'Be sensible and keep your mouth shut': the private school facing allegations of control

Summary

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Podcast Summary:

"Be sensible and keep your mouth shut": The Private School Facing Allegations of Control

The Morning Edition – The Age & Sydney Morning Herald
Date: June 22, 2026
Host: Samantha Selinger-Morris
Guest: Emily Cowell, Education Reporter

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Overview

This episode delves into the disturbing allegations surrounding Redeemer Baptist School in Sydney—a prestigious, high-performing private institution affiliated with a fundamentalist church. While offering academic excellence, the school faces claims from former students and community members of deep-seated authoritarian control, social isolation, and exploitation. Education reporter Emily Cowell shares findings from a major investigation and firsthand accounts from former students and teachers.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Background on Redeemer Baptist Church and School

• Distinct from mainstream Baptist churches: The school is linked to a fundamentalist, patriarchal church, wholly separate from the mainstream Baptist Church.
  • "What makes them unusual is that they're very fundamental. It's a highly patriarchal, authoritative church environment where men essentially have all positions of power and women follow their rule." — Emily Cowell (01:10)
• Renowned for academic results and devoted staff, whose entire lives often centre on the church and school.

2. Former Students’ Experiences: Control and Fear

• Alexandra Garth’s story: Granddaughter of the church’s founder, born and raised in the community.
  • Recounts constant monitoring: teachers, staff, and church members all lived together.
  • "She actually shared a bedroom with her own primary school teacher. So this is a world that's entirely intertwined. There's no escaping the church if you were born in that community." — Emily Cowell (02:55)
  • Emotional manipulation when leaving: warnings of danger and damnation if departing the church.
  • "Elders stood in front of her for hours. She couldn't get past them...and that was so emotionally draining on her." — Emily Cowell (03:40)

3. Further Allegations Across Decades

• Widespread and disturbing practices:
  • Control covering small and large aspects: from underwear checks and uniform guidelines to restricting university courses and relationships.
    • "I've heard stories of the school telling students what color underwear to wear. That's actually in their handbook." — Emily Cowell (04:35)
    • "Students clean the school on Friday during lunchtime...vacuuming, cleaning windows, cleaning bathrooms. So it's quite extensive work." — Emily Cowell (04:50)
  • Teachers as unpaid ‘volunteers’:
    • Teachers and staff sign away rights to salary and property, relying on church stipends and housing.
      • "By signing a ministry order, these people...give up their right for property, their right to receive a salary, superannuation...Instead, they just receive a small stipend." — Emily Cowell (05:30)
      • This creates financial dependence and vulnerability, especially if they leave.

4. Micromanaged Lives and Authoritarianism

• Constant oversight:
  • Members required to seek permission for routine activities (e.g., joining university groups or holidays).
    • "It speaks to the nature of the church. It's not one big thing that they control. It's a million little small things." — Emily Cowell (06:50)
  • Extreme control over educational choices, relationships, and even daily interactions.
    • "It's controlling who you marry...you have to get the elders' approval first. And only men are asking women out on dates here." — Emily Cowell (07:20)

5. Breaking Family Bonds: Systematic Isolation

• Allegations of engineered separation:
  • Church allegedly moved children out of their family homes into houses of elders or other members under the guise of fostering “responsibility.”
    • "It was quite a routine action of the church to move children from outside of their family home and into the homes of elders or other community members." — Emily Cowell (08:25)
    • Long-term impacts: feelings of displacement, lack of stability, broken familial connections.

6. Profound Social Isolation

• International students and controls:
  • Testimony from a Chinese student: personal devices seized, only allowed to call parents twice monthly.
    • "I couldn't access the outside world for four years when I lived with them." — Anonymous former student (10:17, quoted by Cowell)
  • Common allegations of constant surveillance, open-door policies, and tightly monitored internet access.
    • "One student said that her door had to remain open at all times. So it’s quite an isolating experience. Yet at the same time, you’re never alone." — Emily Cowell (11:16)

7. Charitable Claims vs. Coercion

• Community’s stated mission:
  • Church says it’s about helping the vulnerable and providing community for children in need.
    • However, ex-members describe feeling coerced into difficult choices—move into elder’s homes or face expulsion.
    • "Sometimes they're given ultimatums. Move into an elder or community member's house or be expelled from the school." — Emily Cowell (12:13)

8. Prior Warnings and Institutional Response

• Pattern of inaction:
  • Historical allegations and news coverage dating back twenty years; government bodies informed but often found complaints outside their legal jurisdiction or “unsubstantiated.”
  • "The Ombudsman, the Board of Studies, now NESA, the Education Department, senior government members, were aware of what was going on...it was either not in their jurisdiction or ultimately none of the allegations could be sustained." — Emily Cowell (12:52)
  • Some court cases against staff have resulted in findings of innocence due to insufficient evidence.
• Recent reaction:
  • NSW and Federal Education Ministers have called for new investigations.
    • "The New South Wales Education Minister...and the Federal Education Minister...have also said that it is appropriate that this is looked into." — Emily Cowell (14:12)

9. School and Church Response

• Official denial of most allegations:
  • School insists all activities are legal.
  • Denial of students sharing rooms with teachers, despite public admission from the principal in the past.
    • "They’ve denied the majority of the allegations that we have reported. They curiously said that they have no reports of students living with teachers sharing bedrooms, despite Principal Jonathan Cannon himself...admitting to housing a student inside his home." — Emily Cowell (14:53)

10. Emotional Resonance and Ongoing Impact

• Journalistic Perspective:
  • Cowell reflects on the deep, lasting effect on former students and community members.
    • "It's impacted the way they see authority, control...Looking them in the eye, you can see the impact this has had on them." — Emily Cowell (16:20)
  • Emphasises these stories are ongoing, with patterns stretching across decades.

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Notable Quotes and Moments

• "Be sensible and keep your mouth shut."
  — Quoted from the Redeemer Baptist School student diary, reflecting the culture of enforced silence. (00:30)
• "I couldn't access the outside world for four years when I lived with them."
  — Anonymous former student from China (10:17, quoted by Cowell)
• "It's not one big thing that they control. It's a million little small things."
  — Emily Cowell (06:50)
• "Looking them in the eye, you can see the impact this has had on them and it just makes you want to do the story justice and to cover it in its full extent."
  — Emily Cowell (16:30)

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Key Timestamps

• 00:53 — Introduction of Emily Cowell and background on Redeemer Baptist School and Church
• 02:27 — Alexandra Garth’s experience and psychological pressure in the community
• 04:30 — Broad allegations: authoritarian rules, enforced labor, unpaid teachers
• 06:43 — Controlling life choices: education, relationships, personal freedom
• 08:15 — Family separation as a mechanism of control
• 10:01 — Allegations of isolation, particularly for international students
• 12:22 — Claims of assistance versus realities of coercion
• 12:29 — Prior warnings, lack of institutional action
• 14:12 — Response from education authorities
• 14:51 — School and church denial of allegations, conflict with evidence
• 15:53 — Journalist’s emotional response and the story's lasting impact

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Conclusion

This episode exposes troubling allegations of institutional control, psychological manipulation, and long-term harm at Redeemer Baptist School—often masked by academic success and charitable rhetoric. The ongoing investigation and recent government interest may finally bring deeper scrutiny to an environment that, according to many former members, has gone unchecked for decades.

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Transcript

[A]

With heritage listed sandstone turrets and iron gates, the Redeemer Baptist School promises Sydney parents the private school dream a prestigious disciplined education for a fraction of the cost. But its academic awards, state of the art facilities and charitable works conceal a darker reality. Hello, I'm Samantha Selinger Morris, and you're listening to the morning edition from the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. Today, education reporter Emily Cowell on allegations from former students who say the school ordered them to share bedrooms with teachers and subjected them to authoritarian control. Or as the school's student diary put it, be sensible and keep your mouth shut. Welcome, Emily, to the podcast.

[B]

Thanks for having me.

[A]

Okay, let's start off with the basics. Emily, what is the Redeemer Baptist Church and its affiliated school?

[B]

So Redeemer Baptist School and church are a fundamental Baptist church. They're completely separate from the traditional Baptist church, you will see. And they actually, the Baptist Church makes a point of distancing themselves from this community where what makes them unusual is that they're very fundamental. It's a highly patriarchal, authoritative church environment where men essentially have all positions of power and women follow their rule. So from an academic sense, you can't fault this school. They get stellar results. We, in fact, celebrated them few years ago in our HSC coverage. The school, from a strictly academic sense, has fantastic results. The teachers of there are so dedicated because this is their entire, this is their entire world. Their ministry teaches them that this is their purpose in life, to teach. It's when you dig into a bit further and hear about what goes on behind the scenes that you start to question what's really going on.

[A]

Okay, so that's the foundation of the church and the promise of its school, which, as you've written, gets really great academic results. But you have spoken to former members of this church and former students of the school. They paint a very different picture of their experience, a dark one. So can you just tell us first off about Alexandra Garth and what she's told you about her experience?

[B]

Yeah. Alexandra Garth has to be one of the most remarkable young women I've ever met. She was born into the church, into one of the most powerful families in the church, and she's the granddaughter of the church's founder, Noel Cannon. Now, Alexandra grew up in this, this highly controlling environment. She attended the school and the church, and she told me that essentially she felt like she was constantly being watched, that the people she lived with, the people who were her teachers, also lived at home with her. Her school librarian lived in the bedroom across her hallway. She actually Shared a bedroom with her own primary school teacher. So this is a world that's entirely intertwined. There's no escaping the church if you were born in that community. We cannot understate here just how brave it is for these people to leave the school. And church has said that anyone is free to live in their own will and that they will not be stopped, and they wish them the best. But the stories I've heard describe long conversations that go late into the night, debates between them and the elder them asking, saying they plan to leave, being told that you'll go to hell, the devil has you in the palm of his hands. These people are terrified. They're been told their whole life that leaving this church community is entering a world of hell, destruction, chaos. Alexandra Garth genuinely thought she was going to be hit by a car or be struck down by God for leaving the church. It took her years to feel safe outside. They have all had to massively deprogram. So in Alexandra's case, she said that elders stood in front of her for hours. She couldn't get past them. She was very careful to just not touch them, but she couldn't get around them for hours, and that was so emotionally draining on her.

[A]

And you've spoken to dozens of other former students, school staff and grandchildren of founding church members who have come forward with their own allegations. So what have they told you?

[B]

Yeah, it's wide ranging and it spreads across decades. But I've heard stories of the school telling students what color underwear to wear. That's actually in their handbook. I've heard reports that allegedly underwear checks used to happen, although this no longer happens today. Students clean the school on Friday during lunchtime. It goes beyond traditional, you know, tidying up your desk or putting away your books. It's vacuuming, cleaning windows, cleaning bathrooms. So it's quite extensive work. And then I think the thing that catches everyone's attention is the fact that they don't pay their teachers wages.

[A]

Tell us about this, because you've just reported that the school has made a lot of money but doesn't pay its teachers. So I guess tell us a bit about that and whether this factors into, I guess, any of the allegations of the people you've spoken to.

[B]

Yeah, it's a pretty astounding fact. In this story, the school classes all of its teachers as volunteers, members of the ministry order of Redeemer Baptist Church. And by signing a ministry order, these people essentially give up their right for property, their right to receive a salary, superannuation, all the traditional things that would come with a full time teaching role. Instead, they just receive a small stipend. It essentially means, and this is what the members that I've spoken to have told me, that you become reliant on the church to pay for your housing. They all live in homes owned by the school. The church covers your rent, your utilities, your car, your petrol. But it means that there's nowhere to get ahead, there's nowhere to save. There's no superannuation. So if you ever want to leave, well, many will leave you with nothing.

[A]

And I want to ask you about another repercussion that might come from this, according to the allegations, because you spoke with one former church leader who spent 44 years inside the community before leaving with his family five years ago. This former leader, who asked not to be named, recalls that members emailed elders for permission to take a family holiday or to join a university group. So is that something you heard from other people? People feeling that they don't have control over various decisions in their life?

[B]

Totally. And look, that's just one example. But I think it speaks to the nature of the church. It's not one big thing that they control. It's a million little small things. So if you're a student and you were born into the chur, you can't just decide what you want to study at university. That's done with close, close discussions and I guess, monitoring and direction from the school eldership. Who is the principal, the school headmaster, who are also both head leaders and elders in the church. I've heard of students saying that, you know, they were told what university course to study, they had to secretly log in to change their university course because the elders told them, no, you're not doing that. It's controlling who you marry. You know, there's no just liking somebody asking them out on a date. You know, you have to get the elders approval first. And only men are asking women out on dates here. It's not the other way around, ever. Students are. It actually says in the school handbook students cannot have special boy girl relationships. Now, Redeemer denies these allegations, but that doesn't match up with what our sources have told us and the evidence we found.

[A]

Okay, well, I want to ask you about another explosive allegation that one woman has spoken to you about. This is Vanessa Bromhead. She was born into the church. She later became a teacher at the school. And she has alleged that one of the most effective ways that the church gained control over its members was to quote, break up, unquote, the Main family unit. So tell me about these allegations.

[B]

Yeah, this was some of the saddest allegations that I heard during the course of this investigation. And essentially, and this is in this. The ministry order that elders have control of where members live. And it was quite a routine action of the church to move children from outside of their family home and into the homes of elders or other community members. We are speaking to one boy who's sharing his story with us today and will be out soon. But he spent at least half of his life living inside the home of Jonathan Cannon, the church leader and school principal. It means that those bonds that you have with your family, they don't form, or if they do form, they're broken. It creates a generation of younger people who feel quite displaced, and they have a lot of trouble feeling settled and at home, because their whole life, they didn't really get to experience stability.

[A]

And why did these people allege that the elders would do this, would move children out of their family homes into the homes of elders?

[B]

It's presented to them as a chance to grow up, to get responsibility, to face the world on their own. But the reality is, when many of these people are moved, they're still children. They might be in teenagers, sometimes they're even younger, but they're still learning, they're still growing. And it's presented as if, you know, the elders are the ultimate role models in this community. To live with the elders is a chance to live with the Pierce person you're meant to be. It's seen as a chance to grow and that this is a better thing for you than being with your parents. But the reality is, for many of them, the consequences are much more harmful than the benefits.

[A]

And I wanted to ask you about allegations of isolation that some people have spoken to you about in referencing one student in particular from China who spoke to you on the condition of anonymity out of lingering fear of the school, I believe, the student said. And the student added that his mobile phone and iPad were seized upon arrival, limiting his contact with his parents to a single phone call every two weeks. He said to you, I couldn't access the outside world for four years when I lived with them. So is that an isolated allegation of isolation from the outside world that you received?

[B]

I've had a number of allegations from different church members, ex students, ex boarding or homestay students, as they call it, that this was very common procedure. In fact, this was confirmed by that former elder who spoke to us on the condition of anonymity. The students were effectively cut off from the outside world. When they lived in Redeemer, this could be collecting firewood, cleaning elders homes, cleaning gutters. It was. It's essentially anything that needed to be done that was. Was part of their duties. They described a world where they felt they were constantly being watched. They had to have their laptops in the lounge room open, so if everyone could see what they were on. One student said that her door had to remain open at all times. So it's quite an isolating experience. Yet at the same time, you're never alone.

[A]

We'll be right back. And so what is the goal of this church, according to both those who support it and those who have said that they had to escape it?

[B]

Radima will say the goal is to create a community that helps vulnerable members. They want to do good work and help those in need. And that's part of the reason they do homestay, to take in children who might be having a difficult home life or having trouble focusing and studying. But the reality is that for some of these children, they feel they have little to no choice. Sometimes they're given ultimatums. Move into an elder or community member's house or be expelled from the school. And when push comes to shove, most will choose the home.

[A]

But some of these allegations aren't new at all. So who had been told about these allegations in years gone by, and what was their response?

[B]

Yeah, that was something that really surprised me with this story, was just how much evidence and articles and public information was already out there about this school. It was a bit hard to find, but if you did a little digging, it was all there. More than 20 years ago, a series of whistleblowers, ex members and just people in the community who saw something that they wanted to stand up for, spoke out against what was going on in the school. There was a series of articles published in the Parramatta sun, in our own paper, the Sydney Morning Herald, and as well as a series of online news stories. But basically the documents show that the Ombudsman, the Board of Studies, now nesa, the Education Department, senior government members, were aware of what was going on in Redeemer, the allegations of what was going on in Redeemer. But what they found was that it was either not in their jurisdiction or ultimately none of the allegations could be sustained.

[A]

And so was it the case that authorities at the time just didn't consider that there was anything unlawful? Because I believe there was one staff member about whom there was an allegation. But a Superior Court found that the defendant Staff member was innocent, is that right?

[B]

Yes, yeah. That was a more recent case. Yes. Essentially, it was found that the allegations couldn't be substantiated. And speaking to people familiar with the situation on background, many seem to feel that that didn't go far enough, but there was little they could do. So there's hope that this time around, maybe things will be looked at differently.

[A]

But you have had some responses from authorities within the education sector. What have they said after being made aware of these allegations in your story?

[B]

Yeah, there has been quite a strong reaction to this story. The New South Wales Education Minister, Prukar has said that it's appropriate that nesa, the New South Wales Education Standards Authority, look into the school, as has the Federal Education Minister, Jason Claire. He has also said that it is appropriate that this is looked into. Now. What will come of that is yet to be seen, but it's promising to know that this will be given the same scrutiny that we've been giving them.

[A]

Now, assuming that the church has been made aware of the allegations in your piece, what has the school and the church said in response?

[B]

The response has been interesting. They've denied the majority of the allegations that we have reported. They curiously said that they have no reports of students living with teachers sharing bedrooms, despite Principal Jonathan Cannon himself, in a 2017 principal's address, admitting to housing a student inside his home. So it's quite a peculiar response. The school's maintained that they're not doing anything illegal. Everything they're doing is within the current laws and regulations. And that's correct. I think the question here is that. And that the question that people are asking is that are the current laws and regulations, should they remain as they currently stand?

[A]

And, Emily, just to wrap up, you made a video that aired on our mastheads the other day in which you reported the basics of this investigation you've undertaken and you appeared quite moved by the details of this case. So I just wanted to ask you, what is it about this story that has moved you so much?

[B]

I feel like I've lived, breathed this story for the last six months. It's in many ways all I think about. I think what's really stuck with me is just how similar every single person's story is spread across decades. They're all unique in that they're all their own individual story. But the patterns that go across all of them are. You can't deny them. What's moved me is how you can see the impact that this upbringing has had on these people, even people who weren't a part of the church and just attended the school say that it's had a lasting impact on their life. It's impacted the way they see authority, control. It's changed the way they approach work. Many of them can't find peace be settled. Some are frozen in the age they left that community. Looking them in the eye, you can see the impact this has had on them and it just makes you want to do the story justice and to cover it in its full extent. I think the other thing that's moved me is that this is not a new story. This is not new. This has been going on for some time now and this has been known about for some time now. We're just bringing it to the surface again.

[A]

Well, thank you so much, Emily, for your time.

[B]

Thanks for having me.

[A]

In other news today, Australia now has two confirmed cases of the highly contagious H5 bird flu. After a second bird was confirmed as positive. Environment Minister Murray Watt has said the best thing that people can do is avoid contact with unwell or dead birds. Australia's medical watchdog, the Australian Health Practitioner and Regulation Agency, is facing a backlash from more than 1,400 health workers after adopting a controversial definition of antisemitism to assess complaints against practitioners and Europe. Correspondent David Crowe is in the UK covering the breaking news on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his political future. Follow all our [e-mail] and the age.comau Today's episode was produced by Josh Towers. Our executive producer is Tammy Mills, and our podcasts are overseen by Lisa Muxworthy and Tom McKendrick. If you like our show, follow the Morning Edition and leave a review for us on Apple or Spotify. Thanks for listening.

[C]

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