When the accused in sex crimes are children, school leaders must wake up to a toxic culture

August 16, 2026 — 10:52am

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In 2021, as part of the Teach Us Consent campaign I launched, we gathered more than 500 testimonies that alleged sexual assault by current or former Scots or Cranbrook students in Sydney. These were among 7000 testimonies alleging sexual assault from schools across the country.

Almost none of these were reported to the police. When I emailed the Scots College principal to share this and discuss next steps (twice), he didn’t reply.

Five years on, three Scots boys, aged 13 and 14, were charged last week with the aggravated sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl. I wish her all the best in the difficult legal process ahead, which must run its course.

However, it was clear, long before these latest headlines, that Australia has a dire cultural problem in its schools. I fear with social media algorithms and access to demeaning pornographic content, it is getting worse. Teenage boys have now overtaken adult men as the most likely perpetrators of sexual violence towards under-18s.

Since the arrests last week, parents of Scots students have told this masthead of a culture of “toxic masculinity” at the school.

Scots boys allegedly captured on CCTV on night of sexual assault

Sexual assault occurs when the perpetrators’ sense of entitlement to another’s body outweighs their empathy towards that person. Entitlement and empathy are mostly socialised traits.

Boys who attend ultra-elite all-male schools enter adulthood with a structural advantage in social status, networks and opportunity, and the cycle of privilege continues as........

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