There was disquiet among Mr Crowley's colleagues who were not told of his departure before Edmund Rice Education Australia, the umbrella foundation which runs both schools, released details to the media.

Most St Patrick's College staff were at the school swimming sports at Eureka Pool for the day, and only learned of the shock transfer through media emails, social media posts and from students themselves soon after 1pm.

Staff were gathered together after school on Wednesday to be formally told of Mr Crowley's departure.

It is believed even Mr Crowley began the day not knowing of the imminent announcement, tweeting about the school swimming carnival just hours before news of his transfer broke.

So swift was the change that he took up his new position at St Kevin's on Thursday.

Stephen Hill, who was acting principal of St Patrick's for much of 2019, will fill the position for the rest of this year.

"It was all very, very sudden," Mr Hill said.

Representatives of EREA met with staff before school began on Thursday morning to explain the reasons behind Mr Crowley's move to St Kevin's.

"They (staff) wanted to ... know the sequence of events and timing of the release," he said.

Mr Hill admitted that St Patrick's College leaders would have liked more time to process the change and inform the school community before the move was announced.

"It would have been fantastic to do that over the course of the day ... but truth is we didn't have it (the time)," he said.

Representatives from EREA told staff that Mr Crowley's experience in dealing with historical sexual abuse was very significant in his appointment at St Kevin's.

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"He was identified as someone with distinct knowledge and real expertise in this area, and the EREA felt that's what is needed (at St Kevin's) at this point in time."

St Kevin's College principal Stephen Russell resigned on Wednesday in the wake of a series of damaging reports of the Catholic school's handling of a child grooming case. And on Thursday the college's deputy principal Janet Canny was also asked to temporarily step aside pending an investigation.

Mr Hill said feedback from St Patrick's parents indicated they were disappointed to be losing Mr Crowley, who has been headmaster for five years, but understood the reasons behind the shift.

"The general response from the public at large is they recognise the fact he has a set of skills and knowledge he can bring to that setting.

"EREA pointed back to us here at St Patrick's College as very fortunate to be in the position where we are a very stable environment, staff have been around for a period of time, we have a strong leadership group and a good identity and that this was a school that could work its way through this.

"If there was another way to resolve it they would have come up with it but they did emphasise the fact they have great confidence in our community's capacity to continue."

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Mr Hill said the school would continue its strong work around staff and student wellbeing and welfare.

"We have been doing quite a bit of work with staff centred very much around really consolidating and extending what it is to be a boys school, which is a topical point of question in our community.

"We have done a lot of work around strengthening our pastoral care program. We've got some really strong rigor around mandatory reporting. It's a big and really important item for parents and boys to know this is a safe space and if you've got a concern your voice will be heard and someone will respond to it."

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