Brindabella Christian College should have a new owner soon. Photo: Region.
The ACT Government tipped in about $440,000 to keep Brindabella Christian College running after it went into administration on 5 March.
The amount and other financial details have been revealed in reasons published on 7 May for a Federal Court judgment in favour of the Deloitte administrators Sam Marsden and Salvatore Algeri, who had gone to the court on 25 March seeking orders to endorse their actions to secure funding for the school and be relieved of any personal liability.
The administrators needed to keep the school open as it sought a new owner. It selected Christian Community Ministries, which operates 14 schools in three states.
A consultation period ended on 7 May and ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry expects to be able to approve a handover early next or this week.
The ACT Government paid the money on 25 March to go towards the costs of the administration.
The Commonwealth Department of Education also told the school’s financier NAB on 19 March that it would bring forward recurrent funding payments for May and June worth about $1.7 million, to be paid in late April, if it extended more finance to Brindabella as promised.
Earlier, on 10 March, NAB had provided an unknown amount to pay staff wages and superannuation contributions.
NAB also provided a further advance of about $598,000 for a funding deed to allow the administrators to meet the ongoing expenses they expected to incur over the next 13 weeks.
Mr Marsden had told the court that the loan to pay staff and the funding deed was in the best interests of the creditors, and the court agreed.
“That view can be readily accepted in circumstances where the only realistic alternative would be to close the School, which would not only torpedo its value and not deliver an optimal return for creditors, but it would also adversely affect the education of the students,” the judgment says.
The judgment also reveals details of the school’s financial position, although Mr Marsden indicated that the school’s records could be unreliable.
At 31 December, 2024, the school, or precisely its proprietor Brindabella Christian Education Ltd, reported assets of $13.2 million.
At 14 March, 2025, it owed about $23.8 million to creditors, comprising about $1.4 million to employees, $9.5 million to secured creditors, $4.1 million to parents (for tuition fees paid upfront), $6.1 million to the ATO, which had started wind-up action, and $2.7 million to suppliers.
The school has four loan facilities with NAB, three of which appear to be secured by a charge over all present and future rights, property and undertaking of BCEL and a registered mortgage over the property of the Lyneham campus.
It owes NAB $9.3 million.
Mr Marsden had told the court the school needed $9.8m to operate until 1 June, 2025.
BCEL held $38,273.74 in available cash, although the administrators soon expect to receive about $7.6 million from a range of sources including tuition fees, government grants and cafe sales.
The judgment also provided BCC’s enrolment and staffing figures as at 7 March.
The Lyneham campus had an enrolment of 970 students and employed 123 teachers and 49 support staff. The since-closed Norwest Campus in Charnwood had 42 students, 23 teachers and four support staff.
