Grovedale College Year 8 girls allegedly faced inappropriate behaviour from male students from another school

Police were called to a scout camp near Ballarat after a group of Geelong Year 8 girls allegedly faced inappropriate behaviour from a group of male students from another school.

POLICE were called to a scout camp near Ballarat after a group of Geelong Year 8 girls allegedly faced inappropriate behaviour from a group of male students from another school.

The incident allegedly occurred at the Pax Hill Activity and Accommodation Centre, which is a Scouts Victoria facility, on Thursday night while Grovedale College Year 8 students and an unnamed school, not from the Geelong region, stayed on site.

In a letter to parents on Friday, Grovedale College principal Janet Matthews and assistant principal Shane Cole-Hayhow said the school was aware of the “inappropriate behaviour” displayed from some male students from another school.

“Our staff were informed of the alleged behaviour on Thursday evening by our students and took swift protective action to ensure the safety of all of the Grovedale College students and also informed the staff of the other school,” the letter read.

“The other school sent their assistant principal to work cooperatively with our staff to put the appropriate actions into place.

The letter noted that parents of Grovedale College students directly involved with the alleged incident had been spoken to.

“If your child raises any concerns with you, please call us next week to discuss how we can support them,” it said. “It can be very unsettling to have their camp arrangements changed at such short notice and in the dark.”

A Victoria Police spokeswoman confirmed that police were called to the camp location at the time of the incident, but no arrests were made.

A Department of Education spokeswoman said it was aware of police attending the incident and that the other students involved were from a non-government school.

“Grovedale College took immediate action as soon as it became aware of the incident and the school is offering wellbeing support to its students,” the spokeswoman said.

Scouts Victoria executive manager Jon McGregor said the schools had independently hired Pax Hill Activity Centre.

“This incident did not involve any members of Scouting,” Mr McGregor said. “The Schools involved are investigating and It would be inappropriate for us to comment any further at this time.”

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Originally published as Grovedale College Year 8 girls allegedly faced inappropriate behaviour from male students from another school