Nicholas Sampson, the headmaster at elite Sydney boys’ school, Cranbrook, has announced his resignation, following allegations he kept a teacher on staff after discovering he sent multiple graphic emails to a former female student.
The school had been at the centre of a Four Corners expose titled ‘Old School’, which aired on Monday night. The damning episode contained allegations of a toxic culture at the school ahead of its transition to a co-educational campus in 2026.
One teacher, who Four Corners has not named, allegedly boasted about looking up girls' skirts in class and described lurid sexual fantasies about his students. It is understood that the teacher was still working at the school as of this week, but Cranbrook confirmed today that the teacher is on immediate leave pending an investigation.
"The circumstances of the matter and subsequently 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 Council,” the school’s council said in a statement this morning.
"The School Council communicated this to Mr Sampson and this morning received his resignation. The Council] deeply regrets the distress to our students, our staff, our parents, our alumni and the broader Cranbrook family arising from the current circumstances".
Cranbrook’s head of junior school, Michele Marquet, has been named acting head of school following Sampson’s resignation.