Controversy
The school has been involved in two controversial incidents during its existence to date.
The first of these dealt with claims made by Helen Darville in interviews regarding her background. Among these claims were remarks that she had been looked down upon for being at the school on a scholarship and also that she had befriended a Croatian girl who had been bullied by other students. The College refuted both claims, demonstrating that it had never had a scholarship program (although limited bursaries existed and continue to exist for already-enrolled students in need) and that there were no students of Croatian ethnicity enrolled at the time of Darville's enrolment. Then-headmaster L Robin Kleinschmidt still views these claims with contempt many years after the fact, as is shown in his memoir of the school.
The second and more recent event dealt with the prosecution and later conviction of teacher Warren Schneider for paedophilia. The events took place on a school camp in 2002, with Schneider giving female students alcohol and playing sexually-charged games of truth or dare with them. Schneider was jailed for 15 months, suspended after 5 months. In a second case in October 2007, Schneider pleaded guilty to three counts of rape and many cases of indecent dealings with students of both Redeemer College and another school at which he had previously taught. The school released a statement advising, "The college sincerely regrets that these events occurred," and stated in a newsletter, "It's been a difficult week for our community in the wake of the conviction of former teacher Warren Schneider," but have not to date issued an apology to the victims of the abuse.
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