Brighton Secondary College is a year 7 to 12 co-educational public secondary school, located in the City of Bayside, Brighton East, Victoria, Australia. The college was established in 1955, where until 1988, it was known as Brighton High School. More than 1200 pupils are enrolled at the school.[1]
Leadership
This school was the first co-educational school of more than a thousand pupils to be led by a woman. The state had removed the gender barrier and this had led to several girls schools being led by men but no woman was leading any large school that was not a girl's school. The headship here became vacant and Molly Brennan became the head here in 1970 after she appealed against an initial decision to appoint a less qualified man. The library here is named for her.[2]
Television
In 2006/2007 (filming concluded on 2 February 2007) Brighton Secondary College became the set for Chris Lilley's new show Summer Heights High which premiered on the ABC on Wednesday 5 September 2007.[3] Students starred as extras in the show.
Controversies
On 24 October 2008, staff and students were evacuated from the school grounds in the morning after a suspicious home made device was spotted on school property during muck up day activities from Year 12 students.[4]
In 2014 a former staff member was convicted after stealing around $40,000 from the school. The employee had used a corporate credit card and stolen funds from the school's canteen to support a drug addiction.[5]
In 2019, while addressing a school assembly over the Christchurch attacks, principal Richard Minack used racial slurs. Minack described his reasoning for slurs as “I hope you understand that I used it to call out and criticise racism and bigotry,”[6]
In 2020, female Year 7 students were forced by staff to line up and kneel for uniform checks at the outrage of parents.[7]
A former student of Brighton Secondary College alleged in 2020 that after joining the college in 2013, he began to face verbal antisemitic bullying. The student stated bullying became physical during the second year. "I notified the school 10 times within two weeks regarding the many instances of antisemitic name-calling and physical abuse, including hitting and punching. But still, no action was taken"; the student stated. He also alleged that he was shoved into toilets, then threatened with a knife to remain silent and not fight back, and that his complaints were not investigated by the college authorities.[8] In a joint letter to Daniel Andrews, Premier of Victoria, MPs David Southwick and James Newbury demanded to ensure investigation; and stated:[8]
Victorian children are subject to extreme vilification and violence, simply because they are Jewish[...]Time and time again, the DET has failed to take meaningful action on this urgent and worsening issue[...]
More allegations of antisemitic bullying were made in July and August 2020.[9][10] In 2022, five former students initiated a lawsuit against the school, its principal Richard Minack, and two former teachers, on the grounds that they were "subjected to years of antisemitic bullying, discrimination and negligence". The suit alleged that Minack had "referred to Jews as subhuman, evil, the N-word", and that students had been forbidden to wear religious symbols.[11]
