Former employees have warned Oak Hill Theological College is no longer “a safe place” as reports emerge of a high staff turnover amid accusations of bullying by a senior leader.
Sydney Tooth, previously director of Postgraduate Studies and lecturer in New Testament and Greek at the Christian training college in north London, has said she suffered extreme anxiety and depression after experiencing treatment which she describes as bullying by the college’s vice principal, Matthew Sleeman.
Tooth, who has shared her story with Premier for the first time, said: “I repeatedly witnessed Matthew [Sleeman] respond passive aggressively to colleagues in faculty meetings, shout at other staff members, intimidate students, and make passive aggressive comments to questions I and others raised in meetings. He was repeatedly dismissive of certain staff members and made derogatory comments about them to me.
“He reacted defensively when potential criticisms were made about him and avoided meetings with me that would involve difficult conversations.”
In the past three years, at least 15 staff members have resigned from Oak Hill.
Premier has spoken to former staff members who allege an “unhealthy culture” at the college, along with a tendency to “protect people in power”. It is alleged the college has demonstrated a “repeated unwillingness to say sorry when issues are identified.”
Tooth said that despite her efforts to resolve the issues, Sleeman’s behaviour continued for “multiple years”, which led to her experiencing significant mental distress and at one point being signed off work.
“I would go into my study in the morning and cry before starting work…My daughter started asking me why I was always crying.
In a statement, Sleeman said: “I take concerns raised against me seriously. The specific allegations from Sydney put to me by Premier that I ‘bullied her, shouted at other staff members and intimidated students’ have been fully investigated by the College and I have been cleared of them.
“I recognise I contributed to the difficulties and stresses we experienced at College. There are things I would like to have done differently. I have had a number of reconciliation conversations with people in College, and have said sorry for my part in the difficult season the college has been through. I am thankful for the healing granted, and for playing my part in helping us reach a better place.”
Tooth said she raised her concerns with principal James Robson “multiple times”.
She resigned in January 2025 but said Sleeman has “suffered no public consequences for his actions despite many complaints being made about him by both students and staff.”
In a statement Oak Hill said: “There will be, and have been, occasions when concerns are raised with us about a member of staff, and we encourage a culture which enables issues to be raised and effectively addressed. In such circumstances we manage these in a way which is fair to all concerned, and in line with due process. We need to respect the confidentiality of all our employees and any third parties and have a duty to minimise gossip, rumour or speculation.
“We can confirm that there are no current formal grievances against any member of the Leadership Team.”
At the point of her employment ending, Tooth declined to sign a proposed settlement with the college because it contained a confidentiality clause which she says would have prevented her from sharing her story publicly.
When asked about the possible use of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) the college responded: “There was one recent departure in which a settlement was offered. Settlements are a normal part of complex employment matters. The College explicitly instructed its solicitors that no confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses would be used in this recent departure.
“However, negotiations around staff departures are intricate, and there can be fine distinctions between appropriate confidentiality agreements (for example to protect information relating to students and College's financial affairs) and confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses. A clause resembling a confidentiality and non-disparagement clause did find its way into an early draft, this was never the intention.
“Once this concern was raised, the wording was adjusted accordingly. Revising wording is a standard part of the negotiation process in complex, private employment matters.”
Tooth also said she has sought resolution privately and offered to meet Sleeman for mediated conversations. “Each mediator suggested by the college was either inappropriate due to a conflict of interests or told me themselves that mediation would not solve the issues I was raising.”
“The injustice of what I and so many others experienced at Oak Hill runs deep and I am compelled to speak up on behalf of those who can’t, and to protect those who are still in harm’s way by bringing these repeated patterns of behaviour to light.”
Former staff and students who have spoken anonymously to Premier confirmed the circumstances surrounding Tooth’s resignation had prompted questions of the college’s leadership, but what one described as “weird resignations” had continued since.
Former admissions and internal communications manager for the college Clare Osborne resigned at the end of 2023. She told Premier: “I was seeing things I really didn’t like and didn’t have any confidence that they would change. It looked like ‘protect the institution’, ‘protect those with power’ ‘not really care how people are treated’. It did not feel like Oak Hill was walking in the light. Additionally, it was reminding me of things that have been mentioned in recent reports about serious failings in Christian leadership. What I saw also looked like the squeezing out of those who were trying to lead in healthy, humble ways and it was being replaced with a more dictatorial/do what I say sort of leadership which seemingly went unchallenged.”
After the college’s previous president Johnny Juckes left in August 2023, the college undertook an organisational health review.
At the time of Juckes resignation, Oak Hill acknowledged in a statement that “issues to do with Johnny’s leadership were raised,” though they “do not include issues of scandal nor are they of a safeguarding nature”. But former staff members said the college’s focus was on “supporting Johnny” in his departure to the exclusion of helping people who may have been harmed by his leadership.
In a statement to Premier, the college principal James Robson said: “When I arrived at Oak Hill, I was aware not only of the enormous potential of the college that I love, but also of the pain that quite a number felt. I have been and am saddened and sorry to hear that. One of my priorities on arrival was organisational health. Listening carefully was paramount. Stories differed.
“Then it was trying to chart a way forward that reflected good practice and the good news of Jesus Christ, where there is humility and courage, truth and grace. Navigating that has not been easy. Addressing issues of culture and behaviour is neither quick nor comfortable. But in the Lord’s mercy there has been significant progress, and the external review has helped with that.”
Past staff and students have questioned why the independent reviewer responsible for the college’s organisational health review was never publicly named, and whether the person or group was truly independent.
Premier has spoken to the company which undertook the review. It said the person it assigned to Oak Hill did not know anyone at the college, including staff, students and board members, prior to the review being commissioned.
In a statement to Premier, Oak Hill said: “The Review helpfully explained some of the potential reasons for a higher turnover. It identified issues that required further attention, which we have been working on since it came out in April 2025. Many of the issues have now either been worked through or are continuing to be tackled. A cross-staff working group has been set up to help foster good relationships across departments. The review also made clear that the college was in a ‘significantly healthier place than it was 18 months ago.’”
Despite this, Tooth said she cannot recommend her former employer as a place for prospective students to engage in theological training.
“I do not believe Oak Hill is a safe or good place at the moment, especially for women. I think it could be, and I pray it would be. There are many faithful, godly, caring faculty and staff members, and they are the reason that so many students have indeed had a good experience there, despite the problems. And there are so many wonderful students attending Oak Hill as well, who ask the hard questions and are willing to be challenged and taught. But, in my opinion, the leadership is so blind to the serious issues in the culture of the college that I can no longer recommend Oak Hill as a place to train for ministry. I believe it will foster a type of leadership that will perpetuate the very issues identified in the thirtyone:eight Fletcher review and Makin review. I am not sure there have been any lessons learned among the Leadership Team from these reviews.”
Osborne said the college’s leadership and council were unwilling to “acknowledge when leaders made mistakes, did things wrong, or harmed people, were not really prepared to deal with bad behaviour even when concerns were raised about it.”
“When it is leaders acting like this, it’s bad. When you see Christian leaders acting like this it’s worse because your expectations are higher and when Christian leaders fail it impacts so many people; when you see Christian leaders training others for Christian leadership lead in unhealthy and harmful ways, that feels even worse because the impact is potentially much greater as individuals are sent out into a variety of ministry settings. I believe you can be shaped by an unhealthy culture even if you don’t see a lot of what makes it unhealthy. In the end, it’s God’s church that is impacted. What I would love to see is fulsome acknowledgement of wrongs and repentance from Oak Hill.”
In his statement to Premier, Robson said: “There is a sustained focus on culture and organisational health. We continue to be passionate about training men and women for gospel ministry, seeking to do so with humility and faithfulness, courage and kindness.”
(Tola Mbakwe contributed to this report)
