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Read Today's PaperTributes 10:30PMTuesday, November 11th, 2025 Set your local weather Read Today's Paper Today's Paper The Daily Telegraph Tweed Daily News The Coffs Coast Advocate North Shore Times Wentworth Courier Mosman Daily Liftouts & Magazines Body + Soul Real Estate Sydney Weekend TAB Form Guide Campbelltown-Camden St George and Shire Canterbury-Bankstown Eastern Suburbs North Shore South East Sydney Sydney City Blue Mountains Byron Shire Central Coast Coffs Harbour Port Macquarie South Coast Tweed Heads Wagga Wagga Local Sport Breaking News Police & Courts Bush Summit I Catch Killers JMO Confidential Mates Under Fire Read Today's Paper Classifieds Back Australia Let Them Be Kids Northern Territory South Australia Western Australia The Chart Room Dear Rachelle The Mushroom Cook Birtles and the Bean Middle East North America New South Wales Northern Territory South Australia Schools Hub Early Education Exam Results Higher Education Future of Work Student Life Mental Health Technology & Digital Safety Family Health Heart Health Endometriosis Neurodivergence Mental Health Anxiety & Depression Weight Loss Strength Training Cosmetic Health Mindfulness Sexual Health Mental Health Health Funds Piers Akerman Andrew Bolt Peta Credlin Joe Hildebrand James Morrow James Campbell James O'Doherty Vikki Campion Public Defender Business News New South Wales Northern Territory South Australia Australian Economy Small Business Stocks & Shares Entrepreneurs Leaders & Companies Women in Leadership Opinion & Analysis Barefoot Investor Cryptocurrency Aviation & Frequent Flyers Superannuation & Retirement Entertainment Books & Magazines Celebrity Life Celebrity Style Competitions Delicious 100 Cryptic Crossword Real Estate Relationships Pets & Wildlife Sydney Weekend Safe Driving SuperCoach NRL NRL Tipping Schoolboy Cup SuperCoach AFL AFL Tipping Women's Sport SuperCoach BBL Women's Cricket SuperCoach NBL Horse Racing Super Rugby Local Sport More Sports American Sports Paralympics Daily Telegraph NRL SuperCoach NRL The Matty Johns Podcast Live Streams Other Sports KTV Partners New South WalesExclusive Ex-student of Sydney’s Scientology-linked Athena School speaks out on ‘Study Technology’ A former Scientology student reveals how a church-linked Sydney school’s teaching methods left him mentally “crippled” and unable to read books for years. Eilidh Sproul-Mellis @Eilidh_Mellis November 10, 2025 - 12:00AM An Aussie ex-Scientologist has spoken out publicly for the first time, revealing NSW Education Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW Education. Followed categories will be added to My News. History of the Church of Scientology in Australia What does the Church of Scientology believe? Jason Horvatic is what the Church of Scientology calls a “suppressive person”. He has spoken to The Daily Telegraph, detailing his early memories at a Scientology-linked school hiding in plain sight in the residential streets of Sydney’s inner west. Mr Horvatic is among multiple ex-members who have criticised Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard’s ‘Study Technology’, claiming it is doing real and “destructive” harm to its students. He once studied at the Athena School in Newtown, which currently serves fewer than 60 students and explicitly teaches from the works of L Ron Hubbard – founder of the Church of Scientology. The Athena School claims the materials it uses are exclusively secular in nature, and that it has no direct ties to the church itself. Copied URL to clipboard SUBSCRIBER ONLY This video is available for subscribers only. Subscribe or log in to watch. Ex-student of Sydney’s Scientology-linked Athena School speaks out An Aussie ex-Scientologist has spoken... It also prominently brands itself as a Montessori school but pays licence fees to an international network headquartered in the US called Applied Scholastics, which described its mission as “(making) available L. Ron Hubbard’s educational technology on a global scale”. From a young age Mr Horvatic was taught that anything negative that happened to him was, on some level, his own fault. Under Scientology’s theology, people have absolute responsibility for their lives. “As a child, I was a bright kid,” Mr Horvatic said. The Athena School in Newtown. Picture: Justin Lloyd. “I would score very well in STEM subjects, namely mathematics and science … but fell woefully behind in English to the point where, in year seven – which was my last year of public schooling – I wouldn’t read a single page of text.” Hubbard’s education pedagogy is called “Study Technology”; which contains concepts like “barriers to study” – a term used to describe unease in students that are resolved by “word clearing”. Word clearing involves students stopping each time they encounter a “misunderstood word” — a word they don’t know — and pulling out a dictionary to read and practise all of its possible meanings including technical terms or idiomatic uses, before they can continue reading. Ex-Scientologist Jason Horvatic's Church of Scientology study materials and documents, including L Ron Hubbard's 'Technical Training' course. Picture: Supplied “My experience with Study Tech, in my youth, was pretty bad,” Mr Horvatic said. “It crippled me.” Ultimately, in Mr Horvatic’s case, it left his unable to read due to his paralysing fear. “I didn’t really read a book until I left Scientology,” he said. “I was too afraid of going past what Hubbard defines as a ‘misunderstood word’, which … became a spiralling problem of anxiety and … convincing myself that I couldn’t study. “Like with any philosophy, you lose the nuances (when adapting it for children). “When I saw kids who were getting into drugs in their early teens and so forth, I understood that to be because they had misunderstood words.” Jason said his experience with ‘Study Technology’, which is taught at The Athena School, “crippled” him. Picture: Ross Swanborough Mr Horvatic denounced Scientology in 2022, and in 2023 was formally excommunicated and declared a “suppressive person” after starting a since-deleted online blog about his experiences with the Church. Now living in Perth’s eastern suburbs with his wife, two kids, and a third on the way, Mr Horvatic’s introduction to formal education was from Kindergarten to Year 2 at The Athena School in the mid-90s, before moving into the public education system for the remainder of his primary schooling. Born a second-generation Scientologist, young Jason would then be homeschooled until the age of 15, when he signed his billion-year contract with Scientology’s elite corps the Sea Organisation. An excerpt from Jason’s Church of Scientology documents. Picture: Supplied Applied Scholastics is a subsidiary of the non-profit Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), which is itself the charitable arm of the Church of Scientology, and is run by senior Sea Org staff. Athena students are tested in the school’s “Quality Assurance department” which runs a “basics of reading course” at a minimum $600 for 20 hours, increasing to $1200 if the course is taken outside of school hours. “As the student moves through their IEP (individual education program), many units of work have exams which are done in the Quality Assurance Department,” Athena’s policy materials state. The Athena School is set on the former grounds of St Joseph’s Primary School and Convent. Picture: Justin Lloyd In another document titled ‘Willingness and Power of Choice at Athena’, the school writes that “in our experience, the vast majority of children are very keen to play the game of being a student, that we offer”. “We aim to preserve and produce willingness by using the educational philosophy and study technology of L Ron Hubbard,” the document states, including by “fully applying” How To Make Good Choices, a children’s adaptation of Hubbard’s moral code The Way to Happiness and its 21 precepts. The Athena School's philosophy includes ethical teachings from 'How to Make Good Choices', a children's adaptation of L Ron Hubbard's The Way To Happiness. Picture: Supplied US ex-Scientologist Liz Gale grew up at one of Scientology’s flagship Applied Scholastics institutions, the Delphian boarding school in Oregon, and argues that the ethical teachings in such schools soften kids up to religious Scientology concepts, like declaring ‘overts’ – harmful acts that ‘hinder a full life’ – and ‘withholds’, which are undisclosed overts. “When we talk about Scientology schools, it’s also not just (about) the academics,” she said. American ex-Scientologist Liz Gale was brought up in Scientology and is a prominent critic, documenting her experience with the Church on TikTok. Picture: Supplied, “You’re being taught how to think, what to think, (and) how to communicate – that’s a lot of prongs. “If you have this type of education … the whole world around you is going to be defined by, ultimately, L Ron Hubbard … so you essentially grew up at the whim of a madman.” Before being expelled from Scientology in the mid-2000s, former high-ranking Sea Org member Marc Headley oversaw the work of the Applied Scholastics schools while in a management position at ABLE International. “The courses are just regular Scientology courses, slightly modified by Applied Scholastics, and they’re rebranded for children,” he claimed. “Certainly, it is what’s referred to as an ‘intro route’ into Scientology itself. “Even at the schools that I went to, there were non-Scientology families that were going to the school, and in many cases, they’d actually end up getting the family into Scientology.” Former high-ranking Scientologist Marc Headley. Picture: Supplied When contacted for comment on a series of detailed questions, a spokeswoman for The Athena School said any suggestion that the school’s purpose is to expose children to Scientology concepts is “misleading and dishonest and just not what we do,” and said her school does not maintain regular contact with other Applied Scholastics schools. “Any implication that the application of Study Technology as part of education is a form of religious teachings is akin to stating that teaching ethical ways of living or abstinence from drugs in schools is part of teaching religion,” she said. “We follow secular moral guidelines for student behaviour. Any transgressions of note are addressed with parents to find a solution that aligns with their family values. The premise that students are “instructed” to write down or disclose their overts and withholds to staff members is completely false.” The Athena School uses Study Technology by paying a licence fee to Applied Scholastics, a network of Scientology-affiliated schools around the world. Picture: Justin Lloyd. Mr Horvatic disputed that the Athena School could be considered completely “secular” and said that, in his view, Study Technology “is an explicit rejection of the (mainstream) schooling system”. “Their pretence to follow the schooling system is exactly that: It is a pretence.” Associate Professor in Charles Sturt University’s School of Theology Bernard Doherty said Mr Horvatic had “a valid point” and that “drawing a sharp line between the religious and the secular in a religion like Scientology is sometimes tricky”. However, he stressed, “it is important to remember that, for the most part, Scientology is more of an applied religious philosophy than a propositional assent to specific beliefs or creeds … and Scientologists would emphasise that utilising Study Tech is in no way incompatible with holding other religious beliefs (or none)”. Excerpt from Jason’s copy of the Student Hat dictionary. In his recollections of life at The Athena School, word clearing was conducted using regular English language dictionaries. Picture: Supplied Mr Horvatic believes his education led directly to a life spent defining the world around him according to Scientology’s own language. “As a Scientologist, when I would read texts, I’m almost gerrymandering words to make them fit the precise definitions that I think that they should mean,” he explained. “Hubbard gets away with saying all this stuff that now I read and realise the connotations are not good … even though it’s coded very carefully. “I personally see Study Tech as a way of … brainwashing yourself into thinking that passages mean only exactly what your particular definitions mean.” He thinks it’s time for politicians to review the established precedent that Scientology is a recognised religion in Australia with its tax-exempt status protected, and look more closely at how children are raised within its ranks. “Scientology is just not good for kids.” The Daily Telegraph’s request for a sit-down interview with the Australian Church of Scientology went unanswered. Instead, on Sunday morning, the international Church of Scientology’s Los Angeles-based head of media relations David Bloomberg called this masthead to discredit Mr Horvatic, but did not provide an on-the-record response before deadline. Would you like to gift this article? Article gifting is only available to The Daily Telegraph Subscribers. Subscribe or login to share this article. More related stories Cars, weddings, houses: More Gen X parents funding adult children’s lives The Bank of Grandma and Grandpa is flourishing, with parents offering more support to their adult kids well into retirement. But there are some expenses where they draw the line. NSW Education ‘Destructive’: Ex-Scientologists hit out at Hubbard’s ‘ethics’ for kids Two ex-Scientologists raised in the church have spoken out against the ‘ethics handling’ taught to children, revealing internal church documents on ‘responsibility’ and ‘administering justice’. 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