A group of alumni of Sydney all-boys private school Newington College has launched an appeal of a Supreme Court ruling that found it can accept girls from next year.
The college told TDA it will ask the court to stop the case from going ahead.
The alumni group had argued the school was breaching its founding document by allowing co-education, which the court dismissed.
A hearing has been scheduled for 1 September to determine if the appeal can go ahead.
Newington
Newington College is a private school in Sydney. It has historically been a single-sex boys school.
In November 2023, Newington announced plans to phase in girls to the school.
Girls were to be accepted into Kindergarten and Year 5 from 2026, and Year 7 and Year 11 from 2028.
A group of former alumni and current students launched a court case to stop the move, calling themselves ‘Save Newington College’.
Court case
The group nominated an anonymous current pupil as their plaintiff. The child is called ‘student A’ in legal documents.
Justice Guy Parker said his “personal feelings on the question of coeducation are not known and his participation as plaintiff is purely nominal.”
The group’s claim centred on the school’s founding trust deed, written in 1873, which says it has been established to provide “an efficient course of education for youth”.
Lawyers argued the word “youth” was intended to mean boys.
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In May, Justice Parker concluded that the word “youth” in the trust deed was used in a “gender-neutral sense”, ruling the founding document did “not mandate male-only enrolment at [Newington] College.”
The judgment cleared the way for the college to accept girls from 2026.
Members of the ‘Save Newington College’ group have since openly criticised the court’s decision.
Former school captain Peter Thomas said going co-ed could make Newington “the first large independent school in NSW in 100 years to fold because it ran out of cash”.
Appeal
An appeal has now been lodged in the NSW Supreme Court by Peter Johnston, the “tutor” for student A during the court proceedings.
Johnston also went to Newington.
The hearing is listed for 1 September.
The Court of Appeal needs to decide whether it will allow the case to go ahead before it begins considering the appeal.
In a statement sent to TDA, Newington College’s Chief Operating Officer Ross Xenos said the school was notified of the intention to appeal.
Xenos said Newington will seek to stop the appeal going ahead.
“We will be seeking for this appeal to be dismissed as expeditiously as possible by the Court,” Xenos said.
“We remain both excited and committed to welcoming girls and boys to our Prep Schools next year.”
