For one 15-year-old girl at Ashburton College, there was no escaping the bullies.
At school, the lies were scribbled on the walls, telling visitors she was a "whore". At home, the bullies would get their message across through social media.
"C**t, I'm sorry, but f**k you," a girl hissed in one audio message, heard by 1NEWS.
"It's digging into a deeper hole b*tch," they added, laughing with a friend. “We saw you going into the f**king office, c**t!"
The young victim says she was threatened so regularly during her time at Ashburton College that she had to leave the school out of fear for her safety. She now boards away from home.
Her family claims school officials failed to properly investigate the bullying, despite their repeated pleas for help. They are now speaking out in the hope it will prevent a similar thing happening to other students.
Ashburton College has repeatedly appeared in the media over bullying in recent years, including a violent group attack on a boy in 2018.
In another instance in 2017, a young girl was pulled down and had her head stomped into the ground. The attack was captured on camera and showed her being knocked unconscious, and left with chipped teeth.
In 2015, three students were suspended after putting a cloth bag over a boy’s head and telling him "this is just like ISIS".
Several years later, the family felt the school had allowed bullies to torment yet another student.
"They have basically let this whole group ruin this whole person's life,” the mother said, speaking anonymously.
"She's had to move out of town, she's had to leave her family and everything."
Have you experienced bullying at Ashburton College? Contact Thomas Mead at Thomas.Mead@tvnz.co.nz
‘I just couldn’t escape it’
The 15-year-old victim did not want her name shared with the wider public, and this story will refer to her as 'Anna'. She described feeling hopeless for several months during Term 1 and Term 2 this year.
“It was overwhelming, I didn't really know how to cope with it,” she said in an interview.
“No matter where in the school I was, I just couldn't escape it.”
Anna says the bullying included:
• Repetitive name-calling and threats of violence from multiple students over several months, in person and online;
• Being followed by large groups, who would yell, taunt her, threaten her with violence, film her, and chase her into buildings;
• Graffiti repeatedly left on school walls, falsely describing her as “whore”;
• A fake Instagram account which impersonated her;
• Repeated abuse and threats from multiple students through social media, including by way of audio message;
• Ongoing bullying outside of school grounds, including in the community and at netball games.
Anna said the bullying began to encompass every part of her life, leaving her feeling hopeless.
"To start off with I figured out how to ignore it and block it all out. I didn't let it affect me, and then they'd start chasing me around school," she said.
"I was wondering what was going to happen, I was very overwhelmed and scared."
There was no respite away from school, thanks to abusive messages on social media, she said – adding that the bullies would message friends when she deleted her apps.
"It was very hard, like, there was a point where I just lost myself and I didn't know what to do," she said.
"It was just wake up, deal with it, go back to sleep."
School admits 'group of students involved with bullying'
Ashburton College has refused to apologise over the ordeal and denies the school has a bullying problem.
Principal Ross Preece declined to be interviewed when contacted by 1NEWS but, in initial phone conversations, said he had never heard of the student, and he would look into it.
He later issued a short statement saying the college followed proper procedures when any complaint was laid.
"Ashburton College strongly refutes a culture of bullying," it reads.
"All principals are aware that at times, bullying occurs in schools and all of us take measures to address this problem."
However, behind the scenes, 1News has learned the claims threw the Canterbury secondary school into crisis mode. Preece held an all-student assembly on Monday to address bullying following the queries.
In a leaked email summarising the event, he said discussion had been held "with the support and presence" of Ashburton’s police youth aid officer.
"The reason for the assembly was that, currently, we have a group of students involved with bullying – individually, and as a group," he told parents.
"Bullying will be dealt with and students responsible for this will be held to account. The message was, if involved in bullying, it has to stop."
Mother claims daughter was neglected
However, the action is too late for 15-year-old Anna, who is now boarding outside of the district to attend another school.
Her mother claimed Ashburton College had failed to intervene properly despite repeated pleas for help over several months. She spoke anonymously, and this article will refer to her as “Mary”.
"At the end of the day, this could easily have been in the teen suicide bracket," Mary said.
"We just came to a point where all the name calling and the yelling and the screaming as she walked past them at school and stuff, every time, it was never going to stop."
The family said they had approached several teachers and deans asking for help. Mary added that they had even been to the police, who offered their assistance to the school, but claimed the school had refused the offer.
"They had told us at one point, ‘if you just leave it, they'll move onto someone else soon enough’. That's not good enough," she said.
"Why should our daughter’s problem then be pushed on and be someone else's problem? That's not fair at all!"
Emails seen by 1News show the parents emailed several staff members including senior leaders.
Some suggest minor adjustments, including removing the daughter from certain classes, and allowing her to study from home.
But their principal, Ross Preece, refused to answer several specific questions about the school response this week.
He declined to answer, when asked:
• Whether the school did enough to keep Anna safe;
• What steps the school took to investigate the bullying;
• Whether he was concerned that Anna had to leave the school to remain physically safe;
• Whether the school stood by its actions;
• Whether the school would apologise to Anna;
• What actions the school would take to protect current students.
Instead, Preece referred to privacy concerns, despite having privacy waivers from the family allowing him to discuss the case with 1News.
"You have our statement and no further personal information will be provided because we respect the privacy of our students, staff and whānau," he said.
His statement did not address the case directly but elaborated on the process the school follows generally in bullying matters, saying they follow "well established pastoral support systems and disciplinary processes".
"We abide by Ministry of Education and legislative requirements," it reads.
"Schools have an ongoing challenge supporting positive behaviours online, especially out of school time. We work with whānau and other agencies to address issues that are beyond a school's authority."
'They need to clamp down'
For 15-year-old Anna, the ordeal has had a lasting effect on her life.
She hoped the school would take more care when dealing with other bullying incidents.
"The school just isn't doing enough and they're just trying to ignore the fact that this has happened to so many people," she said.
"They are still going to school, living their lives, and bullying other people, which is completely unacceptable."
Her mother – Mary – echoed the same sentiment.
"They need to clamp down on this behaviour," she said.
"There's no questions about it. Just telling these people, getting them into the office, and saying don't do it again, it's not enough."
The young victim now hopes to rebuild her life elsewhere, with her former school unwilling to offer any apology.
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