Alleged private schoolboy abusers return to boarding house
A group of senior students removed from a prestigious regional private school's boarding hall because of the alleged abuse of their younger schoolmates have been allowed to return to the residential facility.
Families with children at Ballarat Grammar have been told this week to expect a 'staged re-integration' of the boys, believed to number up to 12, into the school's Dart House boarding block, with at least one family reacting immediately by removing their son from the school.
The move to return the boys, who had been staying at an off-campus house the school owns in the town and attending classes as day students, comes after Ballarat Grammar principal Adam Heath apologised last week to the school community for the impact of the scandal, pledging 'zero tolerance' for misconduct.
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The year 11 and 12 students had been removed from Dart House after allegations surfaced in February of systemic assaults against younger boarders in the house, committed as part of a culture of punishment and hazing. Police were called in to investigate.
Two boys have been expelled after an investigation by the school, key staff members have stepped down and the state regulator, the Victorian Quality and Registration Authority, has placed Ballarat Grammar's boarding licence under review.
Heath told parents on Monday that Melbourne-based workplace conflict specialists, the Zalt Group, had been hired 'to facilitate a thorough and structured restorative process involving both the students who remained in the boarding house and those who were temporarily accommodated elsewhere'.
'The Zalt Group have advised that the students are ready to return safely and respectfully to their boarding community, and we will begin a supported, staged reintegration of these students back into the boarding house,' Heath wrote.
One parent, who asked not to be identified, told The Age that his son had been terrified at the prospect of the return of the seniors to Dart House. The family had decided to take the boy out of Ballarat Grammar altogether for a new school, the parent said.
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