Bishops pupil assault: FULL statement from principal

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The principal of Diocesan College (Bishops) has expressed his ‘sadness’ at news of a yet another bullying incident at the prestigious Cape Town private school.

As reported by The South African website, an unnamed learner spent 48 hours in hospital after he was assaulted by fellow pupils last week.

The incident took place at the school’s Founders boarding house.

Principal Anthony Reeler, in a communique to parents on Wednesday (see below), confirmed that a disciplinary enquiry has concluded into the “shocking late-night assault” which left the victim in hospital for two days.

As many as seven pupils have been charged, he said in the message to parents.

Several insiders have independently confirmed to The South African website that the act was committed by a group of five boys under the instruction of two matric pupils.

Parents of pupils at the school expressed concern that the assault – as well as the lack of communication from the school – would be “kept under wraps” to protect Bishops’ reputation.

Reeler committed to issuing updates regarding with any further developments on this matter as and when they become available.

More controversy

In other controversial instances in recent times, a Bishops parent was caught on video slapping a SACS rugby player following a First XV match last season at the Piley Rees field.

Bishops promised an investigation into the incident.

A recent Bishops-Rondebosch rugby match led to ‘jeering, hissing, genital grabbing and punches thrown by both sides’.

Meanwhile, a former Bishops learner has also been in the news lately after he was sued for an assault in February 2018 – while still a pupil.

According to reports, Bingo Ivanisevic assaulted Rondebosch’s Ross Stone during a water polo match.

Finally, late last month a parent at Bishops raised ‘strong concerns’ about a recent (at the time) incident of alleged bullying at one of the school’s boarding houses (White House).

The unnamed parent sent the allegations to a media house, which in turn approached Bishops for comment.

The parent, for reasons unknown, then retracted the statement.

Bishops didn’t however dispute that an incident had taken place, writing in a message to parents: ‘When we became aware of an incident of alleged bullying earlier this week, we immediately engaged with the parents of all the Grade 8 students at the boarding house concerned.’

Coincidentally, Bishops was this week, as reported by The South African website, named one of the top 150 private schools in the world.

Full statement from Bishops principal

Dear Bishops community,

I write this with a heavy heart, as it is my sad duty to inform you of a recently-concluded disciplinary enquiry into a shocking late-night assault at one of our boarding houses last week.

Seven pupils have been charged with breaching the school’s Code of Conduct after disciplinary proceedings were instituted following the assault at Founders.

These actions were also in breach of our anti-bullying policy.

This dreadful incident sadly resulted in the short-term hospitalisation of one of the boys.

Thankfully, he was discharged after two days, and our understanding is that he is well on the way to a full recovery.

Support was immediately made available to the pupils in the boarding house.

In particular, we are supporting the pupil who was hospitalised, and his family.

As a matter of policy and principle, Bishops does not publicly comment on confidential pupil matters, particularly if they may relate to disciplinary or duty of care issues.

Such is the seriousness of this incident, however, that we can confirm that the independent advocate chairing the disciplinary process has recommended the strongest possible sanctions for those found guilty.

In terms of our disciplinary processes, the boys have five days to appeal these findings.

I do not want to prejudice this process in any way by commenting further on details of the assault or the ongoing appeals process, suffice to say that any form of bullying or physical violence has absolutely no place at Bishops, and the conduct of the perpetrators here is condemned in the strongest possible terms, no matter what their role or their intention.

Nothing is more important to Bishops than our duty of our care to our boys.

Our Code of Conduct and Anti-Bullying Policy both have clear expectations of our boys and we have a zero-tolerance stance towards any behaviour of this kind.

These safeguarding and anti-bullying messages have been shared countless times with the students and staff of Bishops – which makes this shocking violation of the trust placed in senior pupils in particular, so difficult to understand and process.

I want to assure the Bishops community that the school will be introducing additional security measures in each boarding house to improve safeguarding with immediate effect, and will be initiating an independent review of boarding practices and procedures within the next 30 days.

How we respond to this dreadful and shocking incident will help ensure that this is the last time Bishops has to share news of this nature with our school community.

Now is the time to stand together against behaviour of this kind, often justified in the name of “tradition” or the desire to seek justice for a perceived wrongdoing or disrespect.

Rumours and misinformation can cause unnecessary harm, particularly given that there are minors involved.

Please be mindful of what you share in your social networks, and verify that information is from reliable sources before disseminating it.

I commit to updating you with any further developments on this matter, as and when they become available.

A D Reeler

Anthony Reeler took over as Bishops principal in July 2020.

He was educated at Rondebosch Boys High School and was previously headmaster at Pretoria Boys High School and Pinelands High School.

He taught at both his alma mater and Grey High School.