Sydney private school made students share bed with teachers, inquiry hears

A Sydney private school has been accused of making students share beds with teachers, and the principal walked in front of a child naked during a homestay arrangement, a state parliamentary inquiry has heard.

Speaking on the third day of hearings into Redeemer Baptist School and its church, which has been described by former members in the inquiry as a “cult”, former student Emma Hughes said during mandatory school camps, students would have to share cabins with teachers.

In her submission to the inquiry into the Parramatta school, Hughes, who was not a member of the church community, said that in 1998 it was often necessary for a student to share a bed with a teacher, as there was not enough space in the cabin.

“Although we did not want to share beds with our teachers, we didn’t have a choice,” she wrote. Hughes said in the submission nothing “untoward” happened to her while sharing a bed, but the practice was “clearly inappropriate and unsafe”.

Speaking at the inquiry on Monday, Hughes explained her teacher made students “rotate” each night.

Former student and member of the community, Edward Garth told the inquiry he was 12 when he saw school principal Jonathan Cannon naked.

In June 2015, Garth was living in a school homestay arrangement near a school campsite with a 14-year-old student and a 15-year-old international student. He said Cannon was in the bedroom next door.

“I remember one night before dinner, I was in the kitchen getting a drink. As I walked into the living room, which was my bedroom at the time, I saw Jonathan Cannon, my principal, walk out of the bathroom into the living room naked before heading to his room. He was startled, and when they saw me, he ran to his room,” Garth told the inquiry.

“I don’t know why he didn’t cover himself with a towel or why he felt comfortable enough to walk out naked past our bedroom. He knew he was sharing the space with students.”

Garth said he reported the incident to Cannon’s brother, who was an elder and director of the school board. As a result, he says he was scolded.

“Yes, that’s correct. I, a 12-year-old boy who was exposed to the principal of the school while at the camp, was in trouble for simply existing in my dwelling,” Garth said.

A parliamentary inquiry into the North Parramatta private school was launched after a joint Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes investigation exposed allegations that the acclaimed school denies teachers wages and enforces extreme control over members.

Hughes described the camps as “completely isolating”, filled with days of long Bible study. “We didn’t have any contact with our parents. I would write letters every day that I never sent because I felt like I was completely cut off from my own world.”

In her submission, she said former church leader and principal, Noel Cannon, who is deceased, would force children to recount challenging events. She said one boy, who had recently lost his brother to cancer, was made to recount his hardship on a microphone in front of his grade. The boy had avoided discussing his brother.

“Noel kept asking him until the boy slumped over, put his head in his hands, and started to cry. Noel then said, ‘son, I don’t mind the tears’.”

Hughes said two grades of students “watched as our classmate was forced to cry and relive the loss of his brother over a microphone”.

Hughes said she had many “incredibly happy memories” at the school, and believed the teachers, most of whom are volunteers and members of the Redeemer community, did not mean to cause harm. “They were only educating us in the way that either they had been educated themselves, or in a manner which was consistent with their own beliefs and the worldview of the Redeemer Baptist Church. This, however, I believe, is the issue. If there is a lack of understanding that many of the methods used and the culture created in the school [are] psychologically harmful, then changes must occur,” Hughes wrote.

She said she felt like a prisoner at school; “there was always the potential that a classmate could dob you in. As a survival measure, I learnt to monitor every single behaviour, and as I got older, this included my thoughts,” she said.

School principal and church elders Jonathan Cannon and Russell Bailey were invited to attend the inquiry, but declined. The committee attempted to summon Cannon and Bailey, but they did not make themselves available.

The inquiry has previously heard allegations of a child being made to wear a dog collar, corporal punishment and financial misconduct.

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