Staff and students at Wesley College did not not report assaults on junior students, the Education Review Office said in its report. Photo: RNZ / Shannon Haunui-Thompson
The principal of Wesley College south of Auckland has fired shots at the Education Review Office, saying it has been "deeply disrespectful" to students.
The school - one of the country's oldest - is taking court action in a bid to keep its embattled hostels open.
It earlier signalled it would close them at the end of the year over safety concerns, but it was then told to shut them down last week - much earlier than it wanted.
An Education Review Office (ERO) report has now surfaced, outlining some of the office's concerns.
'Long history of abuse' at Wesley College
Staff and students did not not report assaults on junior students, the Education Review Office said in its report written in September.
The ERO was checking up progress made since a review in 2024 found slow and inconsistent improvements at the school in Paerata.
It held a progress meeting with the principal and presiding board member.
The office says it was here it was told of "another significant bullying incident" in the hostel since its last visit.
"On this occasion, more than 30 senior students left their hostel building at night, entered a junior building, and a small group of senior boys either participated in or observed the bullying and assault of junior students," the report said.
"The supervising staff and wider student body did not prevent the incident, nor was it reported immediately by either staff or students."
The ERO report said the school was told of the incident by only one parent.
The office then sent three investigators on 30 July to further look into concerns around student safety in the hostel.
They spoke with 27 students, the Trust Board chair, the principal and parents and held follow-up online meetings.
The ERO report said leadership reacted promptly once they found out about the assaults, and staff had issues conducting their own investigations and finding who was involved.
"A pervasive culture of not speaking out and accepting bullying and assault as a rite of passage in the hostel persists, despite the efforts of the principal, senior school leaders and some hostel staff to shift this," the report said.
It said there were "deeply entrenched practices" and beliefs and attitudes among students and some hostel staff that perpetuated a culture of intimidation and systemic abuse.
There were physical improvements in the hostel, the report said, but it noted the upgrading of surveillance cameras was not complete at the time of the review.
"Students reported to ERO that they are still wandering at night and only being apprehended 50 percent of the time," it said.
The ERO report said the Office was not assured that further physical bullying and assault would not happen again.
Among the issues cited was the filming and sharing of assaults and complaints about staff behaving unprofessionally and encouraging a code of silence.
"ERO does not have confidence that hostel culture has sufficiently improved and that the five hostel buildings are positive, inclusive and emotionally safe climates and environments for all borders," it said.
The ERO ended its report recommending the suspension of the hostel's licence.
"ERO acknowledges that suspending the hostel licence is a serious step which may impact the school's ability to maintain its roll," it said.
Principal responds
In a statement, principal Brian Evans said students had said they felt pressured to give negative answers to the ERO.
"Over the past few years we have found the stance of the ERO staff to be deeply disrespectful of the students they interviewed, claiming they were lying and covering up," he said.
"In fact, the students disclosed after several visits ERO staff had left that they felt that the ERO staff were trying to put words in their mouths and badgered them about whether they felt safe at the school."
Evans said the school was confident it had "broken down the former culture of silence", and that its systems were effective for anonymous reporting.
The September ERO report referenced both historical and recent events but offered no clarity on which issues were ongoing and which have been addressed," he said.
"Conflation of timelines risks misleading both the public and our school community about the scope and persistence of challenges."
Evans said there was only one incident during the year when the report was written, involving students possessing cannabis.
"We certainly don't condone these students' behaviour, but you would be hard pressed to find a school in New Zealand that doesn't have low level issues such as these," he said.
The principal said its current safe-guarding programme was "gold-standard" and its improvements had been vastly understated.
"Significant investments have resulted in demonstrably safer and more transparent hostel environments, yet these advances are barely foregrounded in recent reporting."
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