{"id":114703,"date":"2025-11-02T23:06:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T23:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/114703\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T23:06:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T23:06:08","slug":"wesley-colleges-hostels-shut-down-by-ministry-of-education-before-end-of-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/114703\/","title":{"rendered":"Wesley College\u2019s hostels shut down by Ministry of Education before end of term"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wesley College said today it is seeking urgent legal advice about the suspension.<\/p>\n

The Herald understands some parents of Wesley boarders are unaware of the ministry\u2019s decision that was communicated to the school at the end of last week. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision [to close the hostels] follows a pattern of serious and ongoing concerns about the safety and wellbeing of boarders,\u201d the Ministry of Education\u2019s Sean Teddy said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile some improvements have been made since special conditions were imposed on the hostel\u2019s renewed licence in April 2025, further serious incidents have occurred this year. These incidents have highlighted persistent issues with student safety, staff oversight, and the hostel\u2019s ability to shift away from longstanding practices that place boarders at risk,\u201d Teddy said.<\/p>\n

ERO\u2019s recommendation to suspend the licence was made in a September report. The office has refused a request from the Herald to proactively release that report.<\/p>\n

Teddy said that the ERO\u2019s recommendation, \u201calongside the Ministry\u2019s own monitoring and the recurrence of harmful incidents, has led to the conclusion that continued operation of the hostel in its current state is not in the best interests of boarders\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"WesleyWesley College is on Auckland’s southern border. Photo \/ file <\/p>\n

While international boarders and any students sitting NCEA assessments will be able to stay on to complete the term, all others must leave by this Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese safeguards apply solely to the interim exam period of Term 4, 2025. The hostel remains subject to closure in 2026, as previously announced by the Wesley College Trust Board, and the licence remains suspended as outlined in the official Suspension Notice,\u201d Teddy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ministry remains focused on making sure that all boarders are safe and supported and will continue to work closely with the school and families to manage this transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trust board chair Jan Tasker said in a statement to the Herald today: \u201cWe are meeting with the Ministry and will be in a position to provide comment after that. The board is seeking urgent legal advice in relation to steps taken by the ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Deep, structural change is required\u2019 – school bosses<\/p>\n

Wesley College announced last month that the hostels would close at the end of this term \u201cfor a period sufficient to ensure meaningful and lasting improvements are achieved.\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n

The school said the decision followed \u201congoing concerns about student safety and hostel culture\u201d and that its trust board accepted \u201cfurther deep, structural change is required\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudent safety and wellbeing are our highest priority,\u201d Tasker said last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe acknowledge that our hostel provision has not yet met the consistent standard we expect. Closing the hostels is a decisive step that will allow us to reset the culture, systems, and facilities once and for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

A history of violence<\/p>\n

Wesley College was established in 1844 and describes itself as the country\u2019s oldest registered school. A special character school, it is tied to the Methodist Church of New Zealand.<\/p>\n

The school was placed under statutory management in 2023 after allegations emerged of bullying and violence at the school, including reports of \u201ccoverings\u201d, in which students were made to cover their faces before being punched, kicked and slapped by older students.<\/p>\n

In April that year, the Herald reported that Oranga Tamariki was working with police to investigate a \u201creport of concern\u201d.<\/p>\n

At the time, principal Brian Evans said the school\u2019s trust board welcomed the support \u201cto assist us in our progress towards being an exemplary model of change\u201d.<\/p>\n

In response to \u201csignificant concerns\u201d, ERO said it commissioned a special review of the college and its hostel operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe school board and hostel management of Wesley College have a duty of care to ensure all learners at the school and all boarders in the hostel are physically and emotionally safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

ERO\u2019s special review, released in June 2023, recommended that improvements were required in hostel governance and leadership, health and safety, complaints processes and the quality of care for boarders.<\/p>\n

Lane Nichols is Auckland desk editor for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years\u2019 experience in the industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wesley College said today it is seeking urgent legal advice about the suspension. The Herald understands some parents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[74,9218,3595,651,28245,1887,6097,84,8127,14724,81696,42,67091,10116,28874,43,1118,34962,19719,23940,6302,4062,1238,6753,9631,1335,1961,40,38,41,39,686,67090],"class_list":["post-114703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-after","tag-before","tag-by","tag-close","tag-colleges","tag-countrys","tag-down","tag-education","tag-end","tag-further","tag-harmful","tag-headlines","tag-hostels","tag-incidents","tag-ministry","tag-news","tag-of","tag-oldest","tag-ordered","tag-related","tag-safety","tag-school","tag-serious","tag-shut","tag-student","tag-term","tag-this","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-week","tag-wesley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}