Warning: this story contains content about physical, psychological and sexual abuse.
Punching, whipping, kicking, hitting in the genitals, bruising, beating with a bat, humiliating haircuts, threatening with a knife, terrorising with threats.
Frequent violent assaults and sometimes sexual assaults between students at Wesley College are discussed between staff in hundreds of emails since 2019. The senior staff were told about the alleged assaults by students, parents, and other staff. Some documents show multiple incidents taking place within a week.
After months of negotiation with the school, 1News can finally reveal the details of nearly 300 documents – and that’s just a small selection released by the school from a much larger dataset, dating up to May 2023.
Wesley College said it identified 90 students had reported student-on-student abuse between 2019 and May 2023. This included four students reporting sexual assault.
However, those numbers didn't include reported abuse incidents that occurred in the hostel where much of the violence is known to have taken place. The hostel records are not subject to the Official Information Act through which 1News requested the staff emails.
Wesley College also said it collated its numbers from the school’s student management system but also said “it is possible that not all reported incidents were entered” into the system.
“There is a reasonable degree of confidence in the School Board data, although we cannot provide 100 percent confidence,” the school said.
Since 2019 the school has reported allegations of abuse to the police four times.
YOU HAVE ‘FAILED’ US.
When hundreds of Wesley College students arrived at the school in February for its annual “Service of Beginnings” assembly, there was hope that change was coming.
The previous two years had been rough for students and staff. The 180-year-old Methodist Boarding School in Pukekohe, on the outskirts of Auckland, has a history of horrific abuse and was put under the spotlight by the ongoing Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.
While stories of violence may have dogged the school for decades, many former students maintain a strong sense of loyalty and pride about the school. The oldest school in New Zealand, Wesley is famous for its rugby alumni, school chants and the family-like devotion of its former students.
Management has expressed eagerness to resign the school’s culture of violence to history, but a tip-off to 1News highlighted recent student safety issues among its roll of 300 students, including about 60 girls. So we visited the school in February and asked then Acting Principal Chris Wood if a culture of violence still existed among students.
“Absolutely not,” he said, pointing to the anti-bullying posters plastered around the school.
“We are making really strong inroads to change the traditions of the ‘Wesley way’ and there haven’t been any incidents this year, touch wood.”
But email records show that by the time Wood made those comments, staff had been made aware of at least three violent assaults at the school. At least three more incidents where students were threatened with violence were also disclosed by then, alongside at least one other case of bullying.
In an email dated February 16, 2023, a senior staff member described a student who was “fearful about returning to Wesley” days after he was assaulted and said, “it wasn’t a one-off incident [redacted] the bullying started almost immediately upon his arrival to Wesley College.”
Other emails also mentioned "coverings"– a form of punishment and a Wesley tradition – where younger students are made to cover their faces before being punched, kicked and slapped by a group of older students.
Reeanctment of a covering incident about to take place
Reeanctment of a covering incident about to take place
On February 21, a hostel parent described a “covering incident” in an email where student witnesses were told “not to look up and keep their eyes down” while another student was physically assaulted.
A second “covering” incident was disclosed less than 24 hours later by one of the school deans, where a junior student “was attacked by 4 [senior] students”.
Email records show some staff were increasingly worried about ongoing violence in the first few weeks of school and asked senior staff to “urgently address” incidents that had taken place that year.
On February 27, the day before 1News interviewed Wood, one of the school’s three deputy principals emailed some staff asking “How many coverings have we had this year? 2?” to which another deputy principal replied, “As far as I’m aware, we have not had any. There have been rumours which have all been thoroughly investigated.”
And despite multiple emails between senior staff discussing violence that had taken place in the first weeks of school, the school’s Head of Hostel seemed unaware and replied, “None so far boss. Let’s pray it will stay that way.”
By March 2, an angry parent emailed Principal Brian Evans, who was on leave at the time, detailing another violent assault that had just taken place.
The school said it investigated and addressed the matter at the time and was unable to comment on individual cases.
The emails we’ve described are among the nearly 300 documents, but they are part of a much larger dataset of documents, the rest of which the school says they’re entitled to withhold.
Almost all documents we received had been heavily redacted.
What we do know makes for disturbing reading and confirms a culture of violence more recent than was heard at a public hearing last year at the Inquiry.
The documents also confirm what dozens of students, parents and staff have told us, since we reported on the school’s historical violence earlier this year. Staff had not only been made aware of frequent and violent student assaults but had also received multiple videos – indisputable evidence showing bullying and violence at the school.
The records reveal a high awareness of the prevalence of violence at Wesley across all levels of staffing.
The documents date up to May this year but 1News has sighted two other videos posted online by Wesley College students in August and November showing acts of violence.
While management has been adamant that Wesley’s culture of violence has significantly declined, the mass allegations of recent years correlate with what one parent told 1News in March, after removing her sons from Wesley College last year due to bullying and physical violence.
“People keep saying this happened in the ’90s, but what about now?” she said.
“It’s happening now.”
OLD TRADITIONS DIE HARD
When interviews for 2022 prefect positions began in December 2021, a select group of top students was asked by a school dean what they would do if a junior student had been cheeky to a senior student and the senior decided to ‘punou’ the junior student “as this is the Wesley Way”.
A ‘punou’ is a form of punishment where a younger student is made to bend over while being beaten with a wooden bat or similar item. It’s become part of the tradition of the ‘Wesley Way’ – a term coined to describe the culture of violence at the school.
One hopeful prefect responded to the Dean that, “it would depend on the reason for punou, whether it was warranted or not”.
The Dean explained in an email to another staff member, “We made it very clear to [redacted] that under no circumstances was it warranted or acceptable.”
However, more recent students also told us punou beatings were still common practice at Wesley College.
In April 2023, 1News sighted three videos of three younger students being “punou’d” by older students in separate incidents. Two of those incidents occurred in March this year.
In two of the videos, the student receiving the abuse is hit so hard that the weapon used to beat him breaks. Email records from earlier 'punou' incidents highlight the severity of the punishments.
Reenactment of videos seen by 1News showing 'punou' beatings
Reenactment of videos seen by 1News showing 'punou' beatings
If Wesley College management has struggled to halt the school’s violent culture, that’s perhaps not surprising. Traditions appear to be entrenched. Practices such as "coverings”, a recent prefect told us, occurred “almost weekly” and so did another tradition – Manhunt – where senior students hunt younger students at night and beat them.
Broken teeth, bruises, black eyes or limping were “normal” after Manhunt, the prefect said.
In April, we reported on a student who was hospitalised last year after a game of Manhunt left him unable to walk. That student was later referred to ABI Rehabilitation Services which specialises in traumatic brain injury, documents showed.
Email records reference Manhunt multiple times showing staff were aware of the tradition.
THE MILITARY INFLUENCE
The violence at Wesley has deep roots. News archives reveal dozens of articles showing the Education Ministry and the Education Review Office have had multiple concerns about student safety at Wesley College for the last three decades.
The targeting of younger students by older students appears to be a hallmark, not just of Manhunt, but of almost all the traditions and assaults.
When it comes to how violent traditions became ingrained into the school’s culture there are a few theories.
Former Wesley student and former Principal Ian Faulkner told the Inquiry last year that the school had a history of a military culture. "In the early 1960s many of the staff were ex-servicemen, they were untrained [as teachers] but they [were] deemed to be able to teach maths or physics because of their army experiences,” Faulkner said.
“So the whole place was very militaristic, apart from the fact that we did not carry guns… we marched everywhere, we were formed up in lines. We bowed… we did all those sorts of things that you would expect to happen in the army.”
The militaristic culture was referenced by a number of survivors in their testimonies to the Royal Commission. It influenced the leadership of senior students – who were often relied upon to supervise younger students due to a lack of staff. The school admitted this created opportunities for abuse to occur.
It also admitted some staff enabled the abuse while others actively encouraged it. It acknowledged some staff had abused students too.
The ingrained culture of the ‘the Wesley Way’ included senior students hazing, harassing and dishing out violent punishments to younger students, with the goal to establish "respect".
And it came with a code of silence - a ‘no narking’ or ‘no snitching’ rule which meant students and staff accepted that “violence between students… was part of life at the College.”
In recent years, some students at Wesley College have started to break the ‘no narking, no snitching’ rule.
Emails from 2020 reveal a junior student disclosing to a senior staff member that he’d suffered weeks of abuse.
One document details how the junior student was taken out of class multiple times by multiple students, and led to parts of the school where he was physically assaulted. At one point, the junior student was taken out of class for almost an entire school day – his absences shown on attendance records matched his statements to the staff member
It is just one of many harrowing stories revealed in the documents
The alleged incidents occur either side of Wesley College's public apology last year to victims who had suffered historical abuse at the school.
The apology also came after the youngest Wesley College survivor involved in the Inquiry reported being gang-bashed at the school last year, as other students watched and chanted “Wesley way! … Wesley way!”
“We are trying to redefine
the Wesley way”
In a statement last year the school said it was "trying to redefine the Wesley Way".
“Wesley’s alumni, staff and community are encouraged to both accept and talk about the need for continued change. This sets an example to current and future students and flows on to our whanau and community. We are committed to removing all forms of abuse and lack of care within Wesley College and our hostels.”
By June this year, the Education Review Office released a damning report on the school and found evidence that, although on the decline, entrenched practices and harmful traditions were still placing students “at risk of violence, bullying and discrimination”.
The review stated ERO was “not satisfied that the school is maintaining full and proper records for investigating and reporting complaints and potentially, abuse”.
ERO said that despite existing policies, it couldn’t verify that complaints over recent years had been responded to, managed, and resolved appropriately. It said it had a range of concerns regarding the school’s leadership, and the health and safety of its students.
“The pace of change to date has been too slow,” said the report.
This week, on November 20, Wesley College published a four-page statement to its school community highlighting changes it had made to improve student safety.
“We understand that 1News will likely be running another story on the school looking back at what has been before, but we hope that you can see significant progress has, and is, being made,” the statement said.
“It is also important to understand that our desire for change is not simply because the spotlight is on us. It is driven by the fact it is the right thing to do for our wonderful school. Hence, we use the term ‘cultural renovation’."
Part of that renovation included a review and overhaul of its safety systems, policies and procedures – which ERO recommended in its recent review. The school also said it had appointed a complaints officer to ensure its new policy and procedures were followed – addressing another one of ERO's concerns. A new system now records the complaints process and dates/times when actions are taken. "We will be looking for ways to further streamline reporting across the school and hostel so that important information is shared and tracked," the school said.
"We have begun an ambitious programme to become a 'child safe' organisation," it said. "The hostel is now compliant with current Ministry of Education standards... A system of active duty has been introduced which [involves] monitoring night time activity.”
Relevant staff had undertaken training and professional development and the school had worked with external agencies to improve student safety.
Changing aspects of the school’s culture which had been entrenched for decades, was a “long term project,” the school said.
"We are optimistic that recent health and safety initiatives, and the development of a stronger student culture over the past several years, has led to a major decrease in incidents involving physical violence or the threat of violence."
SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS
With a late-night phone call in March, a recent student prefect contacted 1News to share their experiences at Wesley College.
That student revealed allegations of sexual assaults reported by two of their peers to the school in 2021. One of the alleged victims contacted 1News directly but did not want to be interviewed on record.
A former staff member and several other sources within the school confirmed the allegations had been made.
The school declined to comment on those allegations but later confirmed four students had reported being sexually assaulted since 2019. (A reminder – the school's figures do not include hostel incidents. The school has also said it's possible not all incidents had been entered into its student management system)
Not all of the alleged incidents appear to be between students.
After multiple students spoke to 1News about other allegations relating to staff, we inquired about reports of teacher misconduct, sexual and otherwise, since 2019.
The school board confirmed it had received allegations against one teacher but declined to define the nature of those. It said it has on occasion made reports to the Teaching Council but was unable to provide any further details.
1News understands an external investigation into the conduct of a teacher was ordered by the school at the end of 2022. The conclusion of that investigation is unknown.
In March, ERO said it was also aware an ongoing police investigation was underway. 1News understands that investigation is unrelated to the student-on-student abuse incidents.
“IT’S ON YOU”
“If you go to the media, that’s your prerogative,” Principal Brian Evans told students at a school assembly earlier this year.
“But on the other hand if you want it to stop, you need to help.”
A five-minute video of Evans speech was leaked by a frustrated parent to 1News.
“We can’t stop it if we don’t know about it,” continued Evans who has encouraged transparency among staff, several documents showed.
“We keep telling ERO and the Ministry [of Education] how far we’ve come but there’s still individuals who wanna do it. So I don’t know what we can tell the media.
“It’s almost to the point where it’s on you. It’s on the people who are doing it, or those of you who are watching it happen, to stand up and be counted.”
Parents, however, told 1News they’re fed up with the school’s senior management shifting the blame and not taking accountability.
“The kids who have spoken up have said enough. The school isn’t listening,” said one parent.
“I’m worried about future students. We’ve now left but my son worries about his friends who are still there and he knows they are suffering,” she said.
“At this point, I’m just like – shut it down,” said one ex-student whose nephews attend the school.
“If they can’t keep kids safe, just shut it down and reset the whole place."
Other parents agreed and expressed frustration with every level of leadership at the school. “They need staff with a backbone,” one parent told us.
Education Ministry’s Isabel Evans, North Hautū (Deputy Secretary), said the responsibility lies with the school.
“Schools, through their Boards are responsible for making sure every student is physically and emotionally safe at school. Each school must set and administer its own behaviour management policies, including those relating to bullying and health and safety."
Statutory Manager Shane Edwards has worked with the Board this year “to develop health and safety systems and processes that effectively manage and prevent harmful practices and behaviours”.
“We take health and safety in our schools seriously,” the Ministry said “and we will respond immediately if incidents of abuse are reported to us.”
OVERALL ABUSE NUMBERS UNCLEAR
Outside of the nearly 300 documents, many stories are left untold and the ultimate numbers of abuse incidents, in both the school and hostel since 2019, are unclear.
When we first requested copies of email communications among staff in March, relating to student-on-student abuse, sexual assaults in 2019, teacher misconduct and other evidence of abuse, the school conducted a search among eight senior staff.
It eventually identified approximately 900 documents it “believed to be relevant” and in August, it released only 286 of those documents to us, most of which were heavily redacted. Some of the incidents discussed in staff emails are referred to in more than one document.
The school said it withheld documents on the grounds of privacy, safety risks, obligations to confidentiality and legal privilege.
The school's hostel is privately owned and operated by the Wesley College Trust Board and information held by the Trust Board relating to the hostel is not subject to the Official Information Act.
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If you would like to get in touch with the reporter, contact indira.stewart@tvnz.co.nz
Words by
Indira Stewart
Graphics
Vinay Ranchhod
Camera operator
Vaughan Finlay, Richard Martin, Clint Bruce
Commissioning longform editor
Emily Simpson
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