Fitzroy Community School, an inner-Melbourne primary school run by the same family for 50 years, is facing investigations into allegations of regulatory failings, physical harm, and historical sexual assault. Former students and parents are coming forward with claims of violence and a lack of accountability.
For 50 years, this inner-city primary school has promised a better way of teaching, built around community, firm boundaries and a personal touch. But now, amid ongoing investigations into alleged regulatory failings, physical harm, and historical sexual assault, former students and parents are speaking out for the first time.
On a busy inner-Melbourne street opposite a lush green park is a pair of Edwardian terraces with a striking facade. A full-scale rainbow mural adorns one half of the building's brick exterior, stretching across a large window with a hand-built planter box filled with flowers. Three brass plaques engraved with the names of government dignitaries sit next to the front door alongside the school's motto: "People before things".
Run for 50 years by the same family, Fitzroy Community School has transformed from humble beginnings into a two-campus institution. It now serves about 100 students, offering a "happy, extended-family lifestyle" focused on building resilience and real-life skills. Its founders, Philip O'Carroll and Faye Berryman, have condemned mainstream schools as "day jails" that produce "zombies". A number of former students allege the school's use of "physical discipline" tipped over into violence.
For 50 years, the school's conviction that it answers to no-one has persisted, even as the questions have grown harder to ignore. But now, as multiple government agencies and Victoria Police investigate the school, the founders' approach to education is under fresh scrutiny. The Victorian Institute of Teaching is investigating whether students were exposed to unacceptable risks of harm. One of Mr O'Carroll and Ms Berryman's children, Nick Berryman, a teacher at the school, has been suspended.
Another son, Tim Berryman, the school principal, is on leave from teaching duties as the teaching watchdog continues to investigate him. At the same time, police are investigating allegations of sexual and physical assaults at the school's North Fitzroy campus between 2009 and 2012. Police say three men, a 48-year-old from Trawool, and a 54-year-old and 55-year-old from Fitzroy North, have been interviewed and released pending further enquiries.
The federal Education Department is also looking into the school's governance and financial compliance records. The ABC has spoken with more than 50 former students and parents across five decades of attendance. Some praise the school's defiance of an education culture they deem "too permissive". Others believe the founders' disciplinary ethos dipped beyond the instructional and into harm.
Parents who spoke up about physical abuse in the 1990s say they were given a simple choice by the school: trust us, or leave. The school's founders declined to comment, with the school board instead issuing a statement apologising to former parents and students who didn't "feel fully supported by the school".
Philip O'Carroll and his wife, Faye Berryman, a social worker-turned-teacher, turned their inner-city terrace house into the Fitzroy Community School in 1976, but it was not officially registered for another four years. It was a time of counter-culture. Of free love, protests, and a generation determined to do it differently.
The school's student body grew to include the children of a former Supreme Court judge, a federal minister, an international film director, and two of Australia's biggest philanthropists, with 80 per cent of students in the top quarter of socio-economic status, according to federal data. In a self-published book, Mr O'Carroll and Ms Berryman described the school as being "created by concerned parents outside government regulations".
"What do you do with a 'delinquent' child? Well, if he hits me for nothing, I hit him back," they wrote in their memoir, Start Your Own School. He describes himself as a "former lecturer in logic and linguistics at University of Western Australia". The university has no record of him ever lecturing there other than a temporary appointment as a tutor in 1971.
Mr O'Carroll and Ms Berryman raised Faye's two sons from a previous marriage, Tim and Nick Berryman, at the school. The brothers would later become principal and senior teacher, respectively, based at the North Fitzroy campus, which was originally their family home. She remembered being drawn to the school's wholesome atmosphere.
"The kids would play in the backyard. At lunchtime, they'd come in and make their own lunch … It felt like a very warm, close, nurturing environment," she said. Having moved to Melbourne from Canberra, she thought she had found her "village" with the school's charismatic founders. But for her son, Clancy Wright, it was anything but special.
Mr Wright started at FCS as a four-year-old and attended until he and his family were asked to leave in the middle of 1997. He said that behind closed doors at FCS, he was subjected to physical violence, bullying and humiliation cloaked as "discipline". The ABC has seen a copy of his sworn testimony, which forms part of the VIT's investigation into the now-suspended teacher.
In one incident, he alleged Mr O'Carroll lunged at his throat and squeezed it before slamming him into a wall.
"He just needs to squeeze just a little bit harder, and he's picked me up off my feet, my feet are dangling in the air, and he's just slammed me against the wall again. "In another incident, he said Mr O'Carroll allegedly dragged him to the front of the school choir and screamed at him for talking out of turn. His classmate, Rebecca*, said she remembered Clancy being dragged to the front of the choir and humiliated.
"I remember his cheeks being scarlet and feeling really bad for him, and also glad that it wasn't me," she said. "It was totally open … I mean, there no secrets," he said. He alleged that Nick Berryman once dragged him across a desk by the scruff of his shirt, cutting open his hand, because he said the teacher looked "like a girl". She has also given evidence to the VIT for its investigation into the school's teachers.
Ms Lawlor told the ABC she "rationalised" the incident involving her son's cut hand, and instead told him to be good in class. Ms Lawlor also said she did not know who to complain to because the school's administrative hierarchy meant she would be complaining to Nick Berryman's mother and stepfather. Scott Kinnear's four children attended the school at the same time as Mr Wright.
Mr Kinnear and his then-partner, a registered teacher, threw themselves into the school "with gusto", eventually teaching a class together on emotional intelligence. When discussing the idea of discipline, Mr Kinnear asked if students who misbehaved should be sent to Philip O'Carroll.
"We got a very direct, unanimous, imploring response from the girls mainly at first, 'Don't do that', because Philip … will hurt them," Mr Kinnear saidMr Kinnear and his former partner were shocked and reported the allegations to police. A meeting between Mr Kinnear and other school parents was held at a local yoga studio, which police also spoke at.
"There a disconnect between what the parents, us included, thought of the school and what was actually happening," he said. Two of his children reported Nick Berryman had poked them in the neck and "it hurt". Another of Scott's children told police they had witnessed multiple students being hurt by Nick Berryman, Faye Berryman and Philip O'Carroll.
They said they saw students hit with rolled-up newspaper, children lifted onto their toes by their hair by Faye Berryman, and a student dragged and shaken "violently" by Philip O'Carroll. Mr Kinnear removed his kids from the school and complained to the Registered Schools Board and Child Protective Services. Shortly afterwards, the school introduced a new discipline policy allowing teachers to physically discipline a child in instances "when words will not do".
Five days later, Ms Lawlor, who attended the parent meeting with Mr Kinnear, was told her family was no longer welcome at the school.
"Now after your expressions of distrust of us to the parent body last Friday, has gone beyond what we can cope with," Mr O'Carroll wrote in a letter seen by the ABC. He said Faye had left on stress leave, and that he and his wife were "frustrated to the point of exhaustion".
"It is over as far as I am concerned. And I can assure you, Faye feels this even more intensely than I do," Mr O'Carroll wrote. After investigating the allegations, Victoria Police told Mr Kinnear it would not pursue criminal charges due to a lack of evidence. The ombudsman investigated and ultimately backed the police decision.
"The alleged offenders … have either strenuously denied the allegations or provided explanations," then-ombudsman Barry Perry wrote in a letter to Mr Kinnear in February 1998. Mr Perry said the lack of evidence and the laws of the day that permitted teachers to physically discipline children affirmed the police decision.
"The action could reasonably be regarded as lawful chastisement by a teacher to correct the errant behaviour of a student," he wrote. "While I understand your concerns, there is no evidence in this case that parents have not protected or are unlikely to protect their children from harm," Mr Perry wrote. While modern parenting approaches have shifted, Mr Kinnear maintained his criticism of the ruling.
"The authorities got it wrong then … they had an obligation to protect little kids and they haven't,"Nearly 30 years later, under very different legal standards, Mr Kinnear has again raised the alarm. The ABC has witnessed his sworn evidence to the VIT's current investigation.
"I really hope something happens this time round, to really look at that school, whether it should continue as a school or whether it should be shut down," he said. The FCS has been the subject of several official complaints during its 50-year tenure. In 2020, a parent wrote to then-education minister James Merlino complaining that Nick Berryman emotionally and physically abused their child.
In the same year, education watchdog the Victorian Quality and Regulation Authority started its own review. The ABC understands regulators received four other complaints about Nick Berryman between 2022 and 2025. Dr Collins said he saw something while walking around an oval opposite the school in 2022 that he considered "unacceptable". A man was aggressively berating a young girl who was visibly upset.
He was jabbing his finger at her. Dr Collins confronted the man, who he later identified as Nick Berryman. He said, in an affidavit provided to the VIT as part of its ongoing investigation, that Mr Berryman tried to justify his behaviour.
"The staff member told me he had berated the girl and thrown the football at the boy because of the children's behaviour, which I do not accept," the sworn statement reads. Dr Collins also reported his concerns to the school, before also alerting the education regulator and the Victorian Children's Commissioner.
"I am sure the parents would be appalled if they were to witness their child being treated so badly by a supervising adult. "All I wanted from the start of this was to ensure that the kids who go to that school are looked after in the same way that kids are at the public school at the top end of the park.
"He is not working at the school while the teaching watchdog investigates complaints against him, including alleged physical abuse of children. In December that year, the Victorian Children's Commissioner ruled Nick Berryman had caused "significant emotional or psychological harm to a child" through "intimidating conduct" at a school event two years earlier. The ABC understands Nick Berryman's brother, principal Tim Berryman, is also under investigation by the VIT over his management of FCS.
Tim Berryman became the school principal in 2005 alongside his mother, who was the "consultant principal". The ABC understands current allegations against Tim Berryman, being looked at by the VIT, include bullying and mistreating children. Like his mother and stepfather, Tim Berryman has publicly criticised "micromanagement" by "hostile" governments. In a series of posts on the FCS website, he praised a friend for smacking his child, opposed "no touch" policies in schools, and wrote, "Please, bring back the cane.
"Tim Berryman was suspended for a little over two months in 2021 by the VIT for flouting government COVID-19 regulations. The ABC understands that the VIT received complaints regarding Mr Berryman's stewardship of the school at the time.
"The safety and wellbeing of children and young people in Victorian schools is the highest priority for both the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority and the Victorian Institute of Teaching ," a VIT spokesperson said. In December 2025, the VRQA finalised its second review of the school, imposing conditions on the school's registration.
It included that FCS must tell parents about the conditions, which include providing minutes of board meetings to the VRQA and reporting any complaints within 24 hours. Two years earlier, the VRQA ordered the school to remove some family members from its board to ensure it had a majority of independent members. Spoke to more than 50 past and present students and parents from FCS.
Cross-referenced historic and current documents regarding various complaints and investigations, past and ongoingSpoke to regulators, politicians, police, and the education departmentThe federal education department was looking into the school to ensure it was "meeting fit and proper governance requirements," a spokesperson said. Ms Berryman and Philip O'Carroll have previously claimed that complaints made against the school to investigative bodies were based on a difference in philosophies.
"On three occasions, enraged parents have delivered us up to various authorities: the police, the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria, the Education Department and the Anti-Discrimination Bureau," they wrote in their 2015 book. "Although we regarded every one of these charges as vacuous nonsense, this didn't alleviate the stress. The ABC has put detailed questions about the allegations made against them to Philip O'Carroll, Faye Berryman, Tim Berryman and Nick Berryman, but none have responded.
The school board, which includes Ms Berryman and her and Mr O'Carroll's daughter, Catherine O'Carroll, engaged the crisis communications team FMRS Advisory. In a statement, the board said hundreds of students had enjoyed a "safe and happy school experience where they were set up to thrive". The board also apologised to families and students "who did not feel fully supported by the school and for that we are deeply sorry".
"The school is committed to ensuring all concerns are heard and properly addressed," the statement said. "We urge anyone who has concerns about the conduct of any person at the school to report the matter to the school or to outside authorities, as appropriate," it read. Faye Berryman, who has been awarded an Order of Australia for services to education, is the only family member currently teaching at FCS.
At Ms Berryman's request, seven parents contacted the ABC expressing support for the school, including playwright Joanna Murray-Smith. She said her daughter attended the Thornbury campus between 2015 and 2016 and thrived under the "unconventional" approach.
"It surprises me in the sense that it doesn't tally with my experience of those people, but it doesn't surprise me in the sense that there have always been rumours about the school," Ms Murray-Smith said. "Rumours of corporal punishment, rumours of doing things differently … rumours of perhaps not observing protocols … in terms of how they manage discipline. I had heard those rumours, I just never saw anything that made me believe them.
"Two parents who support the school referred to allegations of child abuse made against American childcare workers in the notorious Virgina McMartin preschool trial of the 1980s. "Over time, many of the claims were found to be unsubstantiated," said Rita Liu, a mother of three current FCS students and one graduate. "An example of how fear, media amplification and institutional pressure can sometimes lead to unintended harm.
" The ABC contacted former FCS parent, cricket writer and novelist Gideon Haigh, who described the school as "outstanding" for his child. "I have no hesitation in saying that the school, the Berrymans, and Nick in particular, continue to enjoy my confidence," he wrote. The school's strongest and most prominent supporters are Australian philanthropists Grant Rule and Sophie Oh, whose $750 million Susan McKinnon Foundation, now known simply as McKinnon, funds educational programs and a political leadership prize.
The couple echoed the founding family's views on complaints and told the ABC they believed "permissive" parenting was at the root of the allegations.
"The school delivers excellent education outcomes while also reinforcing important values of respect for others, kindness, personal responsibility and resilience," Mr Rule said. "Unfortunately, this has sometimes not sat well with parents who have a permissive style of parenting. " Dr Oh reinforced that point, claiming in a statement to the ABC that the allegations had a broader "educational and social context", referencing articles about declining standards in education, and criticism of "gentle parenting".
Mr Rule said the school "could have done a better job" of listening to feedback, but he remained a staunch supporter of Nick Berryman.
"We're all powerless, waiting and hoping that he and others are either exonerated or that claims are tested in a real courtroom. "He believed that there were other children out there who may have suffered from the school's policies. "That 'flight or fight' that is on when you're in the school, that's taken a very long time to turn off,""All of us, no matter who we are, we've all got that little kid version of us inside ourselves somewhere.
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