School does ‘the ‘right thing’
St Peter’s front foots discovery of historical abuse
‘‘Often institutions jump to protect themselves rather than the individuals involved. We wanted to be people first. ’’
John Macaskill-Smith
St Peter’s Cambridge Trust Board chair
A prominent Waikato secondary school has front-footed the discovery of historical sexual abuse ‘‘to step forward and do the right thing’’ says its board chair.
An investigation uncovered 19 alleged incidents of abuse at St Peter’s School in Cambridge between 1936 and 1981, relating to eight former staff members.
One of those – a 73-year-old former teacher – pleaded not guilty to 10 historical indecent assault charges involving seven victims in Hamilton District Court last Wednesday.
Trust board chairperson John Macaskill-Smith said being honest, transparent, and supporting the victims was a nobrainer.
‘‘As a group of humans we were concerned when the first reports came up. It became really clear as an institution the right thing hadn’t been done.’’
The school acknowledged and apologised in November last year for the instances of staff abuse.
‘‘Often institutions jump to protect themselves rather than the individuals involved. We wanted to be people first.’’
He said the school’s trust board was made up of parents, professional directors, and people from all walks of life – who all agreed being open and transparent was important.
Another high-profile school, Auckland’s Dilworth, has also been rocked by historic sexabuse charges over the last year, but Macaskill-Smith said the St Peter’s board had concentrated on their own response.
‘‘We did look at what happened elsewhere, but we wanted it to be about how we would want this to go down if it was involving us and our children.
‘‘Families trust us with their young people. We need to be open and transparent.’’
Macaskill-Smith said it was important the victims, who were in the care of St Peter’s at the time, were supported and helped forward.
It was the school’s acknowledgement and apology that had prompted alumni to come forward, he said.
Some cases were very historical – where all the involved parties were dead – but some were more recent, Macaskill-Smith said.
‘‘We fully support alumni who have come forward. The school trust board wants to assure them we have been cooperating fully with New Zealand police, and we will continue to do so.’’
He said a number of other students had reached out to talk about other incidents – ones the school hadn’t been aware of – as well.
‘‘We really encouraged and supported those people to take that to the place they felt is the most appropriate.’’
For some that meant reporting incidents to the police, but for others talking through
what had happened and receiving acknowledgement from the school had been enough.
Macaskill-Smith said teachers were helping to shape the minds of tomorrow, and an environment where those children felt safe and trusted was crucial.
‘‘We want to understand and address what had occurred.’’
He said over the last few years the school had changed its physical environment to remove closed spaces, instead opening up its campus to get rid of ‘‘risky’’ areas.
Student voice mechanisms had been implemented for students to raise issues without the traditional power imbalances of a young person reporting an incident to a teacher.
Training was also ongoing to make sure staff could identify situations that looked or felt problematic, he said.
The school also had counsellors and two chaplains on-site who were well-connected with the students, he said.
‘‘We feel confident we have created an environment that is as safe as it can be.’’
He said the school had received lots of positive feedback about its response to the staff abuse – including from people who were not connected to the school.