New Zealand's oldest registered school have been suspended two of their students over sexual allegations relating to other boys in its hostel.
The mother of an alleged victim told the NZ Herald she was told that in his first weeks away from home, her 12-year-old son had been jumped on by other students of Wesley College while in bed. The mother said the run-ins were sexual in nature.

"The boys said that sometimes, if a boy was lying on a bed, they'll jump on him and do their thing on them - you know - but they've got their clothes on. When I think about it I cringe inside. "

The woman spoke of her son’s demeanour that past few weeks saying, "He's really moody now."

She wanted the 164-year-old school to provide specialist counselling and was considering removing her son.

It was also claimed that another parent had walked in to her son's dorm to find "six or seven" boys on top of him after he had spoken out.

Boarding Manager Bill Leach, released a report that followed on from interviews with the two now-suspended students, which detailed how one boy admitted "dry humping" two students over three weeks. It also read that the other boy had admitted to performing the action on five students before Easter.

Mr Leach's also suggested "dry humping" - or frottage as it is also known - is a widespread problem in hostels. He wrote that the suspended pair told him everyone was "doing it".

"It must be noted that [one boy] appeared rather naive about what he had done. [The other] was quite aware of ... the severity of his actions."
Mr Leach stood down the pair from the hostel for five days.

Ian Faulkner said that after he received the report, he suspended the two boys from both the hostel and the school and that the Wesley College Trust Board and the school's board of trustees would meet to continue the disciplinary process.

He said the suspended boys and the alleged victims were all Year 9 students and all new to the school this year.

It seems also that these claims are not the only ones to land the school in hot water of late. Last year an Education Review Office report criticised a lack of communication between the boarding house and boarders' parents and labelled the hostel's student security and safety inadequate.

In addition, a fight in the dormitory in February left a Year 12 student with a fractured eye socket and was referred for a brain scan.
Wesley is a decile-two, state-integrated Methodist college. Its hostel, which is not state-integrated and thus remains a private boarding establishment, accommodates about 30 girls and 260 boys - the vast majority of the school roll.

Tags: gay, sexual abuse