Ben (not his real name) started at Christian Brothers College
Adelaide in 2009. His mum signed the enrolment document. By 2018,
the School was suing mum for almost $20,000 for unpaid tuition and
related fees and debt recovery costs. Judgment was entered in the
School's favour in early 2019 and mum sought unsuccessfully to
have the judgment set aside. She tried again and failed. Basically,
the magistrate did not think that she had an arguable defence. Mum
then appealed to the Supreme Court of South Australia.
Through to the end of Year 9, at the end of 2015, Ben was a
successful student and had a good relationship with his mum and
stepfather. However, there was a dramatic change in 2016 while Ben
was in Year 10. For a period, mum and her husband lost contact with
Ben and mum blamed "interference" by the School and, in
particular, a school counsellor for this. They then discovered that
he was staying at a Baptist Church run facility but were unable to
contact him. They
