A teacher at Marist College Ashgrove in Brisbane says she was surrounded by as many as 300 male pupils who chanted and pelted her with food and drink, leaving her with a "serious psychiatric injury," court papers say. She has lodged a workers’ compensation notice and is seeking internal documents ahead of a compulsory conference to negotiate a settlement.
Allegations laid out in court
The case centres on Victoria Sparrow, a teacher at the Catholic boys’ school, who served a notice of claim for workers’ compensation on 9 July last year. Gerard Forde, acting for Ms Sparrow, told the Brisbane Supreme Court that a large group of male students surrounded her in the playground, then chanted and began throwing food and drink, some of which struck her.
Mr Forde characterised the behaviour as "pelting" and described it as an assault. He told the court that Ms Sparrow has suffered a "serious psychiatric injury" as a result. The claim is now set to go to a compulsory conference where talks over a negotiated settlement are expected to take place.
Much of the hearing focused on whether the college permitted a harmful culture to take root and whether leadership failed to respond to warning signs. Mr Forde said at least three other female staff had made complaints about their treatment, and he sought documents from the school to support the workers’ compensation claim before negotiations begin.
Examples of alleged misconduct and failures
Mr Forde outlined other episodes that he said showed a pattern. These included:
- During the Covid‑19 period, a female teacher (named by a pseudonym in court papers) was allegedly subjected to "numerous gross and offensive comments" by students during a Zoom lesson; the students were described as "sexist and demeaning" and the episode humiliating for the teacher.
- An incident in which a pupil entered the teachers’ lunchroom and threatened a teacher and his family; the teacher who reported this was later stood down, according to the court outline.
- Allegations of a long‑term deterioration in pupil behaviour, a lack of appropriate playground duty protocols and safety measures, and inadequate post‑incident support offered to Ms Sparrow.
Mr Forde argued that such episodes should have produced emails, meeting minutes and regular file notes, but said the school had not provided those records to the claimant so far.
Legal and procedural next steps
The workers’ compensation notice requires the parties to attend a compulsory conference intended to encourage settlement. As part of the pre‑conference process, Ms Sparrow is seeking disclosure of documents from the school that her legal team says will show how complaints were handled and what steps, if any, college leaders took.
If the matter does not settle at conference, the claim could proceed through further legal steps. For now, the hearing placed the school’s conduct and internal procedures under judicial scrutiny, with a barrister telling the court there were other women who had made complaints but had not formally disclosed them.
Reputational and financial pressures on private schools
Although the case is in Australia, it illustrates the legal and financial exposure private schools face when staff allege workplace injury linked to student misconduct. A formal workers’ compensation claim can lead to legal costs, potential compensation payments and internal document disclosure that may surface patterns of complaint. For fee‑paying institutions, such processes can affect enrolments, philanthropy and staffing.
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The claim is set to go to a compulsory conference to discuss a negotiated settlement. "She has suffered a serious psychiatric injury," Gerard Forde told the court.
This article was created with AI assistance.
