Top Court Rules Against Newington Boy’s Last Minute Bid To Stop Co-Ed Move
Image: Newington College
A current Newington student who sued his private school over their decision to become co-ed has failed in a Court of Appeal bid, removing the final barrier in introducing girls to the school.
The court dismissed the case on Tuesday, and ordered the boy to cover the school’s legal costs, after they ruled against the student’s claims that the school’s shift to a co-ed model violates the trust’s original intent, stating “youth” which supposedly focuses solely on “the education of boys and young men”.
Supreme Court judge Guy Parker came to the same conclusion earlier this year, ruling that the use of the word “youth” in the 1873 trust deed was in a gender-neutral sense and “does not mandate male-only enrolment at the college”.
Barrister Michael Izzo, SC represented the student, who was allegedly financially supported by Old Boys, and told the appeals court on Tuesday that Parker should have considered the contextual usage of the word in newspaper clippings, rather than solely on 19th-century dictionary definitions.
“Dictionaries are not evidence,” Izzo said. “Dictionaries are a tool, and in our submission, there’s no reason why other tools can’t also be used.
“And that’s really our argument, that his honour erred, excluding from the evidence contemporaneous evidence of usage as embodied by a number of newspaper articles.”
Newington’s barrister, Noel Hutley, SC, said the original trust deed “deliberately used language … which left things flexible. And we say that’s the beginning and end of it.”
“One would have to construe each article whether [youth was] an ordinary meaning or one which was dictated by context. And that’s an exercise [where] your honour would have to go through each article.
“The language is not ambiguous. The language is clear.”
School looking forward to “inclusive co-educational vision”
Following the final decision, Newington headmaster Michael Parker said he was pleased to move ward with the “exciting, inspiring and inclusive co-educational vision” the school was planning for the next year.
“In the meantime, we will continue to maximise opportunities for our current students whilst preparing for the move to become a fully co-educational school by 2033,” he said.
“We are very proud of the rich history of our great school. We are very optimistic for all our current students and their ability to thrive in life beyond our gates, and we are deeply committed to continuing to evolve, improve and build on our best traditions to be an even better school in the future.”
