Education minister calls roundtable to discuss teens’ alleged sex assault

The heads of all three school sectors will participate in an urgent roundtable crisis talks at the behest of the state’s education minister following a spate of alleged sexual assaults by Sydney schoolboys.

Three students from Scots College stand accused of raping a teenage girl in a Bondi Junction alleyway last month, while two students from St Gregory’s in southwest Sydney allegedly assaulted a 17-year-old girl in a separate incident this month.

It comes as Scots College wrote again to parents at the weekend to address concerns ranging from consent education to the prospect of the expulsion of students from the school.

Announcing plans for the roundtable, Education Minister Prue Car said “everyone across NSW has been really shocked and horrified” by the alleged incidents, which she described as the “absolutely unacceptable treatment of women”.

She said the roundtable discussions would include education experts, community leaders alongside school sector leaders.

“All three sectors do everything possible inside the school gate: respectful relationships in the curriculum, cracking down on bullying, really having high expectations that everyone in a school environment is treated with respect,” Car said.

“But the truth is that too many of our young boys, when they walk outside of school and get onto their phones, are actually subject to some pretty horrific, hateful stuff online.

“We’ve got horrific content circulating as normal sexual behaviour online, sometimes generated by AI, with few guardrails around it.”

Car said the summit would include input from the online safety regulator, the eSafety Commissioner and seek the views of people who were victims of such events.

Three teenage boys, including two students at St Gregory’s – which is a boys’ school from years 7 to 12 – are accused of raping a 17-year-old girl at a home in the Macarthur region in Sydney’s south-west this month.

In a previous separate incident, three Scots students , a 13-year-old boy and two 14-year-old boys, were arrested earlier this month and stand accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in a Bondi Junction laneway in July.

The allegations prompted calls for its head, Dr Ian Lambert, to resign and sharp criticism over the handling of the school’s response and what some described as longstanding cultural issues within the school community.

Communicating to parents on Sunday, Scots addressed six issues with its community, including pastoral support for students and “appropriate” discussions for all boys in year 5 or above about the alleged sex assault.

“These conversations reinforced that violence is never acceptable, checked on student wellbeing, addressed what students might encounter through media reporting or discussions with their peers and ensured they knew where to seek support,” the information said.