Conduct of Wesley College teachers reported to the Commission for Children and Young People and the Victorian Institute of Teaching

The mum of a student who was “forced out” of the elite school says her son was bullied and victimised — and she’s taken her claims to the teaching regulator.

The parent of a Wesley College student says ‘there was no procedural justice for my son’. Picture: Mark Stewart

Wesley College staff have been accused of bullying and victimising a year 11 student and forcing him out of the school over unsubstantiated claims.

The boy’s parents reported the conduct of teachers to the school council, the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) and the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) over the treatment of their son during early 2021.

The school compiled a dossier of allegations against the boy, which included “sitting on a younger student in the Junior School until they cry”.

But the allegations were only raised with the boy’s parents when they complained to principal Nicholas Evans about a senior teacher’s treatment of their son.

The boy’s mother said she attended a meeting with Mr Evans to report the teacher’s conduct but she was left shocked and distressed when Mr Evans instead told her to take her son and her two younger daughters out of the school, and to “do it now”.

The boy’s parents raised concerns about the treatment of their son in 2021. Picture: Mark Stewart

“Our family had been at this school for 13 years and we were told to leave because I dared to complain about how a teacher had dealt with my son,” she said.

The report comes as the parents of other students from Waverley College in Sydney are fighting back against their expulsion over hazing, insisting that the claims were exaggerated and the boys were not treated fairly.

Parents are also starting to take legal actions against private schools who exclude or discipline their children, with one grammar school parent trying to fight the expulsion of their year 12 student this year in VCAT.

The former Wesley mother said the claims were strongly refuted by her son. “They wouldn’t tell us anything about it. Who it happened to, when it happened. They just said he was guilty. There was no procedural justice for my son here,” she said.

The parents are still waiting for answers.

The CCYP has not yet finished its investigation into the conduct of several teachers involved in the incident more than a year later and the VIT will not investigate until it’s finished. The CCYP also referred the matter to the Victorian Registration and Qualification Authority, which concluded that the school followed proper process, although the authority did not speak to the boy or his parents.

The boy’s parents also asked the school council for an independent mediator to be appointed but this did not happen.

“Our experience shows the system of regulation of private schools is broken. When a parent complains about very harmful behaviour toward their child, who is there to help in reality if the regulators are overwhelmed or conduct investigations without even speaking to the parents?” the boy’s mother said.

Lawyer Paul O’Halloran, a partner at Dentons, said “parents are frequently lawyering up to challenge decisions of independent schools in Victoria, particularly around enrolments terms, expulsions and alleged breaches of school rules by students”.

He said parents “sign up to a raft of enforceable rules and codes of conduct at the point of enrolment and maybe never read them properly, but then allege its unfair if their child is suspended or expelled for breaching them”.

Nick Duggal, a partner at Moray and Agnew, agreed parents “are becoming increasingly legalistic in challenging suspensions and expulsions, including being legally represented or threatening to involve lawyers,” he said.