Sick Seymour: Autistic girl made to slide down wet manure slide at elite Adelaide private school

A former Seymour College student says she was subjected to a humiliating ritual as part of hazing at the top private school.

A former Seymour College boarding student says older girls subjected younger ones to a series of humiliating rituals, including being made to slide across metres of wet manure and forced into cold showers while clothed.

The woman, who is now 28 and has autism and asked not to be named, says her mental health issues have worsened as a result.

She said when boarders completed year 12 they held what they called “torture day” to humiliate younger students and claimed that some teachers were aware of the hazing.

She said on the night before “torture day” in 2012, when she was in year 10, she organised for a note from teachers on her door telling year 12s not to disturb her and put her bed against the wall.

However, she says the next morning year 12s were banging on the door saying “you have to, you have to, it’s torture day”.

They then led her outside to a plastic slippery slide covered in manure.

“They were screaming in my face, saying I had to slide down it and so I did it, stomach first,” she said.

All girls’ Seymour College at Glen Osmond. Picture Dean Martin

“I had manure all over my face. It was horrible and it stunk. I was so upset”.

The woman approached The Advertiser following a story early this month on claims by the father of a day student that his daughter had been relentlessly bullied this year – including threats of stabbing and having her glasses broken twice – and that the school’s response had been woefully inadequate.

She said the hazing also involved younger students being forced into cold showers in pyjamas or being sprayed with water.

She believed she was targeted because she had autism, had been self-harming and had long been a victim of bullies who teased her because she didn’t wear expensive clothes.

After attending a school event she received text messages telling her she “looked fat in that dress and your boobs were sticking out”, she said.

She said as a result of her self-harming, she was taken from the school to hospital “a couple of times”.

She said some teachers did not do enough to stop bullying by students from wealthier boarding families.

“Many teachers were really great but others just wanted to be liked by the more popular students.”

Photo of manure. Picture: File

Seymour College was asked about the woman’s allegations, whether year 12s still held “torture days”, and whether students from lower socio-economic backgrounds were bullied by wealthier students from families who have sent multiple generations of girls to the school.

The school declined to comment.

Originally published as Sick Seymour: Autistic girl made to slide down wet manure slide at elite Adelaide private school