Nicholas Sampson stepped down on Friday, the ABC reported, following the airing by the broadcaster of claims against the school by former female teachers and staff.
The headmaster reportedly resigned after revelations he kept a male teacher on staff who had sent sexually explicit emails to a former female student of a girls’ school where the man previously taught.
Sampson’s resignation followed “allegations of extremely concerning past conduct matter involving a current senior school teacher at Cranbrook”, the school’s council said in a statement, according to the ABC.
“Mr Sampson’s failure to disclose the matter to the current school council in the context of this week’s ABC Four Corners broadcast have led to an irrevocable breakdown of trust between the headmaster and the school,” the council said.
“The council communicated this to Mr Sampson this morning and received his resignation.”
Cranbrook School did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation of the resignation, but Cranbrook’s website no longer lists Sampson as part of its executive team.
The ABC’s Four Corners program earlier this week detailed allegations of workplace bullying and abuse at the eastern suburbs school.
The controversy comes as the school, single sex since it opened in 1918, gears up to admit girls from 2026.
In the wake of the claims, former tennis star Jelena Dokic reportedly backed out of an appearance at the school ahead of International Women’s Day.
On Cranbrook’s website, Sampson says the school builds academic curiosity and optimisim in “each of our students, allowing them to thrive in the 21st Century”.
AAP
