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Just as Cape Town’s Bishops Diocesan College celebrated being ranked among the world’s top 150 private schools on Carfax Education’s fifth annual edition of The Schools Index, shocking reports of a bullying incident gone haywire are revealed.
The bullying incident occurred last week at the elite Founders House boarding residence where a student was brutally assaulted—allegedly by fellow pupils—so severely that he was hospitalised.
In a message to parents on Wednesday, Principal Tony Reeler confirmed that a disciplinary inquiry had been completed into the “disturbing late-night assault,” which left the victim in hospital for two days.
Seven pupils have been charged in connection with the attack, which insiders say was carried out by a group of five boys under the orders of two matric students. News24 was alerted to the incident last week as parents voiced their concern over the assault, slamming the school’s silence and expressing fears that the incident might be swept under the rug to shield Bishops’ prestigious reputation.
Not Reeler nor Crispin Sonn, chairperson of the Bishops’ Council, would comment with more information. Reeler said the school does not comment on confidential pupil matters as a matter of principle and policy.
“Such is the seriousness of this incident, however, that we can confirm that the independent advocate chairing the disciplinary process has recommended the strongest possible sanctions for those found guilty,” he said.
“In terms of our disciplinary processes, the boys have five days to appeal these findings. I do not want to prejudice this process in any way by commenting further on details of the assault or the ongoing appeals process, suffice to say that any form of bullying or physical violence has absolutely no place at Bishops and the conduct of the perpetrators here is condemned in the strongest possible terms, no matter what their role of their intention.”
In his communication to parents, Reeler said the seven pupils were charged with breaching the school’s code of conduct and that the victim has since been discharged from hospital and is, according to their understanding, “well on the way to a full recovery”.
The school, in response to questions from News24, said nothing was more important than their “duty of our care to our boys”.
“Our code of conduct and anti-bullying policy both have clear expectations of our boys and we have a zero-tolerance stance towards any behaviour of this kind,” it said in a statement.
“Physical and emotional abuse has no place in our school, our boarding houses, or in society in general, and this safeguarding message has been shared countless times with the students and staff of Bishops – which makes this shocking violation of the trust placed in senior pupils in particular, so difficult to understand and process.”
[source:news24]
