The King’s School “rife with speculation” over Headmaster’s future

Tony George, headmaster of The King’s School, is under fire from teachers, parents and older children following the ‘clip on ear’ incident. Michael West reports.

Tony George, principal of The King’s School, will take to the stage at the launch of the Australian Character Education Summit on Monday morning in the Trophy Room on the King’s vast 148-hectare campus.

Speaking at a meeting of education leaders, George is scheduled to discuss “core values” in leadership, values-based education and the character traits needed to be a successful school leader.

But the King’s headmaster’s leadership success has become the subject of intense scrutiny. Like appearing in these pages Tony George is under investigation for an incident in which he “broke a boy’s ear” during a religious education class in front of about 100 boys and teachers at Futter Hall earlier this year. They were said to be shocked.

King’s School principal controversy deepens after boy’s ear is cut off

George was subsequently placed on “leave” and the school soon confirmed that an investigation into the incident was ongoing and that the investigation was still ongoing. and is unlikely to be completed before next week’s Character Education Summit.

But it’s not just the Futter Hall incident that concerns the school community; The School Council is under pressure on several fronts to renew Tony George’s tenure at Australia’s oldest and largest school.

feverish expectation

“The TKS community’s feverish anticipation for news from the School regarding a decision regarding the Headteacher is at breaking point,” said a senior source in the school community. MWM.

“12th Year Graduation Day [last week]The event, with more than 800 participants, was full of speculation. The rumor mill is going into overdrive.

Whether in staff rooms, on the sidelines of a rugby match at the JS White Oval or in the chambers of the Anglican Synod in Sydney, it is not just the “clip in the ear” incident that affects King’s morale, but also questions about the colorful headmaster’s management style and performance.

Staff exit

A letter identifying a senior staff member, MWMThe report, which reached the School Council, includes concerns about a “worrying staff exodus”, “leadership style”, failure to attend meetings and George’s appointment from St Stephens, a little-known school in Western Australia.

“As a result, there was much reputational damage associated with his tenure,” the email said. “These were largely driven by decisions made by TG. It seems that the only time TKS is featured in the mainstream media are stories focusing on the decisions he makes, whether it’s the demand for a lap pool or first class/business class tickets to the Henley Regatta or ill-timed attacks on woke culture.”

“I am confident that the President did not intend to harm the student at the center of the current scandal, but this reflects, at the very least, a reckless and dangerous lack of judgment.”

Tony George declined interview requests for this story, and King’s public relations department did not respond to questions. MWM spoke to former staff, older children and parents.

Big business

King’s is a big business. It is a tax-exempt charity, dominated at council level by the Anglican Church of Sydney, but also subsidized by taxpayers to the tune of $17 million a year. Last year, King’s income was recorded as $117 million. Revenue has risen from $92 million in 5 years, helped by the school’s controversial decision to apply for JobKeeper subsidies during Covid and receive $8 million.

It’s fair to say that many other wealthy private schools, well-off golf clubs and others have helped with JobKeeper without any need, but King’s is one of the richest and while the school has helped itself with $8 million in JobKeeper, its leadership has refused to give a $2.5% pay rise for teaching staff.

If teachers were uneasy then, they are angry now, King’s sources say. “ The 2025 Staff Engagement Survey results were unsuccessful. There is widespread unity in the staffroom and there are calls for a ‘rebellion’ if TG returns to work in Term 4.

Captain’s calls and the Common Room

In the memo to the council, George was accused of “destroying the Common Room (where teachers meet each day before and after classes).

“Announcing that he would not recognize the Common Room President’s right to speak on behalf of the staff, even though he had been elected by the staff as their representative, the President then refused to meet with or allow the IEU. [independent teachers’ education union] Representation to meet with staff.

“… there has been an alarming exodus of staff from TKS. These include a large number of Heads of Department and many other talented teachers, many of whom have left due to a lack of clear direction from above. In addition to the loss of several excellent and high-performing staff, there has also been the appointment of many staff of questionable ability due to several ‘Captain’s Calls'”.

Concerns about the captain’s summons extend beyond the Common Room. George is also accused of “high scholar turnover” and excessive spending on projects and lack of transparency.

Arms race

The most significant of these was King’s decision to shell out $15 million for a 16-hectare site on Naamaroo Drive in Lindfield, above the River Lane Cove. They took it from the Uniting Church, and some observers claimed that the agreement was not adequately discussed or explained.

But the odd thing is that there is no zoning approval for King’s to redevelop the land for educational purposes, making the $15 million price tag seem ostentatious, and a review of King’s financial statements sheds little light on purchases and valuations of individual projects initiated by George that have yet to come to fruition.

The Lindfield property is currently zoned as a Special Recreation site and there is a conference center in the woodland, and a school source said the idea behind the purchase was for the land to be developed into a “feeder school” for King’s main campus in Parramatta and/or a center for Christian leadership.

“The problem was that members of the OBU (Old Boys Union), the King’s School Foundation and the school management were unaware of this,” a source said.

Private schools, public subsidies: How can tax cuts be justified with annual fees of $50,000 per child?

Land banking and launching extravagant building projects (they call it an ‘Arms Race’ on independent school land) is by no means within the scope of King’s, but the school currently sits on 130 hectares, the largest piece of land in Australia. There is also Tudor House, the 69-hectare feeder school in the Southern Highlands, and the 5,042-hectare Futter Park rural estate near Harden in NSW.

A source said of the Lindfield acquisition: “⁠⁠Add to this are underpayments of residential staff, turnover of scholars, increased legal and consultancy costs, and lack of capital project improvements.”

Under Tony George and previous president Tim Hawkes, King’s performed well academically. In the ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rankings), students score well compared to other schools. However, this led to discontent among older children due to the changing demographics and ‘culture’ of the school; King’s actively markets to bright children from abroad, even displaying its educational products at fairs in China to attract academic talent.

And so the decision to renew Tony George’s term came under pressure from King’s School Council. Corporate governance is worrying, says a Synod source MWM It had become controversial for Anglican clergy to vote as a ‘bloc’ and support the warden. Another source said clergy did not vote as a bloc but generally supported the incumbent.

He said the council was against the wall on this issue. If they don’t renew George’s tenure, they could face a legal claim and resulting negative press (as has happened recently with rival GPS schools Shore and Cranbrook), and if they do, they could face continued unrest from staff and old boys… and the specter of having to ‘own’ if further setbacks occur.

Cranbrook and the “arms race” of private schools. How out of control has funding for elite schools gotten?