Wesley College to close hostels due to safety concerns for students

Wesley College has announced it will close its boarding hostels amid ongoing safety concerns and allegations of violent beatings and sexual abuse.

The closure, due in December, is the second in three years.

It comes after a year-long 1News investigation in 2022-2023 into the Methodist School, sparked by a tip-off regarding “serious concerns” found in its boarding hostels.

The tip-off also claimed the Education Ministry had briefly revoked the Auckland school’s hostel licence. By January 2023, ERO said five of the school’s six hostels now had “appropriate overnight supervision” and it was “satisfied” they had met the regulatory requirements.

In November that year, 1News revealed the details of nearly 300 documents – including inter-staff emails – alleging both violent beatings and sexual abuse incidents since 2019.

In a statement released today, the School’s Trust Board Chairperson Jan Tasker said it is now undertaking a full review and will only reopen when it can guarantee “the highest standards of safety, care, and student wellbeing”.

Tasker added: “While significant progress has been made in recent years – including improved supervision, safeguarding measures, and upgraded facilities – the Trust Board accepts that further deep, structural change is required.

“Student safety and wellbeing are our highest priority. Closing the hostels is a decisive step that will allow us to reset the culture, systems, and facilities once and for all.”

When rugby star Sekope Kepu first broke his silence about the violence and abuse he’d witnessed and experienced as a student at Wesley College, the school was a part of a six-year Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse of children and young people in state and faith-based institutions.

The former Wallabies prop and Moana Pasifika captain had also appeared at a public hearing which laid bare the school’s historic culture of violence, dubbed by students as the “Wesley Way”.

Kepu’s story led to dozens of former and current students contacting TVNZ reporter Indira Stewart with more recent incidents of violence and abuse. Weeks after his story aired, 1News received several videos showing senior students beating other students in incidents between 2021 and 2023.

Four more students confirmed a game called Manhunt was played at night about once a week. Senior students would hunt younger students. If they were caught, they were beaten.

"It was normal to see kids with broken teeth, bruises, black eyes or limping after Manhunt," said one student.

One student was hospitalised following a ‘Manhunt’ game that left him unable to walk.

In April 2023, the Education Ministry appointed Shane Edwards as limited statutory manager (LSM) to help manage the board, after multiple students contacted 1News with stories of bullying, violence and abuse.

By June that year, ERO released a damning report on Auckland’s Wesley College stating it was “not confident” that issues around student safety and wellbeing had been “sufficiently addressed” by the school.

The school previously told 1News it understood, after decades, just how much work needed to be done and it had "never shied away from our responsibilities".

It said it was making "huge progress" and was "extremely happy with progress to date".

But documents obtained by 1News revealed the Education Ministry had “received a range of complaints from parents/whanau about issues with bullying over many years”.

ERO found evidence that, although on the decline, entrenched practices and harmful traditions were still placing students “at risk of violence, bullying and discrimination”.

Students who spoke to ERO said that at the beginning of 2023 they felt more positive about the school, its culture, and their safety. However, ERO noted it was aware of a “code of silence” that was prevalent amongst students who were reluctant to disclose information to adults.

Some staff who spoke to ERO remained concerned.

By November, and after months of negotiation with the school, 1News was finally able to 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.

The documents detailed student-on-student abuse including punching, whipping, kicking, hitting in the genitals, bruising, beating with a bat, humiliating haircuts, threatening with a knife, terrorising with threats.

The documents included inter-staff emails, alleging both violent beatings and sexual abuse. Frequent violent assaults and sometimes sexual assaults between students at Wesley College were discussed between staff in hundreds of emails since 2019.

At the time, one ex-student whose nephews attend the school, said: “At this point, I’m just like – shut it down. If they can’t keep kids safe, just shut it down and reset the whole place."