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John Colet school sydney australia

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 7:10 am
by Jasmine
Does anyone know anything about the John Colet school in Belrose, sydney australia. My husband and i went to an interview there with the idea of enroling our child in this school but it seems weird to me. Is this school a front for a cult like this ses and sop? The HM was very strange. Thank you.

Re: John Colet school sydney australia

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 8:08 am
by bluemoon
Hi Jasmine,

Welcome to the forum.

If you type in 'John Colet school' into the search engine on the site (top right) you will find there are some references to it on the forum. Here is one link:

http://www.ses-forums.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=632&p=9804&hilit=john+colet+school#p9804

I am sure there are others here who can tell you more about it. I was in the London school and don't know anything I have not read on here about the John Colet school.

With best wishes, Bluemoon

Re: John Colet school sydney australia

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 9:41 am
by Jasmine
Hi Bluemoon,
Thanks for the link. I have found my small but almost disasterous experience with John Colet school a bit of a worry. The HM there makes no mention of some of the more peculiar teachings of the school and I have been told expresses to potential school enrollment parents that his group the sop broke away fron the ses becasue they were too strict.(ony if pressed, I am told.) However, I almost enrolled my child at this school because it is being advertised as a school of academic excellence with an enriching curriculum for gifted children.
I haven't because I had a bad vibe when I met the HM. I found it odd that the HM had been in charge for over 26 years. Also, I couldnt find anything about the degees the teachers held there. When I asked him at the interview he told me that some of the teachers used to be students at the school. one parent I have spoken to, told me his wife is also a teacher there, with no qualifications. To be truthful, I was keen on the school, until I met the HM. He seemed to me to be like the king of a little kingdom. Certainly not what education usually is like in australia. Also, even though the school of philosophy is mentioned in their literature, it is widely believed to be like the school of maths from a university.
I have also been told that the HM says John Colet school has no links with any of the other affiliated schools on their website other than the children doing shakespeare and sanskrit and latin but I find this hard to believe.
I think that if this school John Colet is one of these ses schools that seemed to have done so much damage to so many poor people it should be exposed as such and perhaps reviewed by the australian education board.

Re: John Colet school sydney australia

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 7:52 pm
by actuallythere
Jasmine,

It appears to be a classic SES offshoot front school, using deception and manipulation to disguise malicious cult recruitment.

For the sake of other unwitting parents and their endangered children, I suggest you put in a call to the Sydney Morning Herald and your local child protection agency or charity, drawing their attention to the links to SES and asking them to check this school out.

Re: John Colet school sydney australia

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:44 pm
by woodgreen
Jasmine wrote:Does anyone know anything about the John Colet school in Belrose, sydney australia. My husband and i went to an interview there with the idea of enroling our child in this school but it seems weird to me. Is this school a front for a cult like this ses and sop? The HM was very strange. Thank you.

Short answer Jasmine, is yes. They are. The John Colet School has been mentioned on this Forum before, and the Ausralian Schools are still operating to catch unwitting parents. So just say no to enrolling your children. Glad you checked it out for them. woodgreen.

Re: John Colet school sydney australia

Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 6:23 am
by bonsai
Jasmine wrote: The HM there makes no mention of some of the more peculiar teachings of the school and I have been told expresses to potential school enrollment parents that his group the sop broke away fron the ses becasue they were too strict.(ony if pressed, I am told.)


Hello Jasmine and welcome,

Yes the John Colet in Sydney is connected to the school of practical philosophy in Sydney, which in turn is connected to the School of Economic Science in the UK.

The reasons I can make this connection:
I do not believe there has been any breakaway in Sydney. Certainly there are issues with Michael Mavro who ran the Australian school and who eventually left the SOPP and set up his own alternative. However the SOPP has not broken away from the SES in London.

Re: John Colet school sydney australia

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 9:15 pm
by Just Wondering
Hi Jasmine,

Well done for listening to your inner voice. I wish my B*S* Detector was as good as yours!

Good Luck on your search for a more suitable school.

Just Wondering

Re: John Colet school sydney australia

Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 1:46 am
by Ahamty2
Jasmine,

John Colet School is definitely part of the SOP in Sydney (SES elsewhere). The HM and teaching staff are members of SOP and the Board of Governors are all SOP. The HM has been a member of the Sydney SOP since his youth while it was under the control of Michael Mavro.
I am a former member of the senior group of the Sydney SOP under Mavro.

My advice is find another school for your children that is not so narrow in its thinking. It might look good and sound good on paper, but it is not the way to educate children in the 21st century. The ideology they teach is not for today's world.

Best Wishes.

Re: John Colet school sydney australia

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 9:00 pm
by ConcernedMum
Here's some more information on John Colet showing that it is a SES school for children (legally separate but the same philosophy) from the Education Renaissance Trust (ERT) website. The ERT is the umbrella group for the sES schools and is set up to promote the SES philosophy in schools.

The idea of offering children an education based on philosophical and spiritual principles has spread. Following London’s lead, schools have been set up in Manchester (St James), Dublin (John Scottus Schools), New York City (Philosophy Day School), Sydney (John Colet) and Melbourne (Erasmus), Auckland (Ficino School), Johannesburg (St James), Cape Town (Auburn House) and San Fernando (Renaissance) in Trinidad. Durban (St James) is the newest member of this worldwide family.


more info here: http://www.education-renaissance-trust.org.uk/aims2.htm

I see Nicholas Debenham is still Chair of the ERT which is surely quite controversial given his support of corporal punishment. I find it very odd that spirituality and violence towards children can be associated in this way.

Re: John Colet school sydney australia

Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 6:29 am
by Just Wondering
Thanks Concerned Mum, the ERT link was one I hadn't stumbled onto.

Interestingly, Jasmine if you click on "Aims, Principles & Activities" on the ERT website then scroll down to "Founding Principles - Philosophy and Education" you can read Gilbert Mane's (HM at John Colet School) thesis 'In apprehension how like a god'.

The ERT website, led me to this http://www.slokawaldorf.org/
Why on earth would the ERT (read, SES) want to pay to start up a Steiner School in India?????!!!

Re: John Colet school sydney australia

Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 1:28 am
by woodgreen
ConcernedMum wrote:Here's some more information on John Colet showing that it is a SES school for children (legally separate but the same philosophy) from the Education Renaissance Trust (ERT) website. The ERT is the umbrella group for the sES schools and is set up to promote the SES philosophy in schools.

The idea of offering children an education based on philosophical and spiritual principles has spread. Following London’s lead, schools have been set up in Manchester (St James), Dublin (John Scottus Schools), New York City (Philosophy Day School), Sydney (John Colet) and Melbourne (Erasmus), Auckland (Ficino School), Johannesburg (St James), Cape Town (Auburn House) and San Fernando (Renaissance) in Trinidad. Durban (St James) is the newest member of this worldwide family.


more info here: http://www.education-renaissance-trust.org.uk/aims2.htm

I see Nicholas Debenham is still Chair of the ERT which is surely quite controversial given his support of corporal punishment. I find it very odd that spirituality and violence towards children can be associated in this way.

Hi Concerned Mum - others may know more, but I thought Nicholas Debenham had gone after the St. James Inquiry. Obviousy not. Now snaking round the SES world set up. Hope Parents check it out on here. x woodgreen.

Re: John Colet school sydney australia

Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 8:45 am
by ConcernedMum
woodgreen wrote:
ConcernedMum wrote:Here's some more information on John Colet showing that it is a SES school for children (legally separate but the same philosophy) from the Education Renaissance Trust (ERT) website. The ERT is the umbrella group for the sES schools and is set up to promote the SES philosophy in schools.

The idea of offering children an education based on philosophical and spiritual principles has spread. Following London’s lead, schools have been set up in Manchester (St James), Dublin (John Scottus Schools), New York City (Philosophy Day School), Sydney (John Colet) and Melbourne (Erasmus), Auckland (Ficino School), Johannesburg (St James), Cape Town (Auburn House) and San Fernando (Renaissance) in Trinidad. Durban (St James) is the newest member of this worldwide family.


more info here: http://www.education-renaissance-trust.org.uk/aims2.htm

I see Nicholas Debenham is still Chair of the ERT which is surely quite controversial given his support of corporal punishment. I find it very odd that spirituality and violence towards children can be associated in this way.

Hi Concerned Mum - others may know more, but I thought Nicholas Debenham had gone after the St. James Inquiry. Obviousy not. Now snaking round the SES world set up. Hope Parents check it out on here. x woodgreen.


I had a dig around the easy (and free) to search UK Charities Commission website one time and it was very illuminating about who does what and in which registered charity across the numerous SES-charities in the UK: the different children's schools, Lucca Leadership, ERT, the Trust for sending funds to India etc. The now adult children of the original leadership are now taking over the reins in quite a few cases.

Re: John Colet school sydney australia

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 8:50 am
by ConcernedMum
Just Wondering wrote:Thanks Concerned Mum, the ERT link was one I hadn't stumbled onto.

Interestingly, Jasmine if you click on "Aims, Principles & Activities" on the ERT website then scroll down to "Founding Principles - Philosophy and Education" you can read Gilbert Mane's (HM at John Colet School) thesis 'In apprehension how like a god'.

The ERT website, led me to this http://www.slokawaldorf.org/
Why on earth would the ERT (read, SES) want to pay to start up a Steiner School in India?????!!!


Yes, I saw that too. There is no mention of that on the ERT website so I wonder is it a different ERT that is funding the Steiner school? Steiner education is about the most polar opposite to an SES school that I can conceive of so I can't see how it could possibly be the case. Steiner education is very gentle on the children is one huge difference. I have friends whose children attend Steiner so I know the two systems (SES and Steiner) are utterly incompatible.

Re: John Colet school sydney australia

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 10:18 am
by Just Wondering
Steiner education is about the most polar opposite to an SES school that I can conceive of so I can't see how it could possibly be the case. Steiner education is very gentle on the children is one huge difference. I have friends whose children attend Steiner so I know the two systems (SES and Steiner) are utterly incompatible.


Yes! I totally agree, they couldn't be more different. It seems incongruent, except this..http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/wider-horizons-in-any-language-20110525-1f491.html made me wonder. It's impossible to know if the mention of Steiner was the journalist's own assumption or a connection mentioned by 'the school'.

In Sydney there is some student traffic between John Colet School and Kamaroi Rudolf Steiner School as they are in the same suburb and both are seen as 'alternative' educational options for those who are searching.

I don't know if Anthroposophy and Gurdjieff would make comfortable bedfellows (I doubt it) but if a coalition was on the cards, no-one could muddy the waters better than the leaders of the SOP/SOPP/SES/ERT etc, etc, etc.

Re: John Colet school sydney australia

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 11:17 am
by bluemoon
Steiner Schools have come up before on this forum, I have copied and pasted a quote I found from the link below that Bluegreen posted in 2009:

http://counterknowledge.com/2009/01/
(Just checked this link and its broken I'm afraid)

“Anthroposophy’s entire spiritual doctrine is founded on the root race theory, attatching qualities, good or bad, to different races and skin colours, and ranking them accordingly; this explains how the divine cosmic plan unfolds. It’s hardly surprising there is so much covert reticence surrounding it. And these are not ideas stuck in the past, of a man “speaking of his time”. These are themes in current debate, deliberated over by anthroposophists - teachers in Steiner Waldorf schools - who discuss the cosmic significance of the Aryan race and its task to lead into the spiritual future, or whether dividing humans into separate races, and arranging them in groups of “higher” or “lower racial forms”, is actually “racist”. It’s going on now.”

Bluemoon