02:06 alumni and the broader Cranbrook family arising from the current circumstances.
02:14 [BLANK_AUDIO]