The founder and two other senior staff members of an alternative Melbourne school have been found unfit to hold a position of authority in the Victorian education system following an investigation by regulators into child safety and governance concerns.
Warning: This story contains descriptions of alleged child sexual abuse.
Fitzroy Community School, which was started in 1976, has been investigated three times in recent years by the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA).
A six-month investigation by the ABC has highlighted historical allegations of sexual abuse and a sexualised culture at the Melbourne school across four decades, along with concerns about physical discipline which tipped over into violence.
The VRQA has now announced that three individuals linked to the school were informed on Monday they can no longer hold positions of authority at any Victorian school, such as principal or board member.
The ABC understands Faye Berryman, who co-founded the school with her husband Philip O'Carroll, is one of those named, along with her son Tim Berryman, who had been the principal until recently, and Phillip and Faye's daughter Catherine O'Carroll, who is listed as a school director.
Tim Berryman is currently on leave from teaching duties.
The move follows the suspension of another family member who was teaching at the school, Faye Berryman's son Nick Berryman, in September last year.
In December 2025, the VRQA finalised its second review of the school, imposing conditions on its registration including that the school must provide minutes of board meetings to the regulator and report any complaints it receives within 24 hours.
Fitzroy Community School was founded by Faye Berryman and Phillip O'Carroll in 1976. (Supplied: Fitzroy Community School)
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.
"The VRQA conducted reviews of Fitzroy Community School in 2021 and 2025, including in response to 11 complaints and have imposed conditions on the school's registration — which remain in place," VRQA chief executive Stefanie Veal said.
School founder can continue teaching
The ABC visited the Brunswick Street campus this week and asked to speak to Faye Berryman yesterday but was told she was "teaching a class".
The conditions imposed on Ms Berryman do not prevent her from teaching.
The ABC has spoken to two women who detailed allegations they were sexually assaulted at the school in the 2000s by groups of male students, when Ms Berryman was a senior member of the school staff.
Their parents told the ABC when they reported the alleged incidents to Ms Berryman she sought to downplay and dismiss them.
Faye Berryman strenuously denied allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour at the school in the 1970s. (Supplied: Fitzroy Community School)
The ABC has also heard from two sisters who alleged that in the 1970s, when they were aged four and seven, Faye Berryman and her husband Philip O'Carroll had sex in front of students at the school and that children were encouraged to simulate sex with each other.
During a police investigation launched in 2006, Ms Berryman and Mr O'Carroll strenuously denied those allegations and described them as "fanciful".
A police incident report from the time shows they told investigators that the allegations arose as a direct result of a falling out between them and the girls' mother.
Police found no corroborating evidence and were "unable to establish an offence [had] been committed".
In a separate incident in the 1980s, another former student told the ABC she had witnessed Phillip O'Carroll "cuddling" female students in bed in his underwear and showing them pornographic material.
The ABC asked Victoria Police if it would launch a task force into allegations of sexual abuse at the school following yesterday's allegations.
"There is no requirement for a task force at this stage," a Victoria Police spokesperson said.
A separate investigation by Victoria Police is ongoing into allegations of sexual and physical assault at the school between 2009 and 2012.
