Police say 'shocking' number of girls reporting sexual assaults at Christchurch school

2:09 pm on 30 June 2021

About 2500 allegations of sexual harassment and assault have been made at Christchurch Girls' High School this year - and more are expected.

Detective Greg Murton says the numbers of allegations of sexual harassment and violence at Christchurch Girls' High would shock many people. Photo: RNZ / Conan Young

"It's probably quite shocking to a lot of people," Detective Greg Murton said.

"The level of it, you know, with over two and a half thousand allegations this year alone from those students in that school. Let alone all the other schools around Christchurch, New Zealand and the world."

Three more formal complaints have been lodged since the survey of Christchurch Girls' High students revealed 20 cases of rape, three of group rape, and hundreds of incidents of sexual harassment.

Police from the specialist Child Protective Team have been at Christchurch Girls' High since Monday, when the survey results were released.

Murton said in addition to the three formal complaints already laid, other approaches had been made to police.

"If there are 20 allegations of rape or group rape that did occur, then obviously we would want to get to the bottom of that," he said.

"So we would encourage anyone who is the subject of any sexual assault to come forward and we've got a lot of support around looking after those victims."

Girls who had suffered sexual violence could make a formal complaint or approach agencies for support and advice, Murton said.

He expected a nationwide survey of schools would probably find similar results to those in the Christchurch school.

The United Kingdom's Office of Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) released results of a similar survey earlier this year with almost identical results, Murton said.

There have been calls for the Education Review Office (ERO) to conduct a nationwide survey on the issue.

ERO chief executive Nicholas Pole said the Ministries of Youth Development and Justice were already gathering this information.

"We're also talking about not just merely laying this all at the foot of our schools," Pole said.

"We need to be having some very strong conversations about what is going on in our communities, what's happening in our families, and are we engaging in conversations about harassment and abuse?"

Pole said every school could choose to replicate the survey conducted by Christchurch Girls' High.