Eastern suburbs principal allegedly assaulted, intimidated senior teacher

An eastern suburbs primary school principal has vowed to fight allegations of assaulting and intimidating a fellow senior staff member, but she will have to wait eight months to defend them in court.

Woollahra Public School principal Kylie McKinnon has been charged with one count of common assault and one count of intimidation over an incident at Woollahra at 1pm on October 8 last year, court documents show.

The documents allege McKinnon attempted to intimidate the staff member with intent to cause fear of physical or mental harm.

McKinnon was not arrested but rather she was handed a court attendance notice to appear at the local court, the documents show. She first faced court in March, when she pleaded not guilty to the charges. Her case was briefly heard again at Downing Centre Local Court on Friday, when a hearing date was set for December 16.

Her lawyer told the court the hearing was likely to take about three hours and that an extra witness was to be called.

McKinnon, who lives in Cronulla and joined the school in 2023, is currently on leave. Botany Public School principal Heather Strachan has been acting as relieving principal since March 16.

A NSW Department of Education spokesperson said the school “continues to provide support to staff and students as needed”.

In a statement, McKinnon’s lawyer Seth Gibbard said his client “categorically denies the criminal charges that have been brought against her”.

“She has always maintained her innocence and pleaded not guilty at the first available opportunity. These allegations are simply not true.“

Gibbard said McKinnon had been working for the Department of Education for 29 years and has been a principal for the past 11 years.

“She has always acted lawfully and with integrity, and she intends to defend the charges vigorously through the proper legal channels,” he said.

“Out of respect for the legal process and the people involved, we will not be commenting on the details of the matter at this time.”

In May last year, NSW Department of Education secretary Murat Dizdar thanked McKinnon for her “expert guidance” when Woollahra Public School became the first public school to win the Da Vinci Decathlon since it launched in 2002, praising the achievement of students and staff.

The Da Vinci Decathlon is an annual academic competition where Australian students from years 5 to 11 compete in team challenges.

McKinnon previously taught at Hurstville Grove Infants School. In 2018, she retweeted a post on X by then-premier Gladys Berejiklian, showing Liberal MP Mark Coure and the former premier visiting Hurstville Grove Infants School and observing students as they learnt how to code.

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