Eastern suburbs private school Cranbrook was made aware of anti-Semitic bullying and provided with video footage of a boy in full uniform at school performing a Nazi salute but did not respond for over five weeks, families say.
The Herald can reveal Cranbrook was the unnamed independent boys’ school that featured in a Sun-Herald story last week about rising incidents of anti-Semitism at Sydney schools, after several families came forward to identify the school.
Cranbrook headmaster Nicholas Sampson confirmed in a statement that the school had been working with the families of three students who were targets of anti-Semitic behaviour and slurs in the senior school.
“The school has made it clear to students that it’s not only their conduct that is unacceptable, it is their total lack of perception of the abhorrence of their slurs,” Sampson said. “We have made it clear that there is no tolerance for it and repercussions will be material.”
Sampson said the school had increased its formal and informal education on the matter and strengthened alliances with external organisations such as the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.
In a letter sent to Cranbrook families on Thursday, Sampson said the school was holding assemblies and other sessions because of “a noticeable shift in anti-social and discriminatory behaviour”. He said this included “slurs” that are “abhorrent” but did not provide detail.
Read the article by Caitlin Fitzsimmons in The Sydney Morning Herald.